Friends at the Quilt Show

Our quilt show is now a memory. I'm tired but still smiling.  I've seen so many friends from various places in Florida and Alabama. But seeing Angie from New Orleans was such a treat.  Angie's blog is Quilting on the Crescent and before she moved to NO, she lived in Pensacola and was a member of our Guild.

Reconnecting with old friends is one of the most fun parts of a quilt show.

Getting to see one of your "babies" wearing special ribbons is certainly another.

Now it's back to reality..... after a good night's sleep.

Karen

It's Blue Times Three

The Pensacola Quilt Show is in full swing, and I can share the results for my quilts.  Organic Pink Pickles has done it again.  It won a blue ribbon AND it was awarded Best of Show!  This is the first year our guild has ever awarded a best of show ribbon. I was completely surprised and I am humbled to be the winner of this award.  

This quilt has had such an incredible journey since it became the grand prize winner of the NYC MQG DWR Challenge, was published in Modern Patchwork and spent a year traveling the country.  It came back home and now has become a winner again.  It really has been a wonderful experience. 

I spent a lot of time on the floor talking to visitors and sharing this special quilt.

I also entered another quilt, the Dresden Star.

This one I called More Flowers for Nana Girl and it's also wearing blue!!  It's been so exciting and there's still one more day. 

This is such a sweet happy quilt.

It's been a great day, happy stitching.

Karen 

Mom & Dad's Quilts - Part 3

I'm a little late with Part 3 but I've saved a good one to end with. It has been so much fun to share these quilts and other hand work pieces I've made for them over the years. This quilt was made for my Dad. It's an original design I call "The Boy from Ohio". He was born and raised in Wooster, Ohio. Putting the 4 Ohio Star blocks in the corners was an easy choice. I made this quilt in 1996 - and I had only been doing applique for a few years. I'm glad it's a folk art quilt as the motifs were fairly simple and so are my applique skills!! It took me a while to collect enough grey and brown plaids. I wanted it to look masculine and that was not what my stash looked like at that time!! I love the center medallion of folded bow tie blocks. It's hand quilted in a simple grid pattern.

My Dad uses this quilt every day - which just makes my heart smile. Each block at the top and the bottom has special meaning - especially the 2nd from the right on the bottom (this goat block also showed up in my parent's 50th wedding anniversay quilt too which I made 4 years later). My Dad has raised goats for probably almost 30 years. I hesitate to call them "pets" - they are more like friends :).

Here's the back art, a single bow tie.

And here's where the goats live - in the barn my Dad built for them.

My Dad names all his goats - and I'm not sure who this is - but she was very friendly.

Here are a few pictures of the quilt show. I am still recovering - it's a lot of work both in getting your quilts ready for the show and in putting the show on.

This is the second year we've met in this venue, it's really wonderful - so bright with plenty of room to enjoy the quilts.

I wanted to take this quilt home with me - it was made by one of the vendors and was hanging in her booth. She gave me permission to photograph it.

These fabrics remind me so much of Robyn Pandolph's Secret Garden. It's such a sweet quilt and the quilting is wonderful. I'm not sure I could ever replicate this on my domestic machine, but I'm going to keep trying and maybe someday my quilting will look like this.

Thanks for all the sweet comments on my ribbons and quilts. That is certainly not the reason I quilt - but winning a ribbon is such a fun thing (especially when it's blue)!!!

Have a great weekend.

-Karen

Quilt Show Update

The waiting is over, our Guild's quilt show opened last night and we found out the judge's results. When I came around the corner and saw "Wedding Memories Linger" wearing a blue ribbon, I was beyond excited!!! I have become very emotional about this particular quilt and I'm not sure why. But seeing it hanging just makes me so happy.
After all the months of quilting, it looks exactly the way I had hoped it would. The contrast of the straight line quilting and the curved quilting looks perfect. And after completely quilting the border of feathers not once but twice, you can definitely see them. I am thrilled.

And my sweet little Navy quilt "Going Home" that was made for the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation won a third place. This was a very full, competitive category, and I am very happy about a ribbon. Our judge this year was Anita Shackelford. She's an incredible quilter and she judged our quilts with a great deal of detail. I'll share more pictures later, it is a great show! We have 258 quilts hanging. If you're close to Pensacola, come by tomorrow and say hi!

Thanks for all your encouraging comments over the last few months about my wedding quilt. My very humble little log cabin has brought me much joy :)!!

Until next time,

-Karen