Quilt Show (very photo heavy)

I have been MIA for a week.   It was for good reason.   There were 4 of us commandeering a quilt show.    We had a new venue for it, a brand new committee and we were waiting for Ground Zero quilt to come to Canada.    This was our feature quilt, made by Lois Jarvis, in remembrance of 9/11.  It had 4 days to get from Wisconsin to my very little and remote town in Canada.

I didn't sleep for a week.   Literally.   7 days and no sleep.   The quilt came.   I slept.

Then our quilt show took place.   And it came with such success, it was surreal.   People came from everywhere.  They were waiting for the show to open.   They flooded the place on the first day.   There was not one negative comment.  Not one.

And you know what?  I had fun.    The guild I belong to is incredible.   These women work.   You asked them to do something, and it was done.   That's it.   I have realized that my generation can really learn from the older one.   We don't give our word like these people do, we don't start and more importantly finish a task that is assigned to us.   We don't know how to work like that generation.   I admire them.  

I better get to the pictures before I tick any young people off=)    Here is the deal.  I do know who made these quilts.   We allow photos at our show, so I have no problem putting them on my blog.   But, I am careful about putting names on my blog, and I did not ask any of them if I could put their names on, so please know I am not purposely not giving credit to those whose quilts I show, but rather just being respectful.   Whew, after that big blurb, if you are still with me, here are the photos of our quilt show.

This quilt was my all time favourite.   Okay, there wasn't really alot of art quilts there.   But I just loved this one.   And I didn't even tell the maker of it.   

And this was our feature quilt.  Ground Zero by Lois Jarvis.   It had over 600 faces of the victims who were killed in 9/11.  We had a guest book at the table in front as well as Ms. Jarvis' story of why she made the quilt.   Very few walked away without being choked up.  

Thread Painting and Hand Dyed Fabrics

My mom had this beautiful panel that she wanted to put in our upcoming quilt show.  I offered to thread paint it for her.   I used a similar dark yellow shade for the centre and just carried the lines out further.   For the petals, I went with a brighter hue of pink instead of the burgundy.   I wanted the quilting to stand out a bit more rather than recede into the quilt.    The batting used is a high loft, so you can really see the areas that stand out.

I have a great respect for thread painting, even though it just looks like you get in and fill up  areas with thread, you don't.   You have to try and figure out where to start, how to get from one place to another and where to end.   Otherwise you have stray lines all over the place, no need to ask me how I know this!

Our quilt show is in 13 days and this is my first time volunteering to be on the quilt show committee for our guild.   (Well, it is the first time I have volunteered at a quilt show, but we don't need to mention that to my guild.)   We decided to keep the committee small and do most meetings via email.  So far it has worked.

Our big catch, is that we are bringing the Ground Zero quilt to our little town.   This quilt made by Lois Jarvis was made in memory of 9/11 and has over 700 faces of the deceased victims on it.

It will be coming on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and it is the first time this quilt will  enter Canada.  It has been to 123 places so far.

We are very thrilled to be able to receive such a meaningful tribute to 9/11 for our quilt show.  I would love to invite all of you, but most of you live very very far from me=)

We always have a guild boutique where guild members can sell their quilted items etc.   This year I got super brave and am going to sell my hand dyed fabric.  Well try to anyway.   Here is a shot of some fat quarters I have ready to be bundled.

When I get everything packaged and labelled, I will take another picture.   Each piece of fabric is not a solid shade, I manipulate it so it has alot of texture in it.   So my question to all my dear followers, would you buy any?