KVQG Show

This week marks the beginning of the "fall lineup" of Quilt Shows in our province. It seems most of the Guilds stick to either fall or spring for shows. Winter is a writeoff as you cannot depend on the weather and travelling conditions, and summer.. well, it seems we're all too busy gardening, travelling or going to the cottage for some R and R. So this week was the annual KVQG show in Quispamsis. This Guild has my utmost admiration as they do a big show EVERY year! It seems to be the focus of their guild, as soon as one show is over, they're right into planning the next one! This is no easy feat. As anyone who has ever been involved in putting on a show knows, there is a huge amount of work and organization that goes into this, and to be committed to do it every year- well, it just makes me tired thinking about it! haha   Kudos to the KVQG girls for their dedication to this show and all the community organizations that they support with funds raised. There is always a beautiful Raffle Quilt to purchase tickets on, tables and tables of small items to buy (placemats and runners, knitted items, totebags/purses, wallhangings, jewelry, Christmas ornaments and other holiday items, etc.) Each year this Guild gives their members a challenge and the resulting pieces show the varied talents and creativity in this Guild- I look forward to seeing the Challenge more than anything, I think.There are always a good number of quilts for sale too- bed quilts, baby quilts and tops if you want to quilt your own. I went with a mission this year- I had to purchase a baby quilt for a cousin of my mum's to give as a gift. She just gave me a dollar limit and told me she trusted my judgment. The sex of the baby is not yet known so I didn't want to get anything that was predominantly pink or blue. That eliminated at least a third. None of the panel quilts really excited me so that eliminated another third. As I went through the remaining choices, I realized shopping for someone else, when you haven't been given any parameters is NOT easy. Would she prefer pastels? brights? muted colors? modern? traditional? pieced? appliquéd? hand quilted? machine quilted? Would she be putting it in the crib or not (square vs. rectangular)? Whoever thought simply picking up a baby quilt could be so difficult  stressful  challenging!! With the help of the ladies at the sale table and my buddy Sue, we narrowed it down to my final choice of a pieced quilt in fun bright fabrics, "gender neutral" - bordered and sashed in yellow and green - I hope the "mama to be" will like it. I'm sure the baby will! And the bonus was the price was very reasonable and it was made by someone I know - so it's always nice to "give a sale" to a friend Thanks Sue M - you know I love your work!

 On to the Show. I'm sure you'd like to see some of the great work we were treated to. I didn't take a lot of photos, mostly the prize winners. Best in Show went to Ode to Sam by Juanita Allain of  Riverview NB. It is 92" square, paper-pieced and hand quilted by Juanita; the pattern is by Shaggy Dog Designs of Calgary AB. It is beautiful! Such a lot of work!!


















Wow- look at all those points.. every one perfect! Way to go Juanita!!









This year's Show theme was It's a Small World and here is the winner for "Best Use of Theme": Bow Ties/Trip Around the World by Carol Davis. It is 80" x 91" and there are 1,512 bowtie blocks, 2" finished size, for a total of 9,072 pieces!! It took her 3 months to complete - I would have been 3 years methinks! This was really impressive- I think Carol must have great patience and perseverance! She certainly was a deserving winner  in my books.

Here are some of the other winners which caught my eye:

French Braid by Joan A Smith of Salisbury. This won 1st place for Group Quilt, Machine Quilted. ("Group quilt" means it was worked on by more than one person- usually one person has pieced the quilt and someone else has quilted it... in this case, the quilter was Penny Bubar of Beaverdam NB). I love this quilt - the gradual shading on the "braided strips" is so well done.





Another beautiful quilt by Joan A. Smith of Salisbury- Gathering Baskets  won 3rd place in the Group Quilt - Hand Quilted category. I loved the soft look of this quilt- even though it contains a lot of brown, I found it very "restful" to look at. Both of Joan's quilts were for sale, I haven't heard if either of them sold. Lucky purchaser, if they did!
Edit: Sunday - Just found out Joan sold all five of her quilts in the Show. One went to New York City! Congrats Joan!










Twelve Days of Christmas by Agathe Klingenberg won the Best Machine Applique category. It was so nicely done, a great choice by the judges. This is a Nancy Halvorsen design.

















Snug as a Bug by Tanya White, quilted by Jill Lloyd, won 2nd place in Group quilt, Machine Quilted.  It was so cute, with many "buggy prints". This was made for her young son - I'm sure he loves his quilt.












My Friend Carolyn by Karen Miller of N.S. won a Judge's Choice ribbon. I thought this piece was exceptional. Karen did this portrait just as her friend was entering the early stages of Alzheimers.

Winning 3rd place in the Modern category was Autumn Splendor by Nancy Armitage. I really liked this piece- loved the design and the soft fall colors. Of course I have always loved New York Beauty designs.












 2nd place in the Modern category was won by Juliet Nowlan with her wallhanging Mushrooms in the Park. Juliet is one very talented lady, and she has many many ribbons to prove it! It is always a joy to see her work. (We are so looking forward to having her share her work with us at our October Guild meeting.) This piece hung in the 2012 CQA/ACC National Juried Show in Halifax.

Fundy Mermaid by Nancy Flemming Elaschuk was chosen as 1st place winner in the Modern Category. Another exceptional piece of work! This is not a great photo of it, sorry to say. You can see  better photos by clicking here, along with a bit of explanation of the piece.










And lastly a bit of humour to finish off- Quilting Is In My Bones by Riel Nason. Riel loves working with  selvages and she is a big Hallowe'en lover- this is one of her latest selvage pieces.

Sew.... that gives you a little taste of this year's KVQG Show. It's always a great show and a pleasant day trip. Thanks for coming along for the ride! A complete list of all winners can be viewed here.

If you haven't entered my Giveaway yet, go here for all the details...

Piece!
Linda

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”
~ Albert Einstein