A Look at the Quilt Show

What a whirlwind the last five days have been...but what fun! It was the biennial Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild Show, themed this time "The Art of Comfort." There were around 145 gorgeous quilts on display judged by Linda Fiedler and Linda Cantrell. There were lots of great vendors too and the BIGGEST guild boutique I've seen since I've been a member (it was amazing!). The show chairs were my bee-mates Laura Patridge and Lisa Alley and they did the most fabulous job ...the venue was beautiful and well attended. Hats off to them for making it all happen!

I jumped into the vendor arena for the first time with my hand dyed fabrics and handcrafted buttons and was very lucky to have the best booth neighbors. They were so kind and fun to hang around! They were Annie's Keepsakes (wool felt, rovings, patterns, tools etc.), Shakerwood Woolens (hand dyed felted wool, patterns, threads), Empty Pockets Alpaca Farm (yummy yarns and rovings), and Karen Gray Design (fresh modern quilt fabrics, patterns, etc.She has a shop in Reynolda Village, Winston-Salem).  I didn't really have much time to visit the other vendors but my favorite LQS was there - Sew Original of Winston-Salem...they were demo'ing one of the Bernina embroidery machines, making these really cute "Hot Stuff" coffee sleeves (and you know I love coffee!). Next to them were Justi Ard of Witch Hazel Handmades (she makes cool glass pendants encasing all kinds of images), and the newest Bernina dealership, Studio Stitch of Greensboro.

Do visit their websites and see all the wonderful things they offer!

Here is a look at just a few of the quilts and scenes around the show:

The Flower Garden
By Jane Houser, Quilted by Theresa DeWalt
Best Long Arm Quilting, Best Hand Applique, Viewer's Choice, and 1st place in  its category

Southern Comfort
By The Beecassos
Row 1: Linda Worsley, Sara Nutter, Cathy Bogan
Row 2: Wanda Norman, Karen Fridy, Vickie Clontz
Row 3: Joan Lowder, Gail McNeill, Penny Sharp
Row 4: Marlene Land
First Place, Red and White Challenge, Judge's Choice Award

Top: Night With Sunflowers by Anna Reich, 1st place Art Quilts
Bottom: Shimmering Vine by Penny Sharp

The Art Quilts!
I won third place for "How Do You See Me"(winking at you now, bottom left), and Honorables for "Cracks Where the Light Gets In" and "Kay Oss". The portrait piece top left is also mine.

This One's Mine
By Gina Boone
Best of Show!

Butterfly Garden
By Susie Oulette, Quilted by Winnie McCrary

Bali Dancing
By Debra Voigt

Hop To It
By Carmen Cannon, Quilted by Jan Strubble

The Red and White Challenge
(I especially love the upper right with sewing terms made by Ava Lewandowski)

Left: Southern Star by Lisa Alley, quilted by Gina Boone
Right: Tinker Belle's Neighborhood by Rosann Davis, quilted by Rosemary Cushman

(I'm guessing this must be Tinker Belle :)

Christmas Quilt by Anna Reich

Part of my booth - handcrafted buttons

More of my booth - hand dyes and patterns

View from my booth
(Shakerwood Woolens has such a pretty booth!)

In my fortune cookie Saturday night...that pretty much sums it up :)

Now it's time to unpack, clean up, regroup, and get ready for the next adventure!

OUTTA HERE!!

Last week was a particularly stressful one. Among other things my schedule got all flip-flopped about and the Friday that was overbooked ended up open. That turned out to be the best part of the week! When Bonnie called and said she was making a last minute decision to go to our bee's quilt retreat, and said "come with me!" I JUMPED on the chance! I hadn't planned on going...just too much going on and trying to watch the budget. But things have a way of working out so off we went!

See the little brown bag at the far right? That's my clothes. The rest of it? That's the important stuff! :) Projects packed...I'm ready!!








We had to make a stop at the Super Target in Moorseville before we hit camp, and that turned into a gigglefest that is probably recorded on the store's security system. On the way to finding what we were there for we stumbled onto some sock monkeys...these danced and sang, so of course we had to push all the buttons....

and more sock monkeys...

and more... (I adopted these)











Oh what fun!! We did actually get what we went for, then headed on to Camp Dogwood for our sew-fest. Our bee has been going there for several years now, thanks to bee member Carolyn. She always coordinates our visits there. (Thanks Carolyn!!)

Once there we set up and went to work. For three glorious days 11 of us sewed and laughed ourselves silly. We all got lots accomplished and our sisterhood bonds were strengthened.

