Quilt Show at Stephen Foster State Park

The Suwannee River Quilt Show & Sale was held last weekend in White Springs, FL, at the Stephen Foster State Park.This is a must-go annual event for me, whether I am participating or, as this year, just going to enjoy the quilts.
If you're thinking "Way Down Upon the Suwannee River" you have it right....the park is all about the popular songwriter of the 1800's.
This delightful couple were adding some local color as they appeared at different places around the park. Love that banjo music!
And what is that in the background?
Why, it's the newest FL vendor, the Quilt Trolley! Yes, it can be driven around anywhere to deliver bolts of fabric and other quilting needs. When I get the whole story about this couple from Lutz, I'll fill you in! (No, that is not the same couple as the musicians!)
I did a miserable job of getting the info on these wonderful quilts. I apologize to all the artists and makers. I hope I hear from the artist who made the quilt above...I think I know who it is!
One of the great things about this show is they have something for everybody. If you like art quilts, you'll see fine examples of personal expression and embellishments.
And if you like traditional or vintage styles, there are always quilts like this. The butterflies were made by people from her family, and she completed the quilt.

There are some truly dedicated hand quilters...good ones!...in this area, and the Best of Show was a perfect example:

This is "Blooms and Baskets" by Itsuko Andrews. The applique done in a stunning array of fabrics, carefully chosen to give depth and detail to each flower. And it was topped off with wonderful quilting (if only my camera been able to capture it!).
I especially like that each square with a basket had a different pattern of background stitching.

Here is another quilt made by the same lady. Great color and applique, of course...that black background always makes colors sing!...but take a look at the borders between the outer row and inner section.

That's a stripe made of little flowers and other motifs on a black background. So the seam disappears into the plain black fabric behind the applique, and gives the effect of a very tiny run of pattern floating between the squares.

This is how you learn at a quilt show: see something pretty, then look to see how it was done. I would never be able to do this sort of applique, but the idea of matching the background color of a print with some plain fabric to get a floating effect...now that's something I would do!

What a fun collaborative quilt from a group in Trenton! Each block portrays a song from the 50s or 60s...this is called "Rock Around the Quilt". Elvis is well represented with a hound dog and some blue suede shoes. There's also a Flying Purple People Eater and Puff the Magic Dragon. A list of songs was hanging by the quilt so everyone could have fun playing the match game!
The group quilts really caught my eye, because here is "Lotto Xmas" by Kim Conner.
I just happen to love this pattern, and the bright holiday prints were soooo cheerful! These blocks all had their own framing borders, so when put together they have a neat double-sashing effect.
Ann Opgenorth always has at least one huge applique quilt. This is "Sandhill Cranes" (she also had another of "Appalachian Animals"). The detail is amazing and invites closer viewing. She also designs and makes metal sculptures...I would love to see them! What doesn't show up on this cropped shot of the quilt is how she uses the quilting patterns to continue the picture and motifs out to the edge of the quilt. This is the creation of a real artist.

Another artist (and a friend) is Sandy Lindfors. She had a couple of good pieces in the show and actually covered a great range of styles! Here is "Faces in My Head"...let's get a closer look....
What fun to see so many people looking out, all done in varigated threads!

"Barns Are The Heart Of America" by Sally Bowman is a study in how to take a pre-printed fabric and turn it into truly creative work. She found a fabric with barns from Ohio (yes, I immediately recognized the Round Barn in the upper right here) and cut it up to re-arrange and add other appliques to form new scenes.
What a great selection of smaller pieces! And you know I love animals! "Sonny in the Jungle" by Joyce Marie Lottinville has such pretty colors. "Molly Want a Cracker" by Sandy Lindfors was a experiment in the stained glass style. And "Love Me--Love My Pets" by Rosilyn Blanck features several dogs and a cat done in thread work. Rosilyn has a line of patterns showing different dog breeds done in thread painting.

Well, no show is complete without a Challenge of some kind, and the Lady of the Lake Guild (Lake City) had their projects from this year, to make a quilt from a book. There were lots of clever representaions of both children's and adult books.

But this is one from somebody who was reading the Pogo comics:

That gator's pink hat got my attention, so we must have a closer look....oh, my!

Check out that stogie he's smoking! This is so funny and well done!
I am really sorry I did not get the maker's name!

There is less than one month left for Florida Quilt Show Season. It will end with the new, to FL, World Quilt & Textile Show in West Palm Beach next month, and pick up again in January next year.
I hope you go to a show soon...every show is worth seeing! No matter how small, there is always something waiting to be seen, something that has a good lesson for you to learn, something that has laughter and beauty to share.

