Great American Cover-Up 2011: "Quilts Full Circle"

Yesterday I went to the Bulloch Hall Quilt Show with a few of the WannaBees.   It's a busy time of year, so it was just Lynn, Ben, and me.  Plus Jackie's sister, Ginger, was in town and joined us.  Always so good to see her!

There were so many great quilts - you really should go visit them all yourself.  The lighting, while very natural and beautiful in person, creates some challenging shadows and color illusions in photography.  The pictures do not do them justice, and I apologize in advance.

This was one of my favorites.  It was made by a past president of our guild, Meg Latimer, who also belongs to Bulloch Hall.  It was longarm quilted by a former guild member of ours, Lynda Johnson, who does gorgeous work.  I love the colors, movement, and sparkle. 

I love seeing quilts made by people I know, and seeing a WannaBees quilt is even better.  Ben was the only one of us who made an appearance this year. 

His quilt "Show Me the Way to Go Home" also hung in our guild's show in September.  Can you find the path from the pub to the house (bottom right) without ending up in jail? 

We all had a moment when we got to this quilt.  It is "Jackie's African Coins," which Jackie started 2 years ago on retreat.  Ben finished it after she died and entered it in the show.    You can read his blog post about finishing her quilts and see better pictures there.  

Instead of a raffle quilt, this year the Bulloch Hall Guild did a challenge and raffled off the entries.  Each participant got 12 circles of red polka dot fabric.  The challenge was to use all twelve on a small quilt (perimeter no more than 80").  How cute are these?  Can you spot the "bunny"?

There were a couple of quilts that really knocked my socks off, and this was one of them.  The sentence, "I have never quilted before," appears in the description.  Can you imagine what her second quilt looked like?  Wow! 

This Dear Jane in the front hall was another stunner.  Every time I see one of these beauties I get a twinge to make one for myself.  Luckily I have always come to my senses.  This one was made by Diane Knott.

  

This folded fabric lovely is one that must be seen in person.  It is by JoAnn Meisel, and is called "Flowers for Linda" in memory of her sister-in-law.  I was just listening to an old podcast by Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us about the Save Our Stories project.  In the interview, they touched on the idea of quilting as a response to grief or some other event in our lives.  Somehow I can just imagine the quiet, repetitive folding of these flowers being a soothing task after a loss. 

Another quilt that brought back bittersweet memories was this kaleidoscope by another past president of our guild, Diane Berdis, called "Peacocks in My Garden."  Diane made this with our friend, Ann McLean, just before Ann passed away.  Ann is the one who taught the kaleidoscope class to Mom and me around that same time.  Ann was also a guild president - twice, in fact! - and I still miss her at every meeting. 

"Kyoto Houses" by Jan Antranikian

There were so many more I wish I could show you!  There's something about visiting a quilt show that is inspiring, relaxing, educational, peaceful, and joyous. 

"Shiloh Rick Rack" by Ellen Lott

Find a show near you and visit it soon.  It does your soul good.

Joining the Blogging World

Okay, I admit it. I'm only doing this so I can get one of those cool links to Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt page. So I'm a total follower, a sheep if you will. Don't care.

Mom and I took our kaleidoscope quilting class yesterday at Share the Spirit Quilting and Yarn. There are not so many quilting things out there that I really feel the pull of taking a whole day class anymore - most stuff I can figure out by reading a book or looking at a website. But this is one that was worth every penny (of Mom's! It was part of my birthday present.) for someone to show us step-by-step how to do it. I will have to take pics of my stars and y'all can vote on which ones should grace the center of the quilt.

Speaking of Grace...my darling DD finally got her sewing table and machine set up in her room so she can sew without all the hassle of dragging everything out. The table is an old Singer treadle base with a butcher block top. She looked at the finished scene and sighed saying, "Mommy, I love it. It looks just a little old fashioned." That's my girl! Of course, she also informed me that her sewing room would never be as messy as mine, as she lovingly tucked her 3 1/2" strips of fabric into the SteriLite drawers purchased just for her last weekend.

Out of the mouths of babes...