Eleanor and I headed off to the Vermont Quilt Festival and had a wonderful time. I felt really proud at the way she was able to notice little details about the quilts and was able to say something nice about everything she saw. She noticed when the quilting was very close together, interesting color choices, and especially liked the pictorial quilts. She was asked many times throughout the day if she quilts and she sheepishly answered, "no." She says that she'll quilt when she's older. That suits me. Quilting is a bit daunting. There are so many steps and after seeing such exceptional examples of quilts today, I'm given pause before I start my next project!
Okay, wanna see some of what I'm talking about?
Carolina Lily, 1850-70. Collection of the Vermont Historical Society.
We saw some lovely examples from an exhibit called Hurrah for the Red, White, and Green! This was our favorite of the antique quilts. I can absolutely picture it on a grand four-poster bed... maybe one that requires stairs to get into it. We chatted with a woman from the Vermont Historical Society who just ordered hundreds of tubes and rods to replace the sagging tubes around which the collection of quilts are wrapped. We saw photos of the sagging quilts... a donation was made!
Tulip Time Elsie M. Campbell
Photo Credit: Eleanor Workman
Eleanor especially liked this quilt that was stenciled with ink and paint details. The machine quilting is stunning.
The Lure of St. Senara, Rena Ferioli
Somewhere Beyond the Sea... Karen R. Veiga
Not one, but two mermaid quilts! Nora gazed at them as if they were celebrity.
Life in Holly Ridge Nancy Prince
This was part of a special exhibit and I suppose my 'celebrity quilt.' According to the festival catalog, 50,000 yards of thread, 5 million stitches, and 1500 hours of work went into making this quilt. It was difficult to get a photo as there were so many people clustered around this one. While I waited, I amused myself watching as people got closer and realized that those people, horses, dogs are made of tiny stitches. The houses are sided with bias. Oh my.
Honey, I'm Home Hope Johnson
What a perfect way to use hexagon piecing! It took the artist 23 years to complete. According to the catalog, "the honeybees are rendered in correct proportion to each other and have physical characteristics particular to the queen, workers, and drones. The wings are made of silk organza and hand embroidered with Sulky thread." I was just thinking about the connection between hexagonal piecing and hives last night, but wasn't close to this grand an idea. I'd love to make this quilt, but A. it's now been done. B. 23 years!!
The whole show was a great motivator to get into quilt mode. The last quilt I made was a denim strip quilt inspired by this for David's Christmas gift. I'll have to post some photos when I get some better lighting in my bedroom. I'd like to try something with a bit more creativity/ skill. I've got a few ideas brewing. I think I'd like to make an optical illusion quilt - tumbling blocks or something like this (really!) I'm feeling compelled to make something out of bed sheets as well... we'll see how I'm feeling when the leaves start turning colors and pushing me back behind my sewing machine for a good long while. Until then, there's a party or event hovering around every weekend. In Vermont, we've got to take advantage of the sunshine while it's here and let the OttLite brighten our days for rest of the year.
