Our guild has a quilt show every two years. It’s a big deal. Last October our show featured over 300 quilts. If you have never been to a quilt show, you really should. Talk about eye-candy! You will see work that will blow your socks off. And you will never think that “blanket” and “quilt” are interchangeable words again!
Available in my Etsy shop
I thought I would share a few more pics of my quilts that were in the show last week. First is one I call French Baskets. The blocks were made by friends in my guild for my birthday. When I was deciding how to make them into a quilt top, I found this great fabric (sashings and border) in my stash. I was so proud of myself for using fabric I already had! I designed the swag appliqué on the sides because I didn’t have enough of the striped border fabric to go all the way around. I really like how it turned out. The primary color scheme is reminiscent of French Provance. For the back, I incorporated a vintage tablecloth I got off of eBay that had the same colors. Then I did some fun free motion quilting.
Also in the show was a quilt that I designed and made for my son Scott’s wedding to Robyn (I’m ashamed to say how long ago that was–but it took we a while to finish). Now that it has been in the show, I can no longer come up with any more excuses not to hand it over to them! The color scheme is a traditional blue and white, but I was sure to leave a lot of negative space for quilting.
I have always wanted to make a Lone Star quilt, but was a bit intimidated by the pattern–all those bias edges! Well, Jan Krentz came to our guild last year and taught a workshop on this very quilt. So I jumped in. My star quilt only measures 44″ x 44″. I knew if I made it larger, it would never get finished. And it still wouldn’t be finished except for the fact that I wanted to put it in our guild show this past week (I finished it with 2 days to spare!). I attached a solid green border that would show off my quilting. I put two thicknesses of batting to give the quilting more definition. I am quite pleased with the result.
Here are some quilting closeups. The circles I thought added a funky, modern touch.
I’m happy to report I am now an artist that has sold some of her work! Here are a few of my paintings that sold over the weekend at my guild’s quilt show. I really appreciate everyone’s support.
I’m SO excited!
Today I’m getting things tagged and finished up for my quilt show later this week. I’m hoping that people who love to look at quilts will also be interested in my little paintings. Here are a few more mini 4″ x 4″ pics I have recently completed.
Last month Mary Lou Weidman came to our guild and I took an all day workshop. It was so inspiring. I love her whimsical style. She does the work that I dream of doing. We learned how to make “wonky” blocks. It was SO fun and freeing. Here’s what I got done in the workshop. Someday (soon I hope!) these blocks will go into a quilt.
If you want to try this kind of piecing, her process is well explained in her latest book:
I was so enamored of Mary Lou’s style, I went to Amazon and found a couple more of her older books (used) that are now out of print.
I’m telling you all this because there was a special showing of Mary Lou inspired quilts at the International Quilt Show last week in Chicago. The quilts were different takes on her cow pattern ( from “Out of the Box”) 
I took some pictures of the ones I liked the best. Sorry I didn’t get the names of the artists.
Just in time for July 4th.
Love this Halloween one.
All so fun!
Last weekend I was pleased to attend this fabulous quilt show in Rosemont, IL. The show went missing for 3 years, but now it is back. Yeah! I saw some fabulous quilts and even more fabulous quilting! I’ll share a few of the pics I took each day this week. I’m not a great photographer, but you get the gist. Of course they are even more wonderful in person.
Today’s Group: Happy Quilts that make me Smile
Fifty-Six Years Old by Naoko Hirano Japan
Tree of Life by Stephanie Adams Kansas
Brazen Blossoms by Diane Melms Alaska
3-D Sunflower by Martha DeLeonardis Texas
This happy guy is my husband, David, who quite willingly went to the show with me and carried all of my purchases in his backpack. What a keeper!
So why am I quilting pumpkins in June? Well, this block design has been going around in my head for weeks. I love the Fall colors and pumpkins. And since our guild bi-annual quilt show is this October, I thought a pumpkin quilt would be just the thing. So I thought I would start by making one block and see how it goes.
The pumpkin itself is pieced from strips to make it scrappy. I created the stem and the black “border” (really a block within a block) with improvisational piecing to give it a wonky look. I used machine applique (with a wide satin stitch) for the leaf and vine. I also had some fun with the machine quilting.
This small wall hanging will go in the silent auction at the show. I’m hoping to make the quilt about twin sized. I have a few other quilts I have designed (in my head) that I would like to make as well. I’m not a very fast piecer, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll post my progress and maybe that will keep me on track as the summer progresses.
So what I have been doing lately? Quilting for customers. This one is a sampler quilt by my good friend, Gale. The first pic is of the front of the quilt which is essentially a two color sampler. The other pics are of the back where the quilting really shows up. I love to quilt sampler quilts (where all the blocks are different). I get to come up with different designs for each block.
Today I’m spending time working on my own projects. Our guild has a quilt show coming up and I need to have my things finished by the end of August. I have several quilts I want to show. Unfortunately, most of them are still in my head. That’s because I’m still designing them! It would be much too easy to follow a purchased pattern. Will any of these (imaginary) quilts make it to the show? It’s too soon to tell.
pamelajeannestudio 