Day one of the 2015 show is in the books

What glorious weather we had for the show today! The last three weekends we have had rain and gray skies for the Fall festivals that go on in Union County this time of year. The heavenly quilters must have been watching over us, because it was a fine start to a wonderful show.
The entrance of the venue was transformed by the decorations from a gymnasium to a swanky show venue.

Just past the admissions table is the raffle quilt. I hope I win it, but could make one, if I don't. I didn't realize Sue's eyes were closed or I would have taken a second picture. Sorry, Sue!

My friend Kay was in the house today, so I got her to pose by her fabulous quilts. Pay attention, ladies, she is one to watch. There is another quilt of hers in Houston right now. She is such a talented artist...I wish I had one tenth of her skill with light and shadow.

First place...

Second Place

And her stunning first place quilt from the Paducah show

Another favorite of mine came from my new friend, Debbie! Look at this eye popper...

I have round quilt envy!!

The cool thing about the show is that the vendors are on a balcony above the show floor. It gave a different perspective to the entire experience. You could spy on people from afar...aha!

I spy Nelda and Debbie in the Heart to Heart booth!

Here are some ladies taking photos of my alphabet quilt

Before going home for the night, I did catch up with Kate, and tell her how much I loved her scrap quilt. These kinds of quilts really speak to me. I think they will be the quilts people are still using and loving a generation from now. The beautiful artsy show quilts are exciting, but the subtly hued, scrappy quilts will always be the ones your family cherishes. I'll keep making them and giving them away to be used and loved, while my show quilts will be folded and stored away, and really not too appreciated by my kids like the utility quilts are. I hope this makes sense to you all out there. I love making show quilts, but I really love making the simple, scrappy quilts for family and friends.

My favorite quilt in the show, Crosses in all Colors, by Katie Dawes

Bees, tropical flowers, men's shirting, tone on tone....everything but the kitchen sink!

Tomorrow, I will be there again, but not until we take a trip to the Farmer's Market for the Master Gardener's plant sale. Long day expected; we are signed up for the take down after the show. Good thing I made loads of spaghetti tonight...it will save me from cooking duty tomorrow!

Quilt show week in full swing

Quilt show week started with the judging. Two days of lovely quilts and high suspense! I was surprised to find that all my quilts had been changed to different categories than I had entered them in. This guild considers my quilts to be professional collaborative because I quilt for money. If I had known that, I would have either entered less quilts (I had two in one category)or changed which quilts I entered. Next time I will be aware of that rule and adapt accordingly. Here is the run-down of how my quilts fared in the judging:

A Month of Sundays: First

Happy Together by the Lovin' Spoonbills: Third

Backyard HOA: Honorable Mention

Alphabet Soup: Honorable Mention

Swimming Upstream: Honorable Mention

Tim and I are really pooped now. After the judging, we moved the quilts to the venue and then helped hang the quilt show. Tomorrow, we will be there bright and early to set up the special exhibits for the small groups in the guild, the boutique and help wherever needed.

Friday will be showtime! I love the quilt show part of the guild wherever I am. Let's go!!

I'll have a slideshow after the show, so stay tuned!

Brrrrr!! Autumn is here and we're quilting

This Sunday morning it is colder here than in Minneapolis! There was a coating of frost on the truck and the rock garden. But the sun is out and it is expected to warm up into the high 50s, so I am not getting out the winter duds just yet!
Meanwhile, we have been warming up the quilting studio by running the machines and getting things accomplished. Tee shirt quilts were in the forefront the last couple of days. Tim finished quilting this one for our customer Maria, and I constructed and quilted another one for a customer from Blue Ridge.
There is always something fun about tee shirt quilts...they're a little peek into someone's life story. Think about your own tee shirts. They tell the story of where you have been and what you find interesting in your life.

Maria's tee shirt quilt for her son

panto: Stars and Stripes

This is how a tee shirt quilt starts...figuring out the placement
 of the shirts on the design wall after prepping them with stabilizer.

Here is the almost finished quilt , ready for the binding

This is the binding. I was too tired to get it on the quilt Friday night.

panto: Bayside

I had to add to the backing to make it big enough.
This flowery fabric was just right!

The quilt is all finished now. I watched a movie while hand sewing the colorful binding. 

Next, Tim quilted this pretty quilt for a brand new quilter who took a class locally. It wasn't perfect, but it is perfectly nice for her first effort!

Panto: Small Splat

Yesterday, I worked on very diverse projects. First, there were the three bed runners, started by the customer's grandma, and brought to me by the customer who had sewn the Dresden plates down and then got stuck. She didn't know where to go from there. She sewed the plates to the background, batting and backing all at the same time! Oops! My job was to figure out how to finish them without removing what she had done, and preserving the generational contributions to the quilts.

I sewed some fabric to all four sides of the backings, quilted them and then made and attached bindings. 

I love seeing the transformation from wonky quilt making efforts, to finished quilts! I am in the process of hand sewing the bindings now.

The original plate blades were made in the thirties, mostly from feed sacks.
The customer chose the backgrounds and centers and did the buttonhole stitching to attach them to the backgrounds. They are for her three daughters.

I fixed them, quilted them and added the binding.
Now, they are useful quilts, made from parts stored in a box for two generations!

When I finished up the three bed runners, I turned to the blocks I had started on Thursday for a second class sample quilt for my up-coming workshops. Both sets of blocks are finished and the blocks are arranged on the design wall ready for their final construction. I will finish the top today and get it quilted.

Squaring up blocks isn't fun...but it is a necessary part of making a nice flat quilt.

Ta-da! Finished blocks on the design wall and ready to be sewn into a quilt top.

I am so loving those chickens!

Yikes! I am getting quite a  pile of bindings to hand sew. I had better get going, don't you think?