Picture Heavy Post

Here we are, the dog days of summer. I was away for a few days, I took a drive to The Dalles, OR. It's just east of Hood River, the wind surfing capital of the world, right in the heart of the Columbia Gorge. What an amazing place. I forgot how beautiful it is and I realized how much I missed the rapid moving river, the green trees, brown hills and blue skies. I also miss my friends there. The time spent together is never long enough.
The Columbia River Gorge Quilt Guild held their annual show in Hood River this year. It was a Viewer Judged show and here are some of the photos.  Click on them to "up size" them for more detail

First place applique.  This was also hand quilted and the quilter used fabric and quilting designs very well in this piece.

My vote for best Pieced.  Look at the border, how fabulous.

A lot of time and effort was put into this quilt, I love the Storm at Sea border.

It tied for First place.

This was the other First Place in Pieced.

It was a Viewer judged show.

This was second in Mixed Technique. JMHO but it was the BEST of the show. The design was original, the piecer did everything on this, the machine quilting was exquisite, many thread color changes, applique was beautiful, use of color and design was fabulous.

This was First in the Mixed technique.  It was a kit, had very little applique and the piecer sent it out to be computer quilted.  Did I mention it was Viewer Judged?

Here are a few more with ribbons.  I think I voted for 4 of the six winners.  There were about  100 pieces in this show some of them were lovely.

First in Miniature

 Second in Mini  This was my piece and I was thrilled to have a ribbon.  Both pieces I made at a Gwen Marston workshop have won ribbons.

 This piece was about 10" high.  Amazing and was awarded Best of Show

 Second in Innovative, very fresh with these colors.

 Third in Innovative.  This was made by Kim  B.  She is an amazing stitcher.  Her hand work is fabulous and I love how she brought your eye out to the border with clusters of buttons on each border edge.

 Loved this piece, First in Innovative. Very good perspective in this piece.

A few non ribboned pieces.
Loved the colors in this one, piecing was fabulous.

 Who doesn't love a 2 color Winding Ways, non quilters have no idea the challenge of making this block

 Non quilters also don't understand the skill of needle turn applique;  this piece was amazing, her work was fabulous.  Stitches that could barely been seen, great color choices, and extending the applique into the border takes a lot of energy.  Thought a ribbon would have been on this one.

 Loved this one.  All the things this quilter experiences at their friends cabin.  This is being gifted and I'm sure the recipients will cherish this original design.  Click on this to see the choice of fabric for the loon, never would I pick this and yet it is definitely an amazing choice.

 Hand work that was under rated.  Loved the evenness of this persons stitches.

 A Crown Royal quilt, amazing piecing in this quilt and the quilting was lovely.  This was in a tough catagory, pieced had the most entries.

 This is mine, no ribbons, but while I was working the floor, I heard a lot of compliments on this, so that was nice. It will be gifted next year, so it might see one more show while it's in my possession.

 Another 2 color quilt, what can I say?  Loved it.  OK, to top it off, this was hand quilted!  They didn't have a category for hand quilting, but there were a few pieces that could have competed in the category.

That's all for now.  Update on BTCT, I'm 1/3 of the way through the final border. Once it's finished and attached, I will post some pictures.
I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of August. I'm picking fresh beans, my gladiolas are blooming as are my dahlias.  Others have faded away for another year.

Sharon

Keepin' On With This

I've decided I am not going to get stressed over some of the crazy methods or blocks that are part of JT2. I agree with other bloggers when they call it Just Takes TOO Much Time.
Quilting should be enjoyable, relaxing, and creative. So, I shall simply drop the crazy patterns and put my own twist on this quilt. The quilt police won't come knocking at my door and no one is going to compare my quilt to the pattern and say I screwed it up!
No, there is no pineapple block so far, but I have two for my quilt!
Sharon

Scrappy Red, White, and Pink

This is the perfect girly girl quilt. It will certainly brighten up someones day every time they look at this. My gal pal M did the piecing, and I couldn't resist putting hearts all over this one.

This was made with jelly rolls but I don't know what the pattern name is or where it came from. Sorry!

Flannel on the back always makes a quilt a little more snuggly.

So here is the beginning of the end, yes, it's border #4 for my BTCT. I'm not quite finished #3, but wanted to see how the initial thing would look. I'm pretty happy with it. I'll add flowers, vines, cherries and leaves to either side and then it will be all appliqued. I still have the embroidery of the cherry stems to do on #3 as well as a few more leaves, cherries and grapes. Closing ceremonies of the Olympics will take care of that last bit of applique.

So I figure I was going to be able to put shoes on at some point this week. You know, the broken baby toe on my left foot. Not so fast..........

Yup, I broke my baby toe on my RIGHT foot today. Good grief, I've been wearing sandals for the past 45 days and today I just clipped the wheel of the shopping cart as I was loading my car at the grocery store. Well, this up side is that we should still have 6 more weeks of nice weather.
Hope you all had an eventful weekend!
Sharon

Vintage Quilts

I went to a quilt sale. It was in this beautiful building in downtown Bellingham, WA. This is the old City Hall building and it's magnificent, except for the lack of central air!

I didn't buy any quilts though. Oh but if I had the budget and the place to store/show some of these beauties.

Don't you love this combo, and the little slip of different polka dot that got stitched into this block.

Lovely applique and hand quilting.

Stunning combination of colors, the workmanship in this one is incredible, look at that border!

My eye always goes to the red and greens, but I loved the cheddar in the quilt on the right.

Oh, to have this darling hanging in my home!

Super cute block and I love the chain design going on, again, great borders.

This was very interesting in how the quilter marked the corner, they stretched the wreath out and around.

If I could have taken one home, it would have been this one. Finished strips at 1/2" but look at the color/value layout. Remember, no design walls, no rotary cutters. This is one of the quilts from the Esprit collection and it's a beauty.

The show was around the corner, but no photos were allowed, not even without a flash. It's a great show, worth a view if you are in the area.

Sharon

Looking for Gardening Knowledge

Click photo to biggie size it.

Do you know what type/variety of plant this is?

Thanks
Sharon

Blast from the Past

I got an email a little while ago. I didn't recognize the senders' name but it was quilting related in the subject line; Medallion Madness. Funny, I had just pulled out four blocks of my own MM and put them together.

This was started in a class I taught back in 2005 or 2006.

The maker emailed me with a note about this quilt.
"By the time we separated the medallions, the quilt was
over king size... Second quilt I ever made... Told me a story of who I
am... Took me some years to bring it out and finish it but it's done... Do so
enjoy it... Not on bed yet as cat gets on it and claws sometimes... Have to
figure out how to move her to another spot... She's not good at making
changes... But in a bag and can see it when I walk by it... Makes me smile to
know it's done and pretty... You helped me pick out the colors..."

Judy needs to realize cats will find your quilts. As soon as you put them on the floor, couch, bed, the cat will appear out of nowhere. It's just how it is!

A few more words from Judy.
WAS GETTING PRETTY OVERWHELMING BY THE TIME I GOT IT PUT TOGETHER... IT'S BIGGER THEN KING SIZE, NOT RECOMMENDED FOR 1ST QUILTS... HEE HEE... BUT ONE THING AFTER THAT SIZE, EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMS SMALLER... HEE HEE...

It's so great to hear from past students and have them share their work. Immediately I asked if she would send pics so I could post them. This is a great lesson to new quilters, don't give up. You will finish your projects, just maybe not in the order you started them! Oh, and cats look good on quilts!
My words to Judy, job well done!
Sharon