Local Quilt Shows

I am a member at 2 local quilt guilds and both of them had guild shows this year.  One weekend and then the next.  I gave more of my time and resources the first weekend to the smaller guild and where I attend more regularly.

Here are some photos from the first weekend ~

Beginning of set-up.  We rent a church gymnasium and then have quilt hanging poles and all the system to make the show a go in a gym!  These workers are so smart and speedy.  I need to get trained to help out for next time, I guess.

I’m guessing there were about 4 more rows than the 5 you see here.  Quilts are able to hang on both sides of a rod across the top that is covered in clean fabric.  I appreciate the good care the quilts are given with this display.

Here are some quilts I liked and could get photos —

 

 

The smaller quilts are pinned to a carpeted wall or displayed on a table.

This guild offers a challenge area for each show and here is a photo of all the quilts entered in the challenge.
I thought there were 10 entries but maybe just these 7 I got in my photo.

Here is a collage of the quilts I took to show —

Top Row L to R: My signature quilt from 2009 of guild members and some quilting friends. Infiniband Encased is made for a hanging in JP’s room. My scalloped Christmas tree skirt. Bottom Row is me with my challenge piece and K’s signature quilt from her high school graduation.

 

I spent most of the first day there.  In the morning, I was a white glove volunteer… keeping an eye open all around and letting others see the backs of quilts if they wanted.  I had 2 of my quilts appraised in the early afternoon.  The ladies in the guild are so sweet to hang out with for the day!

I didn’t take many photos at the other show with limited time and I took the same quilts for display.

Beautiful wool applique blocks above

I liked seeing the contrast of lights & darks in this quilt as well as the lovely feather quilting.

I decided in the middle of these shows that whenever it randomly happens that both shows are in the same year, I’ll only participate in one.  Both had different rules for entry of quilts, neither followed the rules, and it was another plate I didn’t need to spin during harvest!

But meanwhile… I love quilts and seeing what others are making locally without the big time of an international show.

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Quilt Inspiration – Detail

Quilts from the show that I liked and have close-ups as well.

I really like this pattern, Carpenter’s Star and this quilting is great!

I love quilting like this that has its own design across the quilt.

 

Swoon blocks with great quilting!

Dear Jane inspiration – great in batiks!

 

 

 

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Quilt Inspiration – Various

More quilts that I liked from the quilt show….

Beautiful quilting in a wide border

 

From Judy Martin’s book, Scraps. Great use of scraps!

 

Churn Dash blocks = 4″

 

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Little Visitors

My nephew’s wife and children had a long 4-day trip back home this summer and we got to be one night’s stop!  The kids are great little travelers and this was a shorter drive to get to here than their other 8 or 10 hour days of driving.

Supper included fresh corn for those that wanted it and Miss L just melted into her ears of corn as if she was the melted butter!  She was delighted!

After supper, Uncle Farmer farm tour included a combine ride.  Oh the delight!  These children can smile from the inside out!  They made at least 5 loops around the bins and went a bit up the lane and turned around in the yard.  The horn worked ~ much to their giggles!  They got to see pigs and kitties too.

I gave a tour of my studio.  Their momma had never seen such a machine and the littles were thrilled to know that *I* am the one that made their quilts.  When we came back upstairs, it all clicked with Miss L and she wandered the living room noticing all the quilts, understanding a bit more about them and who made them.  🙂  Sweetness!

The next morning came with an early wake-up call as momma quickly packed up the car again.  It was a cool summer morning so I gave snuggles.   🙂     (Two of us don’t do mornings!)

And when the fleece car blanket needed to unwrap and be put in the car, I wrapped one in a quilt.  Golly, all she would have had to do was asked to keep it and I think I would have sent it home with her.  What a lovebug!

 

I’m pretty sure now they are old enough to not forget visiting with Uncle Farmer and Auntie J~!

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Wanna See Some Quilts?

I like panel quilts like this; either sewn together or hanging as separate pieces.

Here are some quilts I like, some I love, some just because maybe you’ll like them, or some to show you what might hold a ribbon…..  Some comments too.

I love wonky houses but I’ve not been to Miami.

I don’t have an Auntie Jean and neither were playing cards allowed in our house growing up, but something like this WILL be made in my lifetime. We’ll even make-believe there is a Tiffany lamp above the breakfast nook.

Quilts like this hold even 2nd place ribbons. And some readers here like celestial themed quilts.

Just wonderful tiny blocks…

Lighthouses & the sailboat in the background. Fascinating!

A quilt for Kansas…

and isn’t the ear of corn cute?

This quilt is made from 196 four-inch blocks that are done by reverse applique’. Stunning! And no ribbon.

close-up

The whole quilt & a close-up…. squares that are shaded with paintsticks or fabric paints???

More another day….

