Quilts From Our Quilt Show

I haven't been doing any sewing to speak of since I finished all my quilts for the quilt show.  But I thought you might enjoy seeing some quilts from our show.  

"Perfect Form"

I loved this quilt!  It just made me smile, and it looks like it was a lot of fun to do. The guild is asking the maker to give us a class now because we all loved her quilt.

detail

I loved her use of the low volume prints for the background.

Do not adjust your monitor!  It really is a black & white quilt and this quilt was big!  It was at least queen sized, if not king sized.  It won People's Choice both days of the show.  This was made after one of the guild members gave a class at one of our workshops on the Triangle Frenzy Swirl tablerunner.  I understand the quilter found this fabric at Fabric Depot in Portland.  It really was incredible and the quilting was super, but I'm afraid it doesn't show up well in the photos I took.

This is a silk quilt, wall hanging size,  Machine embroidery (an Anita Goodneedle design).  It was going to be bigger until the maker realized that it wouldn't really survive being on the bed with her 3 cats!

Umbrella girls made with selvages.  I don't know if you can see it, but the quilter added a little duck with an umbrella on the bottom border.  This quilt is very 'Seattle'!

The Fisherman's Quilt

Made for a nephew, this is an original pattern.  It's very Gee's Bend-like to me.  It has flannel, denim and  wool on the front and leopard-print Minkee on the back. 

I love the quilting in the border of this string quilt as well as the black and white dots!

Believe it or not, this is a charity quilt!  It is lap quilt-sized.  I love the pieced ducks!  We have a lady in our guild that only wants to make quilts,  She makes most of our guild's charity quilts, and has made over 100 quilts this year alone.  We give to a number of local charity organizations, We think she is quite amazing and so talented.

Made by the same quilter as above, and this is also a charity quilt.  It is probably a queen-size quilt.   I believe this is a pattern from Judy Martin called "Shakespeare In The Park" from her book The Creative Pattern Book.

This beautiful quilt was in the booth of our scissor sharpening vendor (Ewok's Eversharp).   His wife (and sadly, I didn't get her name) came up with this design she based on the  Log Cabin With A Twist.  

I survived jury duty last week.  It was tough!  I had to get up so very early, 4:30 am (I'm usually a late sleeper) to be able to leave the house early enough to miss the worst of the traffic, and then drive for an hour in bad-to-terrible traffic.  And parking was a pain in the patooti - 100 free spaces for 300 jurors.  Not my idea of a fun time.  Yes, I'm whining.  But the process itself was really interesting and not uncomfortable at all.  Just lots of waiting.  Now I've been excused for this week because I'm not feeling too well.  Exposed to too many different germs last week maybe?  I just hope I don't feel too bad for too long.  I've got sewing to do!

Vintage Eye Candy

I've been sewing and sewing, but since I'm only making parts and pieces so far, there are no photos to share with you.  So, since I'm sorely lacking in any good blog material, I thought I would share some pictures of vintage quilts with you.  Unfortunately, in the case of these quilts, I didn't manage to get a photo of the entire quilt, but I got some closeups, mostly because I love looking at all the vintage fabrics!  I hope you'll enjoy them too.

These quilts were in the bed turning in our local quilt show in October.  If you don't know what a bed turning is, I'll explain.  When I first came to the Pacific Northwest, I'd never heard of a bed turning.  I had visions of putting a bed with wheels in the middle of the floor and turning it all around.  To perhaps view a quilt on the bed from all angles?  *giggle*  I had no idea!  I'd never heard of or seen a bed turning in California, but I've seen them done at a lot of the quilt shows in this area.  Do you ever see them where you live?  I'm just curious.

Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt

How a bed turning is done:  First, you take all the quilts and layer them on the bed.  Then the audience sits on chairs placed around the bed while one person reads the story about the quilt (from the owner or maker of the quilt) while two other people (the "holders") hold up the top edge of the quilt to show it to all the viewers.  Then the holders "turn down" or fold the quilt down to the foot of the bed to expose the next quilt in the pile.

GFG closeup

Usually the quilts tend to be antiques or vintage but this year our theme was "quilts with stories".  Because, really, isn't that what we all want to know?  Who's grandma made it, where and when did they live, or did you find this for an incredible price at Goodwill or a yard sale?  Whatever your story was, we wanted to know.

sorry about the shadow

I love these bright fabrics, and the rather random placement of some of them.  Fun!

Isn't that misplaced polka dot fun?

We had a lot of people come to watch the bed turning, which we had 3 times a day during the quilt show.  There were a lot of people who didn't know what a bed turning was, but they came out of curiosity and just loved the little show!   There was a lot of comments and interaction between the audience and the reader and "holders" and that was fun.  No one else wanted to be the reader so I usually read the stories, which meant that I didn't get to see the quilts very well.  The last showing on the last day, I had someone else read the stories and I was a "holder".  I took these photos as we were folding up the quilts after the show.

quilt with string blocks

This was an interesting quilt.  It was found at a garage sale a few years ago.  It has another quilt inside of it!  In places you could kind of see another pattern through the top fabrics, and there were some fabrics where you could see some printing, which I think must have been feed sacks.  This quilt was very heavy!

string stars

This quilt is owned by the same person as the other string quilt above, and was also purchased at the same garage sale.  It also has another quilt inside!  I'm guessing both quilts were made by the same quilter.  This quilt was a little more used and there were a couple of spots that were coming unstitched so that I could peek inside.  I could see another quilt inside that was pieced and quilted, but quite worn out.   Both of these string quilts were the ultimate in scrap quilting!

