Today was the 15th annual quilt show in our little town. It's held in a small church and the quilts are quite crowded together with very little room to step back and take a good picture.
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| Vintage Reproduction |
I'm not actually part of the local quilting guild, but they are very generous to open up the quilt show to other local quilters--an open invite actually. I used to be extremely nervous about entering my quilts into the show because my style is
so extremely different than theirs, but I loosened up a couple years ago when I realized that at least a few of the guild members seem to enjoy my quilts. There are a million times I've wished I could be a fly on the wall when they hang my quilts. What do they honestly think? hehe Better not to know sometimes! My mom has encouraged me the most, saying, it's always good to have something different to look at, compare with and maybe even shake things up a bit. lol
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| Vintage Reproduction |
The previous picture is actually taken at home--I wanted to show one pic with a closer view of the quilting. I'm really, really happy with the way this quilt turned out. The quilting on the last border about gave me a panic attack after I had gotten it washed and dried. But long story short? I went back and added in a couple hours extra quilting.
Now I'm happy. That thing about quilting evenly throughout the entire quilt? It does matter.
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| Vintage Reproduction |
I usually try to enter three or four quilts if I've managed to finish that many in the last year. My
Monkey Wrench is very dark quilt, but I thought is looked very nice regardless. Funny how much lighter it looks without the borders pictured!
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| Monkey Wrench |
I also entered my Antique Medallion quilt which looks happy and bright.....
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| Antique Medallion |
and then of course there is Sew Charming! I definitely wanted to put this fun little scrappy finish in the quilt show too! Had to borrow it back for a few days in order to do that of course!
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| Sew Charming |
Just a few other quilts caught my attention today. This one was very interesting to me. Love the ladies!
This 30's reproduction quilt looked so sweet and wonderful, especially with the light streaming through the window behind it.
I thought whoever made the star quilt below has an excellent eye for combining complimentary colors. It really had a lovely zing to it!
Then there was this hexie quilt that I just wanted to bundle up and take home. I had a horrible time getting a decent picture of it because it kept looking so washed out, but finally I got one close up that shows a little of the quilty goodness that I so admired...
I meant to take a picture of the explanation pinned to this scrappy 'historical' quilt below, but like always, I forgot. Taking pictures is definitely secondary to checking out the quilts, at least in my book! The story behind this quilt was something about a specific challenge to the quilters involved (possibly the first quilt guild in the town?). I think they got a dollar for every piece of fabric in their block and then the person who had the most pieces in 'her block', got to keep the quilt as well! Talk about incentive!
The block with the least pieces of fabric had 15 pieces I believe (it's the block in the far left corner of the prev. pic). Not too shabby, right?
Well, then you got to looking (they embroidered the number below their blocks) and wow! These ladies got very creative with such a little space!
I adored these blocks with the pieced baskets! They were absolutely fabulous! And the fan below was very sweet too in a blendy, blendy way.
But this lady below? Wowsers, she ended up with 300 pieces of fabric in her block! It was so fun to check this quilt out and see how inventive they all were. If you look closely, this block below has fans carefully pieced into the corners. Overall, This quilt was my absolute fave in the whole entire show! So much fun!
So yeah, very enjoyable day! My oldest daughter got first place in the 5k and almost all my kids played on one of the 3on3 teams of basketball. Crazy, busy hot Summer day. Right now everyone's trying to recover from the 100 degree heat and rest up for the fireworks later on....
I'm sure your quilts were very impressive to the show lookers. They are wonderful! Thanks for showing the others too. I do love the last one.
ReplyDeleteYour quilts are very beautiful, I love them all. XXX
ReplyDeleteWow, you finish that many quilts in a year? Sometimes I only manage 1..... They are lovely, very special quilts, great colors. And thanks for showing some of the quilts from the show, always inspriring to see other work.
ReplyDeleteI love your quilts and they would have been admired for sure. That scrappy quilt is wonderful!! Fancy fitting in 300 pieces of fabric in one block.
ReplyDeleteI love all your quilts. I do not belong to the local quilt guild - just about all of them are not into hand work at all - only machine - and most do not even quilt their own quilts. I really find I have little in common with them. When they have their workshops or someone come show a technique it is never something I am interested in and they are not interested in mine. I tried it two times in the past 15 years and both times didn't even last 6 months before I was forgetting the day they met and didn't go.
ReplyDeleteGreat quilts. I love the last one and all the different ways they managed to get lots of pieces into the blocks. I've seen a similar concept before at a show here - you're right about the incentive!
ReplyDeleteYour quilts look amazing! Surely they are honored to hang your work with theirs! The last quilt is really fun, thanks for sharing it. I really enjoy the detail photos, so much to look at!
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. I believe what's favored these days - in my area anyway - are the bright, high-contrast quilts, art quilts,and modern quilts. My quilts often look so dull when hanging next to these stunning pieces. But I show them anyway, because I think its important that we all show what we're drawn to, and to represent more variety. Also because I think I'm a bit of a rebel ~ I bet your quilts are admired much more than you know.
ReplyDeleteYour Vintage Repro turned out great, and I agree about the extra quilting in the border. Your Antique Medallion is also stunning! Who would not want to view these quilts?
Great view of some interesting quilts. Thanks.
And why aren't you a member of your guild? Just asking....
Wow- some fantastic quilts there (including all of yours naturally!) I am really loving the hexie quilt!
ReplyDeleteI think that if quilters keep putting quilts in shows that steer away from traditional and have a more modern twist eventually we can change the way quilt shows look! Good on you for being one of the pioneers!
Your vintage reproduction quilt is fabulous! The stitching is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAll are such pretty quilts. The "historical" quilt is quite a treasure. Never seen one like this before.
What a treat for the eyes! Your work is beautiful. Thank you so much for the pictures. Take care, Byrd
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all these goodies - not least your own!
ReplyDeleteYour Vintage Repro and your Antique medallion are my favourites, well done on having them in the exhibition.
ReplyDeleteAnd that quilt with the dollies around the edge is lovely too.
PS. so enjoying your thoughts on Fabric buying & fabric stash...also enjoying reading the comments.
LOVE your quilts! You should not be at all shy to share them - they are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, showing your quilts! They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like that vintage 'contest' quilt - very cool story with it.
Thanks so much for sharing they tires today, you've had a very productive week.
Love seeing your non-traditional traditional quilts! Yay for sticking with one's muse!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Well done to you and all participants.
ReplyDeleteYour hand quilting is amazing Audrey! I like every single quilt you entered, and the ones you have featured on your blog that you didn't enter! As the saying goes... "do what you love, love what you do." How appropriate for the individual talent of quilters everywhere!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic show! I'd love to hear more about what you have learned about "quilt evenly" and what that means in terms of design and technique...
ReplyDeleteYou have so many awesome quilts but I can see that Vintage Reproductions is a favourite!! It's really beautiful.
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