Right when I was happily sewing, my Bernina started clacking-clacking. Nothing I tried made it quit the clatter, so I stopped sewing and put the machine aside. After a month using my old Pfaff, my friend Leslie took me to Atlanta Sewing Center (on the way to a quilt show...Booyah!!) They had it there for a few weeks, and Mr W and I made the trip to pick it up. I am so happy to have it back. When you get used to all the bells and whistles, it's mentally challenging to go back to a simple, mechanical machine.
I was appliquéing these blocks for a quilt when the Bernina got sick, so now I'm anxious to get back to work on the project. The pieces are all wool and the backgrounds are from Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements.
I still have two more colors to do, and all the stems. I use stick glue to keep the bits from wandering around.
I did more long arming before going off to the show. Here are the pictures.
The customer made this by copying her grandkid's drawings onto fabric to make the blocks.
I thought the little hands were a nice pattern for the quilting.
The next quilts are all from the same customer! She is a fast, but accurate quilter who turns out beautiful quilts in record time. This one is from Jane Sassaman fabrics and a Villa Rosa pattern.
I love the BQ (big quilt) patterns. This one is BQ2 done in Kaffe Fasset fabrics.
This quilt was from a tutorial bu Agile Jack's blog.
More beautiful Kaffe fabric, this time in his blue palette.
This quilt is all Aboriginal fabrics in reds and blacks. The pattern is called Onion Skins. The colors are more saturated in person. The camera sees them flatter than they are.
I finished a couple of repairs for another customer while waiting for the machine to be fixed, and the customer was really pleased.
This was the man's bed quilt when he was a boy. His Grandma made it, and embroidered his name on the binding. It was well loved and needed much TLC. I replaced 30 or so patches and the binding, then gave it a wash to get the mildew smell out. Not looking too bad for 70 years old!
Grandma also made this lovely bed quilt. It was in pretty good shape, Made in the 60s. I love that she substituted yellow when the light background ran out.
Off to Paducah for the International Quilt Show! We stayed in a little town on a lake about 30 minutes from the show. It was a great place! Worth the travel.
Our cabin is on the right. The other one was empty.
This is the restaurant just steps from our cabin. We ate there one night.
There are cabins, a big marina (full of sail boats), the restaurant and a lovely park with playground equipment. This guy was fishing from the shore with the lighthouse that marks the entrance to the marina in the background.
The marina
People came out of the woodwork to watch the sunset. We walked around taking pictures until it got dark. It was a perfect evening.
I think these guys come out nightly to pose for pictures with the sunset.
I will admit that I didn't take hundreds of pictures like I usually do at the show. Honestly, it wasn't as exciting as it used to be. The quilts are starting to have a sameness, in that they are so over the top with intricate binding embellishments, dense quilting and the overuse of the medallion design. The same quilters won again, and the quilts were recognizable as their work. The best quilts for me were the special exhibits and at the museum! These were fresh and different. Well worth the price of admission. The vendors had a lot of the fabric we get locally, and most of my purchases were patterns and notions. I bought some fabric, but not enough to break the bank! The same is true for the Stitchers Garden. They did away with the 'back room' and have the sale fabric along a wall in the shop. It is now $8/yd. or $25 for the bolt ends. I didn't buy any. I did have one kismet moment there; the girl checking us out was Lynne Reinhart the quilt appraiser from a couple of shows ago. She stayed with me during the show and did appraisals for us. She lives in Kentucky now, but said she would be happy to come and do appraisals again. Ha! I didn't have to any work for this score. Anyway, here are a few pictures.
Me and Gayle clowning around with a prop at the photo spot. Two Gail/Gayle girls made conversing fun. I say, "Gail?" and both would respond, "what?' It was funny.
One special exhibit was red and white quilts. These are my favorites
I want to make this!
I love how the quilter did the leaves
This four panel quilt was beautiful. Zoom in for a closer look. My friend Gail is to the left...a rare photograph of this elusive person.
This crumb quilt was in the museum! I love it.
Also in the museum was this spectacular controlled scrap quilt. Without the camera viewer, it was just a jumble of color. When viewed through the lens, it became this organized chaos. I was amazed at the difference.
The color of this one got me.
Victoria-Findlay-Wolfe had a whole room for her exhibit. All the quilts were this restrained palette. I bet she is planning another book...
This huge triptych spilled right out onto the floor, with the placement of a semi-circular rug the same color as the quilt.
The quilts I liked were mostly geometric examples.
To see the winning quilts (and see if I was correct with my comments) go here:
Back at home, I ventured off to Blue Ridge for my right eye cataract surgery. Wow!! I never realized I was looking through a yellow-green haze. The difference is remarkable. I can't wait until May 12th to have my left eye done. Right now, I'm seeing the right half clear and colorful and the other half dull umber shaded and blurry. Weird.
I pieced a quilt top from fabric bought in Paducah, and it looks like Spring to me! I need to get it quilted, but my eyes are too different right now to focus for a long period of time. It can wait.
Here is the flimsy on the design wall.
Spring has sprung in the yard, too, and Mr Wazoo has been busy cleaning up and laying out mulch. Once again the peonies are stealing the show. The dark pink ones aren't open yet.
Red roses in abundance
Lily of the valley
Star of the show, the peonies
Sweet aroma, too.
Mountain Laurel beginning to open.
Penny loves to run around the yard and up the path Mr W made.
We were surprised to see this Luna moth on the screen! It was at least 5" long, and didn't have its wings fully open. So cool, and my favorite color!
