Quilt Show Therapy

O.K. Day 9 of cooking for a crew. I should be sharing recipes. I should be sharing the excitement of scrubbing the stove...again. I should be sharing profound thoughts from the kitchen. But I am tired of food. I am tired of dishes. I am tired of bleach.

I want to grab my camera and capture the excitement of Fall Works.
I want to walk outside and inhale the essence of autumn.
I want to play with fabric.
But I can't.
But I can pop into the office between batches of biscuits and piles of potatoes and talk about something other than my kitchen adventures.

A few weeks ago I took myself to town...willingly. Every 2 years the guild in town puts on a quilt show and I think a quilt show is a worthy reason to make myself leave my dirt road. Wish I could only go every 2 years, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I didn't even go with anyone. Just me, myself, and I spent almost 3 hours lost in the wonderful world of quilts and yummy fabric. Loved it. It was good for the soul. I lingered. I pondered. I loitered.

I could look at quilts forever and find it fascinating that not one quilt is ever like another. I love the stories behind them and was disappointed when the information sheet did not include a bit about how the quilt came to be. I've been to quilt shows where they include a paragraph about why the quilter made the particular quilt and I always find it fascinating. I know the lady in charge of the next show and I think I'm going to suggest that to her. She made this quilt, which made me chuckle, as a '3' challenge in her guild. Everything had to be in 3's or multiples of 3's.

What a fun optical illusion, but wow, my eyes would be permanently crossed if I made this:

This quilt was pieced by a man and quilted by his wife:

While I was admiring it, a couple walked past and I heard the husband exclaim to his wife, "Don't get any ideas". LOL.

I don't know why, but I seem to be drawn to quilts that have some black in them. I like the stained glass effect of this one.

 Looks simple enough. The quilter just used southwestern prints. I'm thinking western.

LOVED this autumn quilt:

All those pumpkins were just wonderful! Almost seemed as if each had its own character.

This was the 1st place quilt and the title made me laugh: "Finally!" I can only imagine what a labor of love this must have been.

Fell in love with this Civil War Tribute one. My longarm quilter made it and I fell in love with it when it was on her design wall. I don't know how she has time to make quilts for herself because the majority of the quilts in this show were quilted by her. I adore this lady...and her quilts!

If there is a horse / western quilt, I'll love it and this one started out with a panel fabric that I've seen, but never brought home because I didn't have a clue what to do with it. Apparently, this quilter did:

Here's a really fun, bright quilt that would be fun for a teenage girl. Just not my teenage girl...she needs horses. I love tghe colors, but I would have a hard time falling asleep under this quilt:

There were lots of miniature quilts - wall hangings - landscape pieces in the show. Lots of the area guilds seemed to have taught classes on this. Its like painting - with fabric and I loved the intricate details. I don't have the patience for something like this, but I'm really intrigued by these. DD would love this one:

This one looked like a photograph:

I fell in love with this one:


The trees had an interesting treatment that gave this piece a lot of dimension:

As did the tiny quilts on the line in the bottom left hand corner. I just wanted to pop in behind these women and join them in their quilting in that charming little cabin.

I'm always drawn to Americana quilts too.
In fact, I have quite a collection of fabrics that are patiently waiting for me to make them into a quilt...or two...or three. I love how this quilter pieced this quilt together so that crosses formed in the center of the squares.

I'm going to have to track her down and interrogate her. I probably shouldn't begin another Log Cabin while the present one still lingers in its boot box though.
I was intrigued. I was challenged. I was inspired.
An afternoon spent in the company of quilts makes for a good day and its cheaper than therapy.
Alas, I am being summoned by the pots and pans that are stacked in the kitchen and although the biscuits have no trouble rising on their own, the potatoes are refusing to be mashed without me.