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Honored

Last weekend was the American Quilter’s Society’s international quilt show in Des Moines, Iowa.  I was HONORED to be juried into the show.  That is a huge honor!!  I assume it is tough competition though maybe they take them all.  ??? I don’t think so and will continue to believe they chose mine over others.

The show was Wednesday – Saturday and on Tuesday, I was listed as one of 168 semi-finalists!!  YAHOOOOO!!  (So even if they did jury all the entries in, at least I moved up at some point.  🙂  )  Never did I expect anything.  Just being accepted was a huge honor.  This was thrilling to be a semi-finalist. I didn’t win a ribbon, only 25 were given and I’m totally OK with that!!  Seriously, I’m not at ribbon level.

My dear friend, Sue, took me there & back (her new car gets amazing MPG!!) and we had a great time together.  She was a great photographer too.  🙂

Not exactly “my name in lights” but you know what I mean!!

Its real name is “A View Outside My Window” but I was a dork (and in a hurry to meet the deadline) when I entered it and named it “Farm Quilt” because that is what we all call it.  Whatever!  🙂

Me & my cool nametag & special ribbon!  This gave me free admission every day and several people asked about my quilt when they saw the “Contestant” ribbon.  That was so fun!

• The shop owners from nearby… but I doubt they went to see it since they had a booth there.
• Some people that saw us take the photos asked about it.
• A volunteer in the Des Moines guild show in another room asked me about it.
• And a book author from AQS asked me which was my quilt.  I started to say it is the aerial view of our family farm and she remembered it!  She compiles the yearly calenders so would have walked the show many times looking for new quilts for her books.  I heard her speak at one of my guilds this summer and also have 10 – 15  yrs of her weekly calenders that I keep as sewing journals.  She is an older lady and grew up in Wisconsin so has some farming background.  🙂

Once inside the show, we noticed that the skywalk (how we walked to the show!!) was overlooking the whole show floor.  DUH!!  We were so busy chatting and finding our way, we never looked out the windows there.  Mostly we walked passed the back of buildings & loading docks so had given up on the view, I suppose.

So that evening on our way back through the skywalk, we stopped for photos.  Plus Heather wanted to see “the whole show” so this is also special for her!  But I was excited  my quilt was placed on the correct side to be viewed.  So really for free, one could view from the windows and see a nugget of the quilts.  (but you’d miss the shoppppping – snicker, snicker!)

There were more quilts on the totally other end and the side.  The center are the vendors… did I mention the shopping?  🙂

I’ve been quoting the advertisements of “over 1000 quilts” on display.  Well, that is after you do the math.     Forgive me, I didn’t me to overstate the numbers.  There were just over 500 quilts juried into the AQS show of which I was apart. 🙂 🙂     Then in another room was the Des Moines Area Quilt Guild and they had over 500 entries there.  However, I can’t find the final number because they are not listed in numerical order.  #quizzicalface#  Who thought of that???

There were also special exhibits by various AQS authors and a special exhibit of Egyptian quilts which didn’t interest us at all.  (sorry)

More quilt photos to come and some results of visiting the vendors.  I’m trying to keep up with my husband’s schedule.  He still wants to eat!!

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Spirit of the West Exhibit

One of the special exhibits was titled, “Spirit of the West”.  From memory, I think this was a guild that had a group challenge with this theme.  Some of the quilts were western, aka cowboy styles.  I had more connection with the west as in scenery of the west.  Here are some of my favorites:

The one above is my very favorite from this exhibit!  The artist used photos printed on fabric (make me think of the myriad of my dad’s sunset photos!) and fabrics that mimic the sunsets.  I just love this!!

Just interesting fabrics and the lay of the land with subtle – simple quilting.

This one just took me… the childlike shapes, the clear colors, the purple mountain majesty!  The repeating circles are a great design element.

These were just medium wallhangings and all hung in a special area.  I would estimate (now in hindsight) that maybe there were 20 in the exhibit.  These quilts were not numbered or included in the show book.

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Show Quilts

This is very photo heavy…. continue if you wish.  🙂  If you click on the photo, you can see it bigger for more details.

I loved the quilting on this!

Yes, I keep my eye out for beautiful quilting.

Top left is a segmented quilt by an artist from Japan. The other 2 photos show a big award winner…. hexies anyone? 🙂

Various quilts I liked…

Very cute quilt in brights on white & black!

Beautiful piecing and stunning quilting!

Large assortment of quilts from the show. This one gets even bigger than the others if you click on it. Amazing work!

The front & front details of the Bernina winner. A lot of machine embroidery topped off by beautiful quilting!

The back & back detail of the previous Bernina quilt winner. Stunning!

Loved the piecing on this and the neutral colorway.

Any of these just grab your attention?  Want to make a quilt like one of these?

More to come in another post….

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MIL Treasures

My MIL delights in auctions.  DEEElights!  She knows to be on the look-out for sewing machines & quilt stuff.

