Northwest Quilting Expo 2018

It was a rather emotional day at the quilt show yesterday. Upon arrival, I stopped off at an information desk to inquire if there was a way I could contact the family of Shellie O'Donnell to thank them for choosing my quilt for their special award. In the process, I ended up talking with the volunteer about Shellie, and we were both in tears by the end of the conversation. I was able to get the information I needed, and now I'm just thinking about what I want to say to them. (If you missed my post about the award, you can read it right here.)

Since I wasn't feeling tip-top, I went through the show rather quickly. My pictures were limited to the most colorful among the quilts...and to the cats, of course. I'll say, however, that I like to go to quilt shows for inspiration and to learn. Yesterday, I was interested in looking up close at some of the collage quilts to see how they're done. I've seen some beautiful quilts online and figured I could do them if I could put the steps together. (And yes, I could take a class, but I'm not fond of classes.) I've made all different kinds of collage quilts, and each one has taught me something about how to put them together. Now I can see how combining what I've learned into one technique could get the job done so that I could turn my own photographs into these pretty art quilts. Here's a good example.

There was no identifying information with this quilt...it seemed to be a part of a special exhibit, but I wasn't willing to fight my way upstream through the crowd of onlookers to figure out what it was. My apologies to the quilter for not identifying him/her. So, looking at this, it's really no different from the way I make the pet pawtraits. But mine are done using fusible applique and then top-stitched.

These seemed to be glued in the way the little Happy Village quilts are done (blog post here), and then tulle is laid over the top where the quilting is applied to hold everything in place.

So...cool. I want to try this...soon. I've promised myself I won't start any quilts I can't finish in the same month until all the oldest ones are at least to flimsy stage. I can probably come up with a little one to work on in the meantime.

As for the rest of the show, I tried to limit how many pictures I took, and so I'm posting all the ones that caught my eye. Where the quilter was identified, I've included the information. Mainly, I'll just let you look, and I'll try my best to keep quiet.

The "snails trail" is one of my favorite blocks.

This was a favorite of mine. I love how she strip-pieced the spools of thread.

And I especially loved this stray thread coming from one of the spools.

I've mentioned before how I envision a quilt from the Tillicum Crossing bridge (blog post here). This next quilter actually did it.

This next one was a small quilt...about mug rug sized...no identifying information.

Here's another one I took several pictures of. I was interested in the quilting detail, which is fairly simple. It's just as one would expect...following the contours of the subject and adding in necessary details.

No identifying information that I could find on this next one...or maybe I'm just blind. My apologies to the quilter.

I've seen this next quilt online...it was a pleasure to see it in person. Absolutely fantastic. It was awarded the "viewer's choice" ribbon.

This was another small quilt made from strips of fabric and thread painting. No identifying information.

This next quilt was a first place winner.

What a fantastic quilt this next one is.

You can see one of the "Texas" pieces in this detail shot. Some people have no fear of tiny pieces. It's a small quilt, and so some of these are eensy-weensy.

This next quilt is the second flamingo quilt I've seen in as many days with the name "Pretty in Pink." Remind me not to give my quilt that name if I ever finish it.

These hexies were about the size of a half dollar.

So those were all the quilts I took pictures of. I completely avoided the vendors. They were all mobbed, and I wasn't feeling good enough to fight the crowds. I was at the show about two hours and then headed for home where I crashed on the couch and slept hard for several hours. I needed the rest, but it made it hard to get to sleep last night. Instead, I got out of bed and finished off the Sundress block.

Here are the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

With that one finished, I spent some time this morning tracing out the 9th of 9 blocks for the Heart & Home quilt. This one is called "Bees and Bee Hive."

It won't get started until tomorrow morning, but it's hooped up and ready to go.

If there's time for sewing today, I want to get started on the 4th section for And on that Farm...just one of several old projects I'm trying to get to a flimsy stage.

Also on today's agenda, I think I can squeeze one more dessert out of the plums on our tree. They're so ripe now that they're splitting and falling to the ground. Besides, D-Day (Diet Day) is Monday. It's our last hurrah before we get serious again.

Also, I harvested some more tomatoes this morning. I'm a little surprised we don't have more ripe ones. There aren't really enough here to bother with canning plain 'ole tomatoes, but I want to make another batch of the Tomato Jalapeno Jam. It was new to me this year, and I really like it. The first batch made just four half-pints, and so I definitely need more, more, more if I'm going to survive the long cold lonely winter. Tomato jam is our saving grace.

That will have to wait until tomorrow though because there's plenty on today's agenda already. I'm embarrassed to say that a four minutes until noon, I'm still in my pajamas. That's not to say I haven't done anything this morning, but getting dressed really should be next, don't you think? I'm feeling much better today, so no more excuses. Thank you for indulging my slovenly appearance.