The Quilts of the Show

The quilt show was last week, so it's high time I posted a few of the pics I took on Thursday. I don't have these in any particular order, and I will include as much information as I can for each.

This is called Spring Garden, and according to the information card on it the maker was interested in exploring color while using traditionally pieced designs. This has a combination of 16 patch blocks and sawtooth star blocks.

This is called Sheila's Garden using the New York Beauty pattern. The greens are intended to represent foliage, while the rest are florals - nearly 150 different florals! The techniques identified for this say "machine pieced and quilted," and says nothing about being paper pieced. I cannot imagine, but maybe...

This is called Departure, with a combination of hand- and machine-piecing, hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilting. Whew!!

The makers of this quilt, Fiesta Stars, say that this pattern is normally done in Civil War repro fabrics. They decided to do it in brigh jewel-tone batiks. The pattern is Stars Over Fort Sumter by Red Crinoline Quilts.

These flowers are made with men's neckties. It is called Grandfather's Flower Garden. I have a big box of my grandfather's ties - maybe I should consider this??

This quilt, Wisteria, caught my eye from across the room in the quilt venue. It was stunning from afar, and even moreso up close. The individual petal of each flower is a 1cm hexagon. She made 3800 of those hexies, pinned each one on, took a picture, then began stitching them on using the picture as a guide. What an effort! The path is made of pieced blocks.

Yes, this is a quilt. The maker says she found a picture of her mother in a box of family photos, and turned it into this quilt. She used machine piecing and machine applique, free motion machine embroidery, and machine quilting. The name of the quilt is Make You Happy.

Flower Quartet, above, earned an Honorable Mention in the show. This one has hand piecing, hand applique, hand embroidery, hand quilting, and trapunto.

This fun quilt is called Will You Play With Me? The maker says "the images on this quilt represent the carefree childhood days of being busy at play. This collection of toys, games and playthings are a large part of my memories of the 1950s." I just loved looking at the components she included. And look at that wonderful jumprope in the lower border! Wonderful!!

This quilt has a history lesson attached to it. She was a child whose family immigrated to Israel from Europe after WWII. She says "Recently, I found letters that were written to my sister by my parents in Yiddish...Every week my parents wrote her a letter. Half was written by my father, and half by my mother." The name of the quilt is Servetke 2 (Serviette in Yiddish); the doilie design in this quilt are representative of the knitted serviettes she says were used everywhere in their home.

Summer at the Lake, above, is inspired by the Lady of the Lake pattern. The maker used over 200 different reproduction 1930s fabrics. No two blocks are the same. I would consider making a quilt like this. I just love it. Did you check out that border?

This quilt is called Intensity, and is based on a pattern called Bubble Gum from Quilt Sampler 2002, Churn Dash variation. I think the bright yellow background fabric makes this quilt special.

This quilt, Sunburst, I offer with a wink to my friend, Quilt Sue, who cohosted the Lone Star Quilt Along, last year. This quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted, and made from a picture the maker had of a quilt in a New York art museum. Wow.

Finally, I offer this gi-normous quilt, The Bern House Quilt. It was a special feature at the show. Made in Berne, Switzerland, for a big exhibit in 2010, it has 156 different blocks which were made separately by members of a quilt guild. One member made the block replicating the famous clock tower which you can see in the lower middle of the quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

International Quilt Show

We sure did have fun in Cincinnati at the International Quilt Show on Wednesday and Thursday. All 5 of us Frankfort quilters went together and had a great time. Here are some pictures highlighting things.

