At the Quilt Show...

The Tree City Guild in Gainesville, FL, always puts on a great quilt show, and last weekend's was no exception. The theme for this year's biennial show was patriotic, and the quilts shown above greeted show-goers at the entrance. One thing I particularly enjoy at their show is the small vignettes set up around the exhibit area. Here's one I thought was especially nostalgic. And another is shown at the end of this post.

I'll show one of my Quilts of Valor donation quilts here because it goes with the patriotic theme. Quilts of Valor Foundation is such a worthy cause because the quilts (and they are not limited to red/white/blue color schemes), are distributed through VA hospitals to service men and women who have been touched by war. I've completed several, and have another one in the works. My quilting friend Claudia of Quiltworks Orange Springs donates her longarm quilting on these charitable quilts. You can see a gallery of several she's completed on her site. The red star blocks in my quilt were made as part of a guild exchange, so I really only had to make the alternate blocks and the border.

Heartfelt Patriotic Challenge Quilts...

Our local quilt guild recently held the reveal of a quilt challenge with the theme "Patriotic Quilts". This Log Cabin Star was made by Linda R. While I did not participate in this challenge, I was very moved by how personal and heartfelt the entries were. I'd like to share some of them here. Each of the quilts was unique, and each reflected the quiltmaker and those she holds dear.

Ann-Marie made "The Greatest Generation" quilt shown below. She included photo transfers of family who had served in WWII along with photo transfers depticting posters and significant events of the era. Even the back of her quilt was thoughtfully completed. It was made from sheet music fabric on which she had machine embroidered the titles of popular songs from the '40s. There was so much detail to look at.


And Freda, who was a career Navy nurse, made a quilt that was a tribute to those in her family who had served in the military. That included her husband, her father who never returned from being imprisoned in the war, and her step-father. Dot R. also made a tribute to the men in her family who were or are in the military. Her quilt included photos and memorabilia, and is shown below left.



Quilt guilds are so inspiring!

Stop me!

I seem unable to stop making these Wacky Creatures (McCall's Crafts pattern M5826). They are so appealing and simple to sew, plus I really like how soft and cuddly they are using fleece fabric. The yellow and small polka dot ones joined this trio after the Country Road Quilters recent 3-day quilting retreat. Fortunately they have homes to go to. If they were piling up in my sewing room, I'd really be in trouble. There's already enough "stuff" in there!

A quilt retreat is not only a refreshing time of fun and fellowship, but a chance to make big progress on projects. Nearly 20 of us attended the spring retreat last week. It's inspiring to see what others are working on, too. These are Ann-Marie's Pineapple blocks.

While packing up the sewing machine, chair, cutting mats and rulers, assorted projects and much, much more for the retreat, I always ask myself why I thought this was a good idea. It seems so cumbersome to transport, pack and unpack everything for the retreat. But once there, I never have a single regret. Meals are provided by the conference center staff, rooms are comfortable, and we can all focus on nothing but sewing for the time we're there. The results are definitely worth it. Look how much Sallie got done on her colorful Bargello-type quilt.

We even have little visitors, like this one, who watch and observe our progress! Linda brought Mrs. T. Bagg along.




I was able to complete a quilt top, shown below, for the Quilts of Valor Foundation. This organization gathers donated quilts and presents them those wounded in military service. To date, they have presented more than 26,000 quilts. Once quilt tops are completed, longarm quilters donate the quilting. Claudia and Wayne Schumacher of Quiltworks of Orange Springs have partnered with quilters to complete many of these quilts. This one started with a few red star blocks given away by another quilter at our last retreat. I took them home, made a few more along with the Chain blocks, and then added the borders. The photos doesn't show it well, but there is a wide dark navy border along the outer edges.



A few other projects got moved along, too. I'll show them to you soon.