Quilt Show!

Back from the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival! VickiW, Anne, and I pilgrimaged to Hampton, VA despite the cold windy weather to see the treasures. Exhausted, but happy. Got to meet Mary. Got to see Summerset's Garden Path which won the Judge's Choice award. Got to shop. Here is the haul:

That black batik underneath everything is actually 2 yards of a 108 inch quilt back. A large portion of it is solid black - this photo shows the border part, mostly. This is going to become a dress, or maybe two. Also pictured are 24 fat quarters of brown and pink fabrics (love that color combination), 6 antique feedsacks, 10 rotary cutter blades, and 1 surgerical seam ripper. I didn't discover until I got home that one of the feedsacks is still a sack; the seams haven't been let out of it yet. I guess I'll be able to use that seam ripper right away. : )

I admit I went a little overboard on the feedsacks. But I have plans for them. Last year Anne gave me a couple of feedsacks and I found they make the most excellent skirts. I've made two. If I cut out the skirt pattern on the cross grain instead of the lengthwise grain, I can get a whole skirt made from one feedsack (I still need to get a photo of the skirts I made but it has been so cold and my photographer is out of town). Now I also admit that 7 or 8 feedsack skirts might be a bit much, but I tell you that skirts made out of this fabric do not wear out. I can see why women used them to make children's clothes - they might outgrow them, but they would never wear out!

Finally, I got a yard of this indonesian fabric just because I liked it:

It was a great day. Anne asked, "Why can't every day be like today?" I couldn't have agreed more.

Back from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show!

Vicki, Anne, and I took a vacation day from work and headed down to Hampton, Virginia to go to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show and boy, were we glad we did. As soon as we walked in, the first ribbon winner we got to see was Summerset's Bluebird of Happiness which won Best in Show in the wearable art garment category:


It was, of course, exquisite. The photos simply do not do it justice as they cannot capture the detail and fine handwork that went into Summerset's creation. And imagine Vicki's suprise when she discovered in reading the garment description that Summerset had dedicated Bluebird of Happiness to her!!! Here is a better photo of the inside of the coat:


I returned to look at it later during the day to take more photos and notice all the details. It gave me the opportunity to overhear everyone else's comments on Summerset's work: "It is gorgeous." "Isn't this incredible?" "It definitely deserves Best in Show." I loved hearing those words because it confirmed that I wasn't just biased! In my opinion, it was far and away the best at the Quilt Show. All I can say is if you are in the area, go to the show before it ends on Sunday and see this for yourself; you'll be glad you did.

The show was well attended and long lines greeted us as we arrived:

Vicki's mother subsequently joined us, with her quilting friend, and the rest of the day was divided between looking at the incredible quilts on display and shopping at the vendors' booths.

I won't bore you with too many photos - you simply have to go see for yourself the fabulous creations there, but this was a real stunner made by Karen Kay Buckley of Carlisle, PA which she calls Arabesque:

And this one quickly got our attention, by Barbara E. Lies of Madison, Wisconsin, which she calls Saffron Spring:

And finally, my favorite by Renae Haddadin of Sandy, Utah, called Beauty From Within:

None of these photos show the detailed quilting involved, so you just have to go and see for yourself!

All and all, we had a great time. Fabric was purchased, along with quilt patterns, and supplies. The vendors had a wide variety of fabric lines this year and I would say the sales were quite good. We left a tad poorer, but a whole lot happier, and we agreed this year's show was better than last. I'll show my haul another post, but I'll leave you with the Parting Shot:

The Husband Brigade waiting for the quilting wives during the show. What wonderfully patient men - they deserve a fat quarter just for being there!