quilt show 2011

This year I went to the Manassas quilt show with mom and left Keith at home. He had some fantastic flowers that needed to be arranged and photographed. I know in our small apartment that is easier to do when I am not home. My absence gives him more space to maneuver the set up and pieces of his work. I recommend a visit to his blog SOGETSU ATELIER to see the recent results or look at his flickr.com pages.

The quilts in the show were leaning towards a civil war era theme to mark the 150th anniversary this year though they were varied and delightful even without that dark history overshadowing. I was inspired all over again to keep up work on my yoyo coverlet and have reached a good place in the project. Only 12 more squares of 25 yoyos to complete, so I bought about 12 more fabrics to add in and keep them changing as I make them into squares. After I have 64 squares I will be able to mix them up to make the combinations as varied as possible. I want to create a wild flower garden of colors and patterns. The quilt show venders offer patterns from the 1850's that aren't available else where. Real old fashioned colors and prints taken from old quilts and dresses and reproduced they are pretty inspiring to work in to my palette.

These images are a few of my favorites from a group of about 28 all posted on my flickr.com group called Quilt Show 2011 take a look if you want to see the whole batch of photos by following the link directly to that page. Here are a few favorites below.

tickets for the raffle 

Buy a fabric square for the troops? This lady was selling squares to raise money for the soldiers like they used to do in the civil war. Those squares you sign with a pen, then the ladies make them into a quilt, like the one on display and give the money and the quilt to the soldiers.

fabric and pattern sales were brisk 

loved these stars of lilac... look closely

windmill? 

We saw many quilts are quilted with these fancy machines. I tried out two brands at the show and got a sales lady offering to make my picture using her machine... only $12,000.00 and I could bring it home with free lessons! 

It was fun to use.

Sewing went faster or slower depending on how fast I moved it over the surface to keep the stitches evenly spaced. Moving in all directions I wanted to make loops. They suggested I write in my name. 

these tiny squares are 1 inch (2.54 cm) square I wanted to bring this one home 

 the new reproduction fabrics for my yoyo coverlet

last year's vintage fabrics cut to sew into yoyos

recently completed yoyos in a string of 5