Quilts!!!

I've been to a quilting show!

Yesterday afternoon was so fun! Armed with a camera, I spent almost 2 hours snapping pictures, and talking with the quilters at this show.

The quilt show took place at our library. (Well, one of our libraries. We go to ...let me count...five or six...) We visit quite often, and we've been to one of their quilt shows before. When I saw the signs advertising their next show, I asked about entering a quilt, and....I entered a quilt!

This was a new experience for me, and it was tons of fun. I was a little nervous about letting my quilt out of my hands for a whole month (the length of the show), but felt better when I heard the other quilters tell the librarians "Take good care of our babies! These quilts are like our children; we like to know where they are, and we never feel quite right until they're home again."

So I had company.

Oh yes, the other quilters! Yesterday was the opening day of the show, and all the ladies who had made the quilts were suppose to be there. I, incidentally, was by far the youngest quilter there, but I didn't mind. It was actually very flattering and fun - all of these ladies coming up to me, taking me under their wing, giving me all sorts of quilting hints, and telling me how impressed they were that someone of my "vintage years" knew how to quilt!

One of the quilters had helped hang all the quilts, and she told me mine was right up front because of how young I was. Smile.

And these ladies were so gracious. Almost all of them were veteran quilters, with quilts far surpassing my own, but, as they stood around in circles discussing the virtues of each piece, and techniques they used, they welcomed me into their circles and made me feel quite at home. No wonder I had a good time!

Now, as I said, I spent 2 hours taking pictures, and I just can't load them all onto one post, so here's what I've decided to do:

For the next few weeks (or months :) ) I'll be featuring one quilt every day or so. I'll share the pictures I took, and what I learned about the quilt and quilter. Bear in mind that these aren't my quilts, so they're sort'av copyrighted. I did take the pictures, but all the credit goes to the ladies who did the work. I wish I could remember all their names!

I didn't get a picture of every quilt - there were just too many! You might notice my quilt style preferences as you look at each one; I seem to have taken pictures mostly of the full-sized patchwork and applique, and ignored the wall-hanging and picture quilts. There's nothing wrong with wall-hangings and picture quilts, but my own preference leans toward being practical (you can't really use a tiny quilt that hangs on the wall, can you?), and traditional (patchwork vs. modern colors and design, for instance)


The first quilt I've chosen to feature was my favorite, I think (it's so hard to decide!).

Isn't it beautiful? Some of the ladies called this "Virginia Reel," but the little white tag called it something different...I can't remember for sure, but "Jamestown" something. I REALLY like the fabrics used, but the photo doesn't do them justice. I believe this was a "quilt of the month" type of quilt. It is all machine-made. One lady pieced it, then sent it to another local lady to quilt it. The quilter wasn't at the show.

Here's a closer picture, where you can see the lovely color combinations, and the fine quilting.

And I couldn't resist taking a closer picture of this fabric. All fabrics used in this quilt - 36 kinds, all told - were reproduction fabrics. Maybe that's why I like it so much.

So that's our first quilt.

Oh - one more thing. The quilt that I showed....well, I forgot to take a picture of it! Good thing we'll be visiting the library again soon. :) If you look to the right of this quilt I've shown here, (in the full-sized picture of it), you can see the green border of my quilt, with the cream-colored fabric next to it.