Going to the Quilt Show!

Sometimes I get too wrapped up in the business side of quilting and forget why I ever started quilting in the first place. 

If you've been following my blog, then you already know that I took a break from making quilts this summer and had sew much fun rediscovering all of the wonderful antique and vintage fabrics, blocks, and quilts that I have accumulated over the years -- some items predate before I even began quilting.

With that in mind, I decided it was time to go to a quilt show just for fun.  It's been years since I've done this -- it was way overdue.

I went to Erie PA for the Quilting on the Bayfront show. The last time I went to this show was several years ago when it was the first time in this venue and I was disappointed.  It wasn't because of the show that I was disappointed, but because the show sponsored by Millcreek Sewing and Fabric previously had been held at the Chautauqua Institution in NY.

Quilting Around Chautauqua was my favorite experience (yes it wasn't just a show, it was an experience) because three friends and I used to rent a cottage and would spend five days immersed in quilting, the ambiance of Chautauqua, and friendship!  I really miss that.

So when the show changed venues, it made me very sad. 

Fast forward a couple years and I was ready to see the show with different eyes. 

So off I went to the quilt show!

The quilts greet you right after you pay your admission fee in the central hallway.  The backdrop behind the quilts was a wall of windows overlooking Lake Erie.  The ship you see here is the USS Flagship Niagara.

The show was set up in a large single room with quilt displays from area guilds lining the walls and vendors in the middle.

At the back of the room were some awesome quilt displays set up as rooms. 

The first one is a "quilt shop" vignette.  I apologize, but I didn't take a photo of the quilter's name.  Nonetheless, I found it very charming.

This next displays were created by my longtime friend and amazing quilter Marcy Scott, who also works at Millcreek Sewing and Fabric.

I had a wonderful surprise after I started perusing the vendor booths -- I discovered my friend Leslie was there too!  I don't know why we didn't communicate with each other and go together.

Another friend, Cathey, of Cathey Marie Designs, who is the creator of the Y Block Ruler, was there vending for the first time.  She said she did at least 100 demos during the show!  Here she is doing her ruler demo to a group of eager quilters.

Leslie and I teamed up for shopping and egged each other on.  Although she had already made the rounds of the vendors, she humored me and visited them all again.  Along the way, we stopped and chatted because many of the vendors were old friends.  We also met a lot of new friends who were vendors, too.

I had a great time and even picked up some fun charm packs and a wooly sheep pattern (along with an assortment of felted wools).

I am definitely looking forward to next year's show.  Maybe I'll see you there!

First Quilt Show in 2016

YAY!  Today was the first quilt show that I've gone to this year.  I almost went to one a couple weeks ago, but we had a freak Saturday snow storm so I ended up staying home and doing some hand-sewing that day.

Today was a PERFECT day for a quilt show.

I started the day by meeting three friends at the library for a Sunday "Sew Day."  We worked until around noon then headed over to the quilt show at the high school across town.  We had some lunch and then the fun began -- quilts and shopping.

I used to belong to the guild that sponsors this show every other year, but then I had a work conflict so couldn't attend meetings.

I thought I'd share some of the quilts that I found inspiring, although there was a wonderful assortment of quilts -- around 135 to feast my eyes on.

Sadly, I really didn't have anything to submit to the show because most everything that I've done lately has been professional in nature and was shipping shortly after completion.  But, ironically, I was represented at the show -- I quilted a baby quilt for a friend a while back and she put it in the show and included my name as the quilter -- so there!  My work was in the show.  :)

  

Here's Greta's adorable baby quilt!

One of the quilters who exhibited at the show had several "orphan quilts."  There wasn't much information, but I really found them wonderful.  I don't know if she started with orphan blocks and finished the top before quilting or if she started with tops and then quilted them.,  It really doesn't matter, though, because she completed them and now the quilts are happy!

Not all of the quilts in the photo were from the same quilter, but it's wonderful to see quilters honoring the past by either finishing orphans or else using up vintage fabrics in new quilts.

The next group of quilts were done by friends who submitted them for the quilt show.

 This Underground Railroad Quilt (designed by Eleanor Burns) was made by my friend Becky.  This is her first "real quilt".  She won a BLUE RIBBON!

 

The quilt above was done by my friend Sondra....

Love love love the fabrics and how she treated the alternate rows of FG's.

This quilt was done by my friend, Suzanne.  I love her use of the tiny red sashing strips.  They really make this quilt pop.  She told me this one will be donated for a fundraiser.

 

This quilt was made by Sondra's mom, Cindy.  It was a medallion quilt guild challenge last year. 

 Sew Sew pretty.

This quilt was made by my friend Vita, who is an amazing modern quilter and long arm quilter!  Gorgeous, huh?

This sweet guild won a second place ribbon.  Not bad for a child, is it?  This quilt was made by my friend Jill's daughter (Shirley's granddaughter), Taylor.  She's eight or nine, I think.

Finally, this is my friend Kristine's quilt.  It was featured in an issue of Quilter's World Magazine.  Isn't it wonderful?  The amazing swirling quilting was done by another friend and mentor, Cheryl.

 My friend Pat made sure to tell me about this quilt.  The blocks were made in the 1940's by her great-grandmother and she just finished putting them together in this quilt.  Then she hand-quilted it.  What a wonderful tribune to her great-grandmother's memory, wouldn't you say?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this peak into the 2016 Country Charms Quilt Show in Cochranton, PA.