Posting poltergeist!

Yes, friends, it seems I have a ghost in my blog that would not let me write anything without turning all my text into a link to...I don't know what that was! I sure was not going to click on it!
And I was not going to run the risk of any of you having some weirdness...
other than my own usual weird, which I hope is ultimately harmless!
And here I am with all these quilt show pictures to share from the Suwannee River Show! There was also a problem connected with those loading.

This post seems to be alright, so I will try a quick pic of Shayla:

She does not seem to approve of the agenda for the guild meeting!
Maybe she does not realize all eating and napping at the meeting is done at each member's own discretion, and does not need to be an agenda item.

OK, sorry for this sort of post, but as I said, I have to be sure things are working safely for all of us!

Time flies when you're quiltin'...

Now what happened to all those Big Plans I had about blogging the whole QuiltFest experience?

I guess you got as much as I could do this year. But there are more quilting adventures ahead!

This is what I have in my sights right now:

Yes, in just a few weeks I'll be headed for the hills...literally!...and a wonderful week of teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School!

The last time I was teaching there I designed a quilt that tells the story of how the school was founded. It was a Mystery Quilt, and we had a great time.
But this year I'm blowing it wide open!

Yes, we'll have the original 9-block quilt (no longer a mystery!) as a starting point, but I have also planned about 30 more blocks that refer to the history, classes and places around the Folk School. I'm bringing instructions to make just about anything...a wall hanging, table runner, pillows...so we'll be designing and sewing all sorts of projects that tell each person's own Campbell School story!

This is the original quilt, which I now call The MorningSong Quilt. One of the school's traditions is joining together in the morning before breakfast to listen to a variety of stories and songs about the area. A different person leads MorningSong each day, and my favorite is when the director Jan Davidson tells about how John Campbell met Olive Dame, they married, and in time the school was formed.

The location for MorningSong is the Community Room at the Keith House. Just about everything important for getting people together happens there...music, dancing, the end-of-week class show & closing ceremony. It has always been at the heart of the school, as well as the local Brasstown community.

This is Keith House:

Well, this is part of Keith House...it's a very large place!
As something special for this class, I have designed a block to represent Keith House...or at least, to keep it simple, what I consider to be the main entrance. It will be fun to make and can be either pieced or appliqued, as well as (in fact it begs for) embellishments!

In the near future, I'll be showing you some of the steps that go into designing a quilt block.
And I'll be taking my computer so I can post from the school...and even better, I'll be taking Cherry-Cherry along as my teacher assistant, which I get to have because the class is filled!
I am really looking forward to meeting my new friends and students on November 1st!

At the Quilt Show!

QuiltFest has come and gone by the time I got to write this post, but we'll spend a few more days looking at what was going on.
There were 465 quilts in the final count for the competition...well, some were competing for ribbons and prizes, but the rest of us were just sharing our latest efforts!
Here is "Roxanne's Honeymoon":
And hanging next it it is the infamous The Black T-Shirt Quilt:
I received many nice comments on both, but The Black T-Shirt Quilt was really fun. Some people called it The Star Wars Quilt, lots of people liked the "10 Reasons to Procrastinate" block, and one lady was delighted to find out that it really was the Celtic rock band 7 Nations shirt used in there.
This "Lazy Log Cabin" by Nan Moore. What fun! Check out her new book of free motion quilting patterns, quilt appraisals, classes and long arm quilting at Moore & Moore Quilts.
Did you collect a lot of those Japanese neutral colors? So did Pat A.!

"Where Did the Yellow Go?" by Elaine S. gives us a set of vintage blocks with a striking way of using the between-block seams as a design element.

Several members of my guild made quilts from the Japanese Puzzle pattern. Margaret S. added a rice bowl, embellished with beads for rice!

"Sunflowers, Sunshine & Daisies" by Margaret H. made a fantastic show at the end on one aisle.

Pat D's "The Hundred Year Quilt" is a great example of how black makes colors sparkle.

Simple quilts are an important part of any show. This was done by John M. who is about 9 years old, and obviously a Gators fan!
Ocean life is an ever-popular theme, as beautifully shown by Arlene B. with "Living Jewels of the Deep" in the Large Art Quilts category.

"Pledge to the Earth" by Gretchen J. gives us a timely message and delightful use of lettering on a quilt.

This is entirely beaded! "The Divine Miss M" by Bonnie Ouellette is divine indeed!

