Sister's Choice Quilt Show

Father's Day weekend my extended family gathered in West Michigan for the Sister's Choice Quilt Show, the sisters in question being my mother and my aunt. The venue was my uncle's barn. I arrived a day early to help hang the show, which was a really fun experience. The show featured quilts, primarily made by mom & Margo, that have been given as gifts, including baby quilts, graduation quilts, and hand print quilts, among others. It was great to see so many family treasures collected in one place, and to remember all that we have lived together.




The quilting matriarch, my grandmother, with one of her creations. She has only made a few quilts, but they are beautiful.


A selection of the baby quilts my mom has made for her niece's and nephews


On the left is the quilt Margo made for my mom's birthday and the right is the quilt they made for my grandparent's 50th anniversary.


Margo's Corn & Beans is one of my favorites (on the right) - just wish I had gotten a better picture.


Mom's Madras Stars is another favorite.


My mom made this for me for my high school graduation. Isn't it awesome?

You can see all my pictures here.

Fine Art of Fiber 2009

Here are a few of my favorites from the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Chicago Botanic Garden this past weekend. It is a guild show for a few Chicago area guilds...sadly I did not get all the info on which guilds. It was also a beautiful 70 degree day in November, and I was so glad to get to spend it at a huge garden/park and not in the middle of the city.


Not Mrs. Murphy's Pot Holder by Allison Blakely


Water Triptych by Roslyn DeBoer


Stripes for Sally by Diana Burrows


Hannah's I-spy by Georgia Cibul

I am not really currently sewing much, except for a bit of hand quilting here and there. I am on the hunt for an apartment, and ones with potential dedicated sewing space get high marks. I think it's going to be a little while yet before the apartment is rented and the sewing space set up. Little by little! Thanks again to everyone for the well wishes on my new job. Things are going well so far. I have tons to learn, but I am enjoying it.

Me at Sisters!

This is too fun not to share - turns out I made a small tiny contribution to the Sisters quilt show! Dionne, one of the people I swapped quilt blocks with for this swap finished her blocks into a quilt and the quilt hung in the show! You can check it out here - it looks so great!

My block is on the far left side, third down from the top. Looks like this:



Thanks Dionne!

Quilt Spectrum

Here are a few pictures from the local guild quilt show that was last weekend. While I love the "big" quilt shows, I also enjoy guild shows that are focused on letting members show off, regardless of if they are doing flawless "show quality" work or not. Let's face it, most of us aren't, including me!

Lauren's Choice by Susan Carney. The maker had her five-year-old pick out the fabrics for this and I think she did a really great job.



Lincoln Museum Quilt by Connie Guhlstorf



Churn Dash by Barbara Miller and friends - the churn dash blocks were a 60th birthday present from many friends.



The Art of This Quilt by Kimberly Travers



No Polar Bears Allowed by Georgia Cluver Dawson. The upper section was part of the guild's progressive quilts program. The beluga whales are an original design.

The Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition

Virginia O'Donnell

I went to the Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition in Schaumburg over the weekend. The show features the "World Quilt Competition" and many smaller exhibits. Mom & I went to this show two years ago and enjoyed it a lot. The previous weekend was the big Fine Art of Fiber show put on by various Chicago area guilds, which I have never been to. We could only go to one of the two and ended up choosing the Exposition because it was a more convenient weekend and easier to drive to. Did anyone go to the Fine Art of Fiber?

Well anyway, it was a good show. I didn't feel quite as "wowed" by it as I did two years ago, but it's hard to say if that's a change in the show or me. But I still thought it was worth driving two hours for. (I've never really felt that way about the Chicago IQF, which I haven't been back to since the first year.) I also feel a little sad that I left the vendor section empty handed. Half the fun of big quilt shows is coming away with something amazing and unexpected or some unbelievable deal. Nothing spoke to me, however. Again, maybe it's me?

I didn't take tons of pictures because I was running out of space on my memory card, but here's a few of my favs, and you can see the rest in my flickr set.

"My English Garden" by Susan Jensen, from the Canada section:



"Little South African Picture quilt by Gina Niederhumer of South Africa:



"North to Alaska" by Anne Joule of New Zealand:



Oh, one notable thing I saw in this show - a hand quilted all over meander. True story.

The Southern New Mexico State Fair

We got to go to the Southern New Mexico State Fair this last week. What a great time! I love fairs. There is a lot of great stuff to do at a fair, and I think fair food is only a small (if important) part of it. The fact that there will usually be quilts is a major bonus.

Apologies to the makers of these lovely creations - their information was not posted, so I have no way to give them credit.

These are my three favorites. If I had to choose one favorite, I guess it's this first one.






These tumblers were the favorite of several people in the group. It's hard not to appreciate a classic scrap quilt like this.


Not a quilt, but I enjoyed these displays of self portraits by school kids.