How About A Quilt Show??

Mum and I went to a quilt show over the weekend - they only put this one on once every two years, and it's always amazing.  It's at the most beautiful church - over 250 quilts (no, I won't show you all of them) - craft vendors and a luncheon in the basement.  Just lovely.

I started attending this one for a special reason.  I re-connected with my girlfriend from high school, and found out her mum had started quilting after I knew her.  Not only started quilting, she was an absolutely stunning quilt artist!  She always had a quilt in this show, and after her death, the family donated her bible quilt to the church.  It's always on display.  It was the first thing I saw when I walked in the door - 

I think you can click to embiggen.  Here's the only close-up that turned out....

She used all kinds of fabrics, and it is stunning.  Brought a tear to my eye, because I would have loved to have known her while she was quilting.

And now - on to the show - get your coffee or tea and enjoy!!

Blurry, but it was just darling.

Tiny paper pieced birds!!

Incredibly tiny!!!!!

Mum loved those penguins behind her!

Absolutely glorious bee!!!

Now these two above I just loved so much - one on each side of the altar, I believe they were paper-pieced, just gorgeous and I'd love to make something similar!!  You know I love God's word in fabric!  They reminded me of vintage quilts that are similar, with the words all running together.

Lots of vintage quilts!

The one above won best in show

The show was featuring a prolific local art quilter - I'm not posting names, as some ladies didn't want them known, but this gal was incredible.  Here is some more of her work.

So there ya go - did you enjoy it?  I know I did!  The church is Dearborn First United Methodist in Dearborn, MI, and the facebook page is Festival of Quilts.  They have lots more pictures there, and most of them turned out better than mine, lol.  Not the easiest venue for photography, but fantastic for going in person.  

And now I think I'll go get my jammies on, and relax....my aunt had snow at her house overnight [she's 30 minutes north of me, yikes] so cuddle-up weather is here!  Enjoy your week, my friends!

Love,
Allie

Happy Little Things Block 3 Plus Giveaway!

Yay, it's time for block 3 in the Happy Little Things BOM by Jacquelynne Steves!  Click on her name to go to her post!

For this block, I changed up how I did things.  I actually cut all my pieces beforehand.  Only took two tries to get them right.  Did I mention I’m a terrible piecer?  LOL!

 I’m really going for a scrappy look, but decided to use the same fabrics for the pieces – only using two different reds.  I can incorporate more fabrics into the borders.

You know, these are really basic blocks for your quilting library  - something I’ve never done.  It’s great practice.  I’ve always done either embroidered or appliquéd quilts, with no real piecing involved, and this has stretched my skill limit. 

I did use Jacquelynne’s tutorial for the half rectangle triangles, link is in the pattern.

Aren't they pretty all lined up?

The most difficult thing for me was trying to make that freezer paper template – it has a tendency to slide around under your ruler.  And I have sandpaper grippies on my ruler!

 When I was sewing the HRT’s together, I have to confess I never thought of the points – I was concerned about keeping them oriented the right way.  But I think they turned out pretty good in spite of myself, thanks to Jacquelynne’s great instructions!

And the finished block, ready for quilting - 

The colors are difficult to photograph - they're much more muted in real life, and blend together beautifully.  I'm hand quilting, with a big stitch, and it's turning out so well!

Now - to the giveaway - open to all - from Martingale!

a print copy of the book to U.S. residents, and a digital copy to overseas!  One prize per person per giveaway.  To enter, you must leave a comment on this post, with your email.  If you win and I can't contact you, I'll pick another winner.  Scroll down to the bottom of my post to the comment section.  Click on comments.  Yep, it's that easy!

The giveaway will run until Sunday, October 13th, I will pick my winner Sunday evening and email you immediately.  But that's not all - you have seven other chances to win!  Just go visit these blogs and enter on their posts as well! Click on the name to go to their blogs!

A Quilting Life

Podunk Pretties

The Crafty Quilter

Flamingo Toes

Happy Quilting

The Quilting Nook

Kathy's Quilts

And don't forget to show off your blocks at Jacquelynne's facebook group - 

Sew Quilty Friends

And now back to business for me - I've been working hard on November's Applique Club patterns, here's one of them ready to be quilted and bound....

I've used the same fabrics as for Jacquelynne's BOM, love them so much!  I'm almost done with the second pattern, glad to get so far ahead as I'm on call for jury duty this week.  I haven't dared to make any plans at all for this week!

Have a lovely day, dear friends, and I wish you all the best in the giveaways!

Love,

Allie

EDIT:  I'm sorry, I've had to go to comment moderation, the spam-bots have found me - you may not see your comment published right away, thanks for understanding!!!!