"Misty Mountain Flowers" was designed Kitty Gonzalez and made by her guild...who remained nameless on the information tag! I saw this beauty at both check-in and judging and was happy to have a chance for a longer look at the show. Here's a closer look for you:
That is some fantastic machine quilting!
I'd have to say there have been incredible advances in machine quilting over the last few years. It's a noticable improvement at most quilt shows.

Many shows have a Challenge. This year's theme was "Recycling the Past". Since I'm a button lover, I really enjoyed this quilt by Dawn O. "Buttons and Beads In A Rusty Box".

Stay tuned for some more views around the show!

Quilt Show Countdown: The Preview Party

Is the Preview Party the end of the countdown or the beginning of the show?
I'm not sure, but it's a wonderful event...the best time to see the quilts and take some photos. There were two tables with hot hors d'oeuvres, a cash bar, and a fabulous display of Pat Styring's quilts.
The Prime Osborne Convention Center (Jacksonville ,FL) is the remodeled central train station from years ago, so it has some interesting areas. This was the main lobby at the front of the building, and it's a lovely place with huge windows and beautiful light.

But who cares about all that when there's a quilt show to see? Right inside the door, once again, are the tables for the "seven sister guilds" that work together to put on QuiltFest. Behind each table is the guild's raffle quilt, so the show is the last opportunity to sell tickets, as all the quilt drawings are the last day of the show.
I am so pleased that I remembered to put my sticky return address labels in my purse...no strenuous work filling in those tickets for me!

Here's the Quilters Walk with about 70 baskets of goodies. They are assembled and donated by guilds, individuals and businesses. You can buy 50 tickets for $5 and put as many as you like in a drawing for whichever baskets you like. This is a huge fundraiser, with the money going to educational grants for the guilds.
A brief stop at my guild's table!

But I know what you really want to see is the Best of Show, so here it is:

"Aunt Mimi's Flower Garden" by Elsie Campbell of Dodge City, Kansas.
I was alerted by faithful Patchwork Pie reader AnotherPat that this quilt was discussed in depth on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims (visit Pat at Another Patch by AnotherPat ).
The quilting is perfection, with a variety of motifs, and the applique work is incredible. It was done by machine, even though everyone was saying it was done by hand! All the curved bias work is nice and round and the binding is set off with a tiny piping.
This IS what wins the big awards: many techniques done very well!The design is actually alternating blocks set on point, but if you didn't know that you'd never guess it. On the applique flower blocks here, the small flowers are in the corners (where the green bias touches) , and the seam goes along those feathered quilt motifs....you'd never see it if you weren't looking very close!
Here's a view from the back, which is all white. The colors you see are from the fabric on the front...it must have a very thin/light batting.

There will be time to show more quilts later, but this one is very special. It is "Mail Call" by Julie Mainor, and owned by Cherry-Cherry:
The light colors & values invite a more careful look, and the emotion begins to pour out of this piece.

Though I'm sure those who arrived when the party started were pleased, but the food wasn't very hot or plentiful by the time we got there. Rita had a great idea! When the party was over and we'd seen all the quilts, we headed out to an upscale restaurant called b.b.'s and had some fabulous dessert!
Now that's what I call a great Girl's Night Out, complete with some fancy plate art!

Quilt Show Countdown: Sell that quilt!

The "Sale Room" at QuiltFest is a great place because it has plenty of bargains, and is a great way for the QF guild members to sell some finished quilts, tops, block collections, or complete kits or UFOs with all the fabrics.
That often gets directly translated into how much money a person can spend in the merchants' mall, but isn't that good for the economy?
Today Cherry-Cherry and I went down to check in the items we're selling. If we're lucky, none of them will have to be picked up on Sunday!

Here are the things I'm selling this year:This is a cross-stitch top from my mother's stash. She did not make the 12 blocks, but did add the sashing. Whoever buys this will do whatever they want with it! The Sale Room (it's a booth, not a separate room) is a fine opportunity to sell class samples, especially ones that I will never be teaching again. This is a wall hanging sized item. If it were much smaller, it would not be allowed in the Sale Room, as small quilts are requested to be donated to the Silent Auction for charity.
They are also very hard to display in a way people can see them among all the larger quilts for sale. People working in the Sale Room (each guild has an assigned day to provide the volunteers) spend a lot of time opening and folding quilts, talking to potential buyers, and being amazed!

