I have never entered quilts in a quilt show before. Last year a member of the guild challenged me to enter some this year. Here are my quilts. I must say it was a thrill to walk around the corner and see one of my quilts hanging next to other quilts. I was totally amazed at how beautiful it was. When you work on quilts, you work up close and you know all the mistakes made and choices of fabrics that could have been better. But when you see them hanging up so proudly next to other beautiful quilts, you realize you did good and should be proud. I am.
The above quilt was finished after taking a class the guild offered. We were not shown a sample of what we would be making. We were told to bring coordinating fabrics and black. I chose fabric I had from a line of Timeless Treasures called Wildflower Rhapsody. It all blends well. I wouldn't have put the black squares in had I know how it would all turn out. Other than that I really like this quilt. It often hangs on the wall in my house. It was the first time I had used Eleanor Burns flying geese rulers and loved that the points came out perfect - not something I had done before. Thanks Eleanor!
The above quilts was made from a book I purchased at the guild. It was such an easy quilt to make even though it is a queen sized quilt. The trick I found to keep all the colors in the right place was to draw out a quick sketch of what went where, colored it and then put swatches of the fabrics next to a legend of the colors in the sketch. I am amazed at the colors I chose for this quilt. I am usually much more subdued in my choices. I had purchased the star fabrics at an African shop in Fort Bragg California when we were there several years ago. I wanted to make something with them but just didn't have a clue what. When I saw this pattern, I knew they would work well. Those fabrics were hand dyed fat quarters that were made in Africa. The texture of them is much thicker than the rest of the batiks throughout the quilt. I love this so much that I hope it gives me the freedom to try other bright colors.
Using the same pattern as the African Batik one, I made this quilt. Again I had a package of fat quarters that I just didn't know what to do with. I used the same technique of drawing out the pattern and coloring in what color went where. This quilt is a king sized quilt. It has a black backing. I am not a purple kind of person, but I think this will be on my bed after it comes back from the show.
Earlier this year Barbara Olson came to our guild from Billings Montana to give a presentation and then offered two classes after that. I took both classes - the above Castles class and another one that involved a lot of spirals. I have not finished that quilt and may never. It was difficult. I loved doing this castle class. When I got the castle with the flying dragon on it finished, I just didn't know what to do to next. I knew it needed something to really highlight the castle. I found the purple inner border at Beverly's Fabrics in Citrus Heights and fell in love with it. Still I felt it needed something more, so on to make those paper pieced points. Wow! What a job that was. I love how it all turned out, though. It was worth all the cussing and crying and wondering what in the world I was doing along with the ripping out stitches over and over again. I am really proud of how it turned out.
The above quilt was made a couple of years ago for my granddaughter, Faith. She has done tumbling and cheer leading since she was tiny and is very good at it. The blocks were cut using a tumbler design from Missouri Quilt Company that I bought on a whim because it was a super buy on their website. The purples are from a layer cake that I had acquired some time ago accompanied with a purple fabric that I had that was part of the Wildflower Rhapsody fabric I had left overs of. When I was all done making the quilt top, I felt it needed something more. I felt a flower would add pizzazz to it. I appliqued the petals and then came up with the big center. This quilt will never be a comfortable quilt to lay on, but I think it turned out beautiful. Faith seems to like it, too. I had to borrow it back from her to enter into the show.
The next picture is the flower up close.
The guild each year distributes two pieces of fabric for a challenge project. We can make anything we want, but the fabric has to be displayed prominently. This "Stuff Who" quilt was my submission to that contest. I didn't win, but I love the quilt.
I took a lot more pictures of the guild's show. I don't like to post those pictures before the show is over. So come Monday or Tuesday, I will put them on the blog for all to see. There were some beautiful quilts there.
Keep on Quilting