I knew there was a nearby auction on Friday but I couldn’t go w/ the quilt show on my calender.  In the haste of harvest & getting my own stuff around, I forgot to call her.   However, she called me from the auction.

She said there were several treadle machines. However, I was gone until 5, Phil & FIL were swamped with harvest, and JP was at work.  So those would have to go home with someone else as she would need help in loading.

She said there was a Bicor machine. I’ve never heard of this brand.  Now I know it was made in Poland.   I haven’t had a chance to clean it or look for a manual yet.

MIL said on the phone that there was a Singer, some type of lightweight.  It was white.  I said to buy it.  HOWEVER, she brought home this HUGE suitcase like overnight bag.  Inside is a serger! LOL!!  I laughed but paid her for it as well.  I’ll get it going and look for a new home for it.

And then 3 flats of quilt tops and embroidered linens.  Jackpot here!!

A dark navy & black top made from suiting scraps.  Not sure this will ever be finished.  It is a good quilt for the trunk of your car on cold wintery drives.  🙂   I’ll be happy to finish it for anyone that wants to buy it.  The photo is of 1/4 of the top.

This next one is an older top, maybe even done for the US Bicentennial and the quilt revival then.  Red, white & blue.  It is hand-pieced and about 65″ square.   The blocks are about 19″ but even with just 4 blocks, they each vary greatly.

One of the red borders is sun damaged.  I thought maybe I could just flip to the back side of the fabric but there are also some holes in the outer border.  I think I’ll take it to a quilt shop sometime and see if they would have some red that is close to the original.

 

This is a printed table cloth but I think it would be cute quilted.

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The real beauty of the whole pile is this cross-stitched quilt.  Yummy!!

I left this photo larger if you want to click on it to see it about twice this size.  All the cross-stitch is complete in blues, greens, and a bit of lavender.  I love this!!!  MIL knows I was quite thrilled with this one!!! 🙂  It is 82″ x 98″ and I can’t wait to see this quilted and finished.

I have a remaining pile of various embroidered linens.  Some pillow tops that need finishing as well as dresser scarves and chair covers.

Here is a funny from the whole thing.  MIL was buying these piles of linens and had a stack in front of her.  A lady came up to her and asked, “What are you doing with all these pieces?”

She replied, “I give them to my daughter-in-law!”   🙂

“Wow!  You must be a really good mother-in-law.”

We laughed over that one.  She & I were both pleased.

I informed her that I’d be feeding FIL on Saturday since it was bean plot day so she was off of lunch packing & delivery duty.  She was glad for all the more time for her to be at an auction she wanted to go to.  However, even visiting 2 auctions on Saturday was nothing compared to her Friday finds.  She also had her own treasures from Friday.

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The Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show

At 5 p.m. on my 2nd day, the show & vendor hall opened.  It was in 2 ballrooms of the hotel and quilts were in both rooms as well as vendors in both rooms.  As fantastic as the international selection of teachers were, the show was small.  I heard later that the Houston show (grand mother of all quilt shows) moved their required date ahead so quilts heading to Houston could be at this show as well.

As I mentioned earlier, Sue Patton had her own special exhibit.  Claudia Pfeil entered 2 quilts and both took a first place in their category.   Some of the quilts are shown on their website.  But I still haven’t found out who won Best of Show or Viewer’s Choice.

I had stopped at my room before going to the show and then met up with Claudia when I got there.  We walked around a bit together and she showed me her newest quilt that she had entered.

The piecing, the appliqué, and the fine quilting are fantastic!!  It is stunning to see these pieces up close.

On Wednesday evening, the teachers were having a quilt-off and had 1/2 hr on various machines to quilt on a donation quilt for Quilts of Valor.  The quilts (or pillows) were auctioned off on Thursday night (after I had gone home).  That is probably best as I would have wanted to bid.

Here are my favorite teachers (Sue Patten & Claudia Pfeil) working on pillow tops.  The next day I got photos of the pillows but they were just in a pile so photos were hard to get.    I also watched Claudia on another machine quilting across a quilt but didn’t head to the other room to see others working.  I think there were 5 machine dealers there at the show.  (I’m quite happy with mine so wasn’t shopping.)

The next day I had more time to visit the vendors and vote on my favorite quilts.   I’ll collage a few of them for you.

I loved this piece that Sue Patten had entered!  It was hard to get good photos with others trying for photos too.  🙂

I finished all my gazing and shopping so decided it was time to head home.  I was thrilled to hear someone call my name and see Claudia coming down the aisle.  I asked for a photo since it was time for me to go.

She is so fun!!

A super great time was had by me!  I sure was thankful to get such a top-notch class roster so near to me.  I’ll be back next year.  🙂  Yes, I’d love to enter but I need to care for my customers this year, I think.

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