Martha Claire and Muriel        Laura P, Lisa, and Mrs. Goodneedle

 
The view from our workroom (awesome!)

      

Sock monkeys approve of Lisa's quilt (left)...........and mine too (hexis)!

 

This is my Christmas quilt. I started it here, oh, a few years ago, and now it's FINALLY a top! Just needs borders and it's ready to quilt.

Bernie, Sparky, and a funky chicken. What more could you want?

This is my Storm at Sea, started at a FPQ workshop with John Flynn, now ready to quilt!







 

Another of Lisa's gorgeous quilt tops. I lost count of how many things she got done! She sort of blew my mind when she started her Storm at Sea...

Can you believe this????

I sure am glad I went!! Thanks a million Bonnie for getting me there!! You're the best! :D

There are more great pictures on Mrs. Goodneedle's blog, Bonnie's blog, and Lisa's blog ...hop over there and have a visit. I'm truly blessed to have such amazing quilt sisters!

Sew Day!

Last Saturday the gals of Miss Bee Haven got together for a fun day of creating in the barn. Nane, our fearless bee leader, has the most awesome studio space in the upper level of her newly built barn, next to their historic log cabin in the woods. It's so peaceful there!

We worked most of the day on the string block quilts that are being made for the Neuro trauma unit at one of our local hospitals. String blocks are so addicting! There were 5 of us piecing and 2 tearing the paper foundations away, and at the end of the day we had one top ready for borders (go MR!), enough blocks for 4 more tops, and extra blocks going to start a fifth. This unit at the hospital has 10 beds, so we are well on our way to providing them with enough comfort quilts to go around.

 Also known as the "Troll Sisters" (you had to be there...it's a funny story how that name came to be), we each have a troll to watch over us as we create.  Mine, of course, has lime green hair :)  Bonnie found a bunch of these trolls on one of her many trips...we missed having her with us this time, as she was on a whirlwind of a tour across the country teaching.



Here our mascot for the day, Zorro Kitty, inspects MR's quit top. He approved it, 2 paws up. I love how these block go together. You can use any fabric anywhere, and with a common color used in the middle of the block you end up with a fabulous result! Bright, colorful...just the thing to bring some cheer to the patients who will receive them!
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PS.  All of the quilts will be washed before they go to the hospital! :)

Can't.....stop....!

Making string blocks, that is. :)

My "traditional" bee, Miss Bee Havin', is planning a sew day soon and we will all be bringing 8.5" string blocks to make quilts for the local hospital's Neuro Care Unit. I already had some wonky strips cut from the border of my batik BOM (um... blocks circa 2008? As soon as I get it quilted I'll be posting pics...it is SO ME!! And it's the first bed quilt I've made just for myself. It will be my retreat/travel companion :) But I digress.

Anyway, so I've been happily sewing away today. This is my kind of piecing...sew, flip, sew, flip...no seam matching! No rules! Perfect sizing when you trim it up!  What could be better?

:)

Old Tyme Day

Yesterday my friends Martha Claire Henzler and Bonnie Hunter very graciously volunteered to help me with the quilting station at Lewisville Elementary's Old Tyme Day, a day of hands-on Early American history lessons for the third graders with things like candlemaking, blacksmithing, tin punch, and of course QUILTING! It was a fun day!

Bonnie was smart enough to have a camera on hand...hop over to her blog to see what we did!

Traditional

A couple of weekends ago my "traditional" quilting buddies gathered for another one of our in-town day retreats. It is always a lot of fun! The last few times we've done this I've worked on art quilts, trying to meet deadlines for shows. This time I opted to work on my batik BOM blocks (from last year!) and this quilt will be for me! YAY! This same group goes on a couple of out-of-town weekend retreats a year and everyone brings a quilt from home to put on their bed. Other than the queen size quilt I sleep under - and I can't take that one...hubs would be left at home uncovered -the only other ones I have are the construction tractor quilts I made my boys when they were younger. Now, granted, I do love construction and all (ties to my day job) but I have felt a little silly with that on retreat! So, if I can keep working on this new one I will have something that is "me" to travel with. It looks a little muted in these pictures, but it is really BRIGHT!

Here's where I started the day...auditioning setting fabrics and cutting sashing...

And by the end of the day I had an almost completed top. I still need to add borders, which I'm still contemplating. Hopefully I won't take forever to decide....

These are 12" blocks and yes, there are only 11 in the quilt. I did do all 12, but I thought one of them just didn't fit with the rest. It has a future as a Christmas pillow. :-) I have to give a shout out to my friend who helped me do the math on the setting triangles to keep the bias in the right place. Thanks Lisa!!