By the way, the oldest quilt in our bed turning this year was a top, purportedly made by the mother or grandmother of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame.  It had been passed down in the family for many generations.  It was very thin and frail fabrics, and it was believable (to me) that it just possibly could have been from the late 1700's.  It was a pieced pattern (all by hand, of course) in burgundy and white solid fabrics.  Dumb me, I didn't get a picture!

At Long Last. . . .

Yes, I know what you're thinking - "what took her so long to post the stuff about the quilt show?"  Well, I'm claiming an overdose. . .of "too much"!  I got through the quilt show and have just kind of wilted this week.  I just can't seem to focus on anything much - I feel like I'm just kind of "floating" through life this week.  I still have quilts and stuff all over the living room, and I don't care.  I did get to the grocery store and got my laundry done, but other than that, not too much has been accomplished.  And you know what?  I'm not stressing about it.  This has been a very busy year getting ready for the quilt show, and I'm just taking the week off!  And maybe part of next week too.

So, I think the quilt show was a success!  No one asked me "what were you thinking?!" about my quilts.  And I only heard positive comments, although there were a few people pondering how I did the letters on my quilts.  I was quick to tell them, and show them Tonya's Word Play book.  And some people actually wrote the information down!  (there may be an uptick in sales of your book this week, Tonya!)  I had Gwen Marston's books, Liberated Quiltmaking II and Liberated String Quilts with me also, for anyone wanting further information.  Many of the quilters thanked me for having the books there.

So, on to the good stuff - the pictures!

We'll start here.  This is where we had the bed turning (a showing of antique quilts that are layered on the bed).  That is my indigo quilt on the wall behind the bed (covering an ugly picture), and lots of my little quilts are laying on the table.  I've got my quilts with the vintage 30's fabrics on the quilt rack in the background.  The orange quilt (cat with pumpkin) on the front of the table was my most popular little quilt - I actually got a few offers to buy it! (But it's not for sale, and I no longer have the pattern - very sad)

Here's my Puss in the Corner quilt.

The Doodle Bugs wall quilt and one of my string quilts.

The Bullseye quilt "Polka Dot Frenzy" and then the two little quilts from the Liberated Amish challenge.

"Happy Scraps", the crumb quilt.  I was asked a few questions about the term "crumbs".  Most of the quilters smiled at the explanation. LOL

"Evening Fields", the Half Log Cabin quilt.  This is the biggest quilt I've made.

The Halloween quilt, a Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern.  Down in the right-hand corner you can see part of the little bench that DH made for me many years ago and which I stenciled, with one of my little stuffed bunnies sitting there.

I grouped most of the liberated quilts together.  Oh, I forgot to say earlier - I got an Honorable Mention on Snuggle at the Western Washington Fair, and I got a Third Place ribbon on the liberated log cabins Lib Logs and Prosper.

Some of my older wall quilts and the little lap quilt.  Sorry this picture is so dark.  The overhead light was out.

Another of the string quilts along with the I Spy quilt.  A lot of people really liked that wild string quilt!

And lastly, my wall of wall quilts!  You can also see the other end of the bench with my long-legged bunny hanging out there.

And I thought I'd show you Vonda's One Block Wonder quilt.  She won Viewer's Choice all 3 days!

I had a lot of fun at the quilt show.  My sister came up to visit for Saturday and Sunday, and I had lots of family and friends come by to see the show too, which was nice.  Most of them had never seen my quilts.

I also read the histories of the antique quilts during the Bed Turning, and we had a lot of fun with that.  Even 10 years ago, I couldn't have done that for being so shy.  I guess I have to say I'm over it now!

So, big sigh, and now back to my regularly scheduled life!  I'm so ready to do some other things, and sew some new projects!

Come See My Quilts!

This weekend, October 12, 13 and 14, is my guild's quilt show and I'm the Featured Quilter!  I'll have my liberated quilts there, as well as the rest of my quilts.  I'd love to show them to you.

Snuggle

If you live anywhere in the greater Seattle area, I'd love to see you at the quilt show.  It will be at Buckley Hall, 127 N River Ave. in Buckley, Washington.  Don't worry - there will be lots of signs to help you find it.   The hours are Friday 10 - 6, Saturday 10 - 6 and Sunday 10 - 4.

Besides me and my quilts, we've got some great vendors, Challenge quilts, demos, a cute Autumn make & take, and lots of quilts!  If you bring a non-perishable food item, you'll receive a free fat quarter of fabric. (up to 3 items)  Plus, we've got 3 raffle quilts and 2 raffle baskets - and one of them is filled with batiks!  (That batik one will get my money!)