It's Card Tricks, QIAD style! This was the required beginners class at a Big Box store where I no longer teach. It was a nice class, but an extremely poor replacement for the beginners class I designed and taught there for several years before the Corporate Office decided they should control everything.
Another sample from the same place, it's a M'Liss Rae quilt...they do love the "celebrity tie-in". I am so glad NOT to be teaching there (ah, four years of freedom, and I'd never go back)(all I miss are the students who became friends!).
My bad...I just realized I had offered this lap quilt for sale last year, and we are not supposed to have any "repeats" in the Sale Room. If nobody likes it this year...and it's all about Mexican food, so what's not to like???...it will become a Christmas present. Just as the Card Tricks will be a baby gift....this is The End for all my Big Box samples!

Here's one called "La Chocolada" from the Janet Jones Worley book Quilts for Chocolate Lovers (2001 AQS).

Very festive colors, and a great striped binding that I made extra wide.

I don't do many quilts from books or other people's patterns any more. I like to design my own and build up the line of patterns I'm publishing.

I still like this one very much. It's a block design from Quilters Newsletter many years ago, in a setting of my own design that I did for a Personalized Mystery Quilt class a few years back.

Some people make really great quilts (all sizes!) for the Sale Room, and there are a few other items, too. When the show opens on Thursday morning, there will be a dedicated group who will rush in the door and make a bee-line for the sale room to see what antique quilts & tops are being offered!
This really is a great win-win...good bargains for those who want to buy a top to finish or a completed quilt, the quilters who can make some many back from their craft, and QuiltFest, which gets a 10% commision.

It's true, I have a hard time letting go of my quilts. Sometimes that's because I might need them for another class or program, and sometimes it's just hard to decide who to give one to.
But my collection, which is stored on and threatening to collapse the stairway railing, has to be winnowed out.
Though glancing at it right now, you'd never know I had removed anything!
This is really, really going back! The angel comes from Judy Hopkin's One of a Kind Quilts (1989, That Patchwork Place). If you see this old book, get it! There are some great design concepts.
I taught this many times in quilt shops (not the Big Box!) and it was fun to get different personalities going for the angel so she wouldn't be just a holiday decor. And since I have several, this small one will be given to the Silent Auction (more about that in another post...it's nice to have a charity event at a show).

Tonight is the Preview Party, so I'll start taking and posting pictures from the show!

Quilt Show Countdown: Hang 'Em High!

Quilt Show week: Tuesday
On Monday the convention center's main display room was set with "Pipe & Drapes" in preparation for the quilts' delivery.
Early this morning the quilts were set out, snug in their bags, at the place each would be hung.
This is how the room looked when I arrived:
It's a big space to fill, but like magic it gets more colorful as the quilts go up and the various areas receive their tables, chairs and other equipment.

By the time the Preview Party starts tomorrow, this area will have all the Quilters' Walk baskets (more on that later!), the show's official booth, and the member guilds' raffle quilts all on display.

The exciting news this year is a new hanging system!
Gone are the long aluminum poles that had to be selected to match the width of the quilt, and the hooks & chains that suspended the poles from the pipe.
Goodbye to the step stools and ladders, and the many trips up & down to get the quilts hanging at the proper level!

The new system uses a pole that is like a curtain rod. Sections can be put together to make the needed width. A small hook goes into the slotted back of the pole, one on each end, catching the fabric of the hanging sleeve, and a third in the center for those giant bed-size quilts. The hooks are attached to a "lanyard", an adjustable cord with a large hook at the top to go over the pipe.
A person at each side of the quilt uses a rod to lift the hook/ pole/quilt up to the pipe, and ...ta da!...the quilt is now hanging! The lanyards can be adjusted if needed to get the quilt at the right distance from the top or floor.
The pieces were all set out for each quilt, and we worked our way along each aisle, first spreading out the white sheet, then taking the quilt out of its bag.

One team would get the quilt ready. Here you can see the pole in the sleeve. Then another team came along and used their rods to lift the quilts up onto the pipes.

All the bags, with their numbered tags attached, are kept during the show, sorted by category number into laundry baskets. This makes it easy to match each quilt to its bag before the show comes down.

The large and intermediate size quilts go up fairly easily, but those small and miniature quilts take a long time to hang! There is quite a lot of fussing to get them pinned and arranged in a pleasing way. We can take a look at that during the show.
I am very grateful to the people who have who have the patience for that job!

Meanwhile, here is the row where the winning quilts are hung, separating the main show (black drapes) from the merchants' area (white drapes).

Best of Show formerly has hung on a special stand at the front of the show, but this year it will be in the center of the "winners' row". The light is actually better there, so it's a good move.
Where is it? You'll have to wait until tomorrow night after the Preview Party when I post again!
But even though I will have lots to show & tell, I promise I won't make you wait to see it.