Stitches in Bloom: Last Bunch and a Giveaway

Today is the last posting of quilts from the Stitches in Bloom quilt show. If you missed the first two days, start right here to see both days. The quilts I've posted are by no means exhaustive of the quilts that were on display...they just happen to be some of my favorites. So I'll just get right to it.

This first bunch of quilts are all made using the challenge fabric. You can see the best example of the challenge fabric in this first quilt. It's the poppy fabric in the center two strips.

Now see if you can spot it in the rest of these challenge quilts. Pretty easy in this next one, but I love how cleverly this quilter used it in her window blind design.

Here's the pull cord. In my house, someone with gray fur, sharp teeth, and a spotted coat would have chewed these off by now.

Here's another:

And believe it or not, this one also uses the challenge fabric. Very cleverly incorporated, I'd say. Look at the mushrooms just below the foxes. She used the poppies as the bottoms of her mushrooms.

And I always love spider web quilting, but I've never seen anyone actually quilt the spider.

This next one was my favorites of the challenge quilts.

Look at the details. Ever come out of a fabric store with a load like this?

Now you can see the challenge fabric in this girl.

And here's a different way to finish off your quilt:

Here's another one that uses the sort of curved free piecing technique I learned in the workshop:

Sorry for the blur in this next one, but what a cute quilt.

For the vegetable gardeners out there...me included:

with such clever details:

This one below really called my name for some reason. It's certainly not subject matter one would usually think of for a wall-hanging, but it was so cleverly and elegantly pieced, that I really fell in love with it.

This one below was very interesting. I wish I knew a little more about its story. Remember when you were in grade school (if you lived during the 14th Century you might remember this), when we had little autograph books? And we wrote little poetic sayings along with our autographs. My favorite one to write was this:

"Yours 'til the mountain peaks and sees the salad dressing." 

Ha! such a comedian, even in the third grade. Anyway...I believe this quilt was made from pages of such an autograph book.

Here is the cover:

And here are a couple of the pages. Be sure and notice the year!

In case you can't read it, it says:

Dear Laura,

We two have met like ships upon the sea,

Who hold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet

One little hour! and then away they split

On lonely paths, through mist and cloud, and foam

To meet no more, but I trust not to forget.

Your schoolmate and friend,

from Gary Sharp College, May 27th, 1878

Or how about this one:

It says:

When this you see, remember me,

and take a little catnip tea.

April 20th, 1882

Cool, huh? Makes me want to peruse antique stores looking for such a treasure.

So, more quilts. I love this can-can girl. She was three-dimensional.

And I was so sad I couldn't get a better picture of this next one because of the bright sunlight:

But I had to show you this detail:

This next quilt uses a technique the quilter called "Japanese Stencil Technique". I googled it and came up with a Wikipedia page that I think describes the technique, also known as "Katazome". You can read about it right here. And if I have this all wrong, please somebody correct me.

And I loved this next quilt, which I studied to see if I could figure out how it was done. The accompanying card didn't say, but I have a feeling it's the same stencil technique:

Here is a detail of the wall, which did not appear to be pieced or appliqued, and so I figure it must be some kind of stenciling technique. It didn't appear to be a fabric design.

Here is some more three dimensional detailing.

And I wish, wish, wish I could have taken a picture of this whole quilt below. It was a large quilt, but again, it had direct sun on it, and I simply couldn't get a meaningful image of it. It was layers and layers of these various landscape prints, but the main part of the quilt was this bird. I love the details in the stitching.

(Updated to say that you can see the whole quilt right here.)

Finally, there's this masterpiece of thread painting. Where do some folks find the patience to do this?

Here's a close-up:

The vendors were all around the perimeter of the room, and so after looking at all the quilts, Sue and I took a lap around to see what the vendors had for sale. I fell in love with the hand-made buttons this vendor was offering. She had all sizes, colors, and designs:

Her buttons were adorable, but I didn't really have a purpose in mind, and I wasn't sure how I would use them. She directed me to a rack that had pins on it, and I did pick up a couple of those, including this one for you!

This is a little ceramic (or maybe it's clay...not sure) pin about 1 1/2-inch square. You could pin it to a coat or a hat, and announce to the world who you are! Also, be sure and check out her website. She has some of her buttons for sale there, but she also has a list of stores that carry them.

So this is just a little thank you to all of you for being such supportive, encouraging, and faithful readers. I really appreciated your encouragement on my scary three-day quilting workshop recently. It so helped to have you all reading, writing, advising, and supporting me through it all. It was like an oasis in the desert to return to my room at the end of the day and read your many comments. Thank you again.

And now, if you'd like to win this, just leave me a comment...any comment will do. If you can't think of anything, just tell me which of the quilts from the quilt show you liked the best. And you don't need to be a follower, but if you are, just leave an extra comment telling me how you follow for an extra chance to win. If you'd like to become a follower, check out those methods in my left side bar and sign up for one or more.

I will ship internationally and interplanetarily, so this giveaway is open to everyone in the Milky Way Galaxy. I'll leave comments open until midnight on Thursday, and then announce the winner on Friday morning. Good luck!