The thing we have learned to do it to go on Preview night and then again on the next day. The first picture is upon walking into the show venue. No crowds!! That is the beauty of Preview night. I managed to get through every vendor aisle and actually see things, get into the booths and have vendors actually talk to me and assist me, if needed. I sewed on several longarm machines, I had a foot massage, and bought a few goodies.
The top right photo is Nancy Amidon, my new quilt hero. She demonstrates her method of hand applique. I am so excited to try this. I think I can do it!! I watched her make stems as narrow as 1/8th of an inch!! It was amazing. I also watched her make a tiny berry, not a half-inch in diameter, and she says she makes them even smaller. Then there were the tricks she showed us for handling inner curves, both wide and narrow. Very cool. And last, but not least, she showed how she builds up her applique block by gluing all the parts together, and then taking the entire piece to her background, glue-basting it down, and then applique-stitch in place. So very cool and I am so very excited to give it a try.
On the bottom left, you see just one of the many quilts on display in the show. This one really resonated with me, but I have pictures of many others, too, a few of which I will share  in the coming days. This one is called Blooming in Chintz by Rahna Summerlin of Florida. She collects floral fabrics and blended over 100 of them from her stash to make this beauty. In reading about her quilt, she says she pieced one block at a time in order to be sure the fabrics coordinated to please her. She says this is her first king size quilt, and she took over 80 hours to machine quilt it.
Finally, the most amazing thing I saw at the show was that piece of red paisley fabric in the bottom right photo, which was draped over the entrance to a booth. It was gorgeous, and with my first quick glance at the sign beneath it, I thought it was marked at $2/yard. Oh, was I ever wrong about that!!! Can you imagine paying $200/yard for fabric?? Well, that is what the price of this piece was. I was astounded. It is a 6-yard piece of 1850s Turkey Red Paisley Print Challis, 38" wide. The sign said it is from the Vale of Levin, Paisley, Scotland. The minimum cut is 1-yard, and the woman in the booth said that collectors will pay that, as she has sold some. My question next was how do they cut it and use it? She said that mostly they don't. They keep the fabric whole and preserve it as is. The woman was very nice to spend time talking to me. She said while she hopes that she can sell the fabric, she almost hates to do so, because it makes such a great "curtain" for the top of her booth, she would have to find something else to use there, and, of course, nothing else would ever compare.
Added later: I thought I should add links to this post. The amazing appliqué quilter, Nancy Amidon, can be reached by clicking here. The gal with the antique fabrics has a store called Legacy Quilts, but there is no website listed on her card. She operates out of Indiana.
So, that is a summing up of my experience at the quilt show. I will share more of my pics and purchases in later posts, so come on back, y'all!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cincinnati Quilt Show

I'm scheduling this post several days out because I will be attending a quilt show! Click for the show information.

The Duke Center in downtown Cincinnati will be our location, and I am attending overnight with the Frankfort gals. We have gone together 3 times, now, I believe.

I will try to take lots of pictures and check out the bargains for you.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Well, Let's Get Back to Normal, Okay?

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and patience in my week-long absence. Having one's gallbladder removed is not the most critical of surgeries, but I was set back a bit longer than I thought I'd be. The doctor didn't forbid too many activities, and even said if I felt up to it I could teach my class on Tuesday and keep my dental appointment on Wednesday. Well, I wasn't ready for either. I think I was just a bit too optimistic in my ability to bounce back.

The surgery was a week ago today, and I am still experiencing some discomfort. I take the stairs very slowly, I can never seem to get comfortable sitting. My 4 tiny incisions are beginning to itch--a sign of healing, so I'm hopeful that this will be a good week.

Enough about me; let's talk about quilts! A week ago Thursday and Friday, the Frankfort quilty girls and I went to Cincinnati for a quilt show. Preview night and Friday morning - we got to see all we wanted, made some important purchases and had some wonderful quality time together. We even had an extra quilter along! Cherie B. joined us to make 6 wacky quilters loose in the city. Gracious!

Here are some pictures. I won't narrate; I'll just post them. Enjoy!

Vendors:

Exhibits:

Cincinnati:

The Hilton Netherland Plaza, our hotel--a very swanky place!

It really was a fun show! Thanks, Girls!! You were a blast!!

Happy Quilting!