Hope to see you there!

Scattered Thoughts

The weather has cooled off here, and we're back to our usual weather of cool and cloudy.  *Whew!*  Some of us like it hot, but it's not me!  The little flower was happy to be cooler too!

Here's a present I made for my friend K's birthday.  It's been delivered now so I can show you the photo.  This is the Open Wide Zipper Pouch that I found a tutorial for over at Noodle Head.  The tutorial is so well written and easy to understand that this went together with no problems at all!  Go take a look over at Noodle-Head - Anna has a whole bunch of tutorials for cute, useful things.

I used that great fabric that I found at Walmart, and I also found the lime green zipper and cute striped and dotted buttons there too.  K really likes lime green!

And this pouch really does open wide!  You can see into the very corners, so nothing will escape your scrutiny.   I made the small size and it's just right for carrying your cosmetics.  Next time I think I'll make a bigger size - Anna has directions for 3 sizes!

I'm still plugging away on my Witch's Pantry.  Here I'm tea-dyeing the computer-printed labels for the spell ingredients.  I did a test first to see if the printing ran in the dye process - it didn't!  The printer fabric was so white that it looked weird on the jars, so I was hoping the tea dye would tone it down and make it look "older".  I think it looks pretty good.  Ooops, forgot to take a close-up shot of the jars and labels.  Next time, OK?

So, now my jars are labeled and on shelves.  That wasn't too bad.  Now I'm working on making a chair.  I made a rough sample, just to understand how it was going to work.  No, you don't get to see it - it was really rough!  I learned a lot though, and hopefully will have something to show in a few days.

This weekend I need to turn in some quilts for the Western Washington Fair, and I had the sudden thought that maybe those quilts should have some labels on them!  So I'm trying to get some labels made.  Why do I wait until the last minute??

This weekend is also the big Pacific Northwest Quilt Show in Tacoma.  I had to miss it last year, so I'm looking forward to going this time!  I understand it's a good show, and pretty big for this area.  Whoo hoo!  Anyone else from this area going to be there on Friday?

Happy quilting!

Quilt Show Part Deux

I'm finally getting back to the rest of the quilt show photos.  Real Life sometimes takes priority over blogging, for some strange reason.  Had to get some things attended to, like doing taxes and taking care of some "house" problems.  But, we're all squared away now, so back to the quilt show!

My apologies for the less-than-ideal photos.  And don't forget, all the photos can be clicked on to "biggify" them, and some of them can be further enlarged by another click. 

This post is the art quilts and the liberated quilts.  First up, the art quilts:

Woven Wishes by Maurine Roy

 Maurine was the featured quilter at the show, and all of her quilts were outstanding.  These two are just my personal favorites.

August Heat by Maurine Roy



August Heat detail




Tipitapa by Tamara Nelson

  This quilt depicts three homes made of scrap materials in a dump community outside of Managua, Nicaragua.



Palouse by Cindy Gilbrough


And now, my favorites of all, the more liberated quilts:

Balance . . . Unbalance by Donna DeShazo



Lavender Fields on Whidbey Island by Dorothy LeBoeuf

 This quilt was started in a workshop on intuitive landscape quilting with Jean Wells.

Sunlight and Shadow by Cindy Gilbrough



Sunlight and Shadow detail

Cat by Dorothy LeBoeuf

 This quilt was started in a workshop on piecing with solids taught by Gwen Marston.

Cat detail



City Lights by Cindy Gilbrough

 This quilt is from a class with Gwen Marston.  I love the addition of the wonky star . . . a nice touch of whimsy!

X's and O's by Dorothy LeBoeuf

This quilt was started in a workshop with Freddie Moran.

Now, back to Real Life again.  Hopefully I'll something to show by the end of the week.

Quilt Show and More Chicken Quilts

Recently I attended this year's Quilt Show by Quilter's Anonymous in Monroe, WA.  They had the most wonderful chicken quilts at their show last year, and there were some more this year as well, although not as many.   But still lots of beautiful, inspiring quilts.  Here are just a few of my favorites.


Orange-a-licious by Judy Irish

8160 by Mary Ann Johnson  63" x 87"

I think this one qualifies as the ultimate scrap quilt!  And yes, it contains 8160 pieces!

This is a detail shot showing the 1 inch triangles, all vintage fabrics from the 30's 40's and 50's.

Birdie by Linda Ostroff



Boomerang Back to You by Cathleen Katte

Done in the style of the Pacific Northwest Native Americans.



Chicken Buffet ala Lisa by Lisa Halter

I didn't get a shot of every chicken, but here's a few detail shots.  I like this quilter's sense of humor!

Chicken Chow Mein



Chicken Divan

Chicken in a Basket

Hawaiian Chicken

Stewed Chicken

Chicken Gumbo

Fleur by Ada Wright, 9 years old

Folk Art Cats by Carolann Palmer

I love how her cornerstones are all different patterns, and that many of the cats' accessories go outside the boundary of the blocks.  Very fun!

Hen House by Ruth Van Dyke

I love the hatching egg!

I have more photos that I'll be sharing over the next few days, so stay tuned!