Davies Quilt Show 2010

This year's quilt show had quite a bit of press attention ahead of time,

including this story.

The highlight for me was spending time visiting with Hattie Childress, 

a local quilter who is as proud of her homemade chow-chow as she is her amazing quilts.

The Civil War quilt shown above and in the linked post was draped over the table beside her 

and I read nearly 1/2 of the quotes she had handwritten on the panels.  

In the photo album, you'll see several other quilts of Ms. Hattie's . . . 

each one unique and historically linked with her written words, 

I could only try to absorb her spirit and grace.

I couldn't stay for the afternoon program by local quilter Marilyn League, 

but I was able to view several of her art quilts.  

[there'a a photo of her group in the album]

This year there were categories (assigned after all quilts had been received):

Non-traditional piecing (Spirit Song was placed in this group)

Traditional piecing (Chris's Enchanted Stars II and 2 of her mom's quilts were here)

Challenge quilts (including the little log cabin in the woods AQS Knoxville entries)

Art quilts (where No Words Needed was displayed)

Applique (where Chris's Pumpkin Seed was displayed)

Civil War Commemorative quilts

Mixed Technique quilts

Vintage (I didn't go up to the Manor House to see these)

Holiday quilts

Other Needlework entries

Visitors were asked to choose their favorite in each group

and then from that list pick their "Best of Show"

No judges ~ no juries ~ just Viewer's Choice awards.
They stopped accepting votes 10 minutes before the show ended
so I only saw two of the award winners get their ribbons.

To see lots more, click HERE and enjoy the photo album!

(If you want to see even more, you can visit Chris's post and photo album.)

Quiltdivajulie

p.s.  This is my week for jury duty . . . we'll see how that goes.

Shared Joy

Earlier this year, DH submitted paperwork and photographs of this piece ~ Journey ~  for the Spirit of the Southwest juried exhibit that will open during the 2009 American Association of Woodturner's Symposium in Albuquerque. After the Symposium, the exhibit will be showcased at the AAW headquarters in St. Paul, MN and other locations yet to be announced.

His letter came in yesterday's mail ~ which neither of us had gone to retrieve because of the steady rainfall.  

DH tore open the envelope and read as far as the first word - Congratulations!  The happy dance was on . . .

Journey is one of 30 pieces chosen for the exhibit!  YES! 

You can read more about the wedding vase tradition here and here.  What makes DH's piece so special is that it is WOOD and not pottery . . .

What a way to finish off his birthday!   I am SOOOOOO  proud of him!

Quiltdivajulie

I've Been Published!

When I got to work this morning, I found a package waiting for me. It was obviously a book ~ but from a source I didn't recognize.

With all the commotion of unpacking boxes, repacking other boxes, and getting my desk back into semi-functional condition, the package was set aside.

When I finally opened it ~ I was elated to find my copy of the 2010 AQS engagement calendar inside.

As you can see from the photos above, And Sometimes Y (my free-pieced quilt created during Tonya's First Ever Online Class and juried into the 2008 Nashville AQS Expo) has been featured for the week of November 15, 2010!!!

Woo Hoo!

Quiltdivajulie

Delta Fair 2008

Larry and I spent Saturday morning at the fair ~ his woodturning guild is doing demonstrations all day today and all day tomorrow (he's the president this year) plus we wanted to see how our entries did.  This is the second year for this fair and the first year for "craft, culinary, & collectible" competitions.  As with any first-time event, especially one on this scale, there is room for growth.  The good news is the director was on-site this morning and more than willing to answer questions and accept feedback.  I hope that bodes well for the coming years!

Larry entered four turned pieces ~ 3 blue ribbons and 1 white (later upgraded to red).  

I entered six quilts ~ 3 red ribbons and 2 white ones.  

LOTS more photos here ~ if you haven't tried the Picasa slideshow option, it's great!!

Enjoy!

Quiltdivajulie

Nashville - Day 2

I am officially exhausted!!!  Started the day with a visit to The Quilter's Attic in Goodlettsville ~ absolutely wonderful quilt store (SO many samples, and the display area upstairs features rotating trunk shows and even MORE samples)!  Lots of photos in today's album ~ including one of a sign that I spotted on my way... just couldn't resist that photo!

Then it was back to the show where I spent time absorbing the special exhibits and the quilts in the guild challenge displays.  Lots of photos ~ and again I tried to capture the name tags to give credit to the creators.  

Caught up with Chris in the afternoon as she was test driving her new sewing machine ~ great photo in the album.  She'll pick it up tomorrow and take it home!

I focused my shopping on the batiks needed for the new quilt for our bed ~ photos at the very end of the album were taken here in the hotel room after I laid out the fat quarters and half yard cuts on the bed.  After counting and calculating, I now know that I have a little more than enough (which will allow for some editing, always a good option).  Not sure right now if I'll stop at the quilt shop in Franklin on the way home tomorrow or not... I'm pretty color saturated at this point!

Here's the link for today's photo album ~ enjoy!!

Quiltdivajulie  

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p.s.  Next year this particular show will be held in Knoxville, TN.  Why?  Because AQS added the new venue in Des Moines, they needed to shift this show from August back into July.  The Opryland convention center was already booked for July 2009 ~ hence the move the Knoxville for 2009-1010-2011.

Nashville Show - Day 1

Started out  driving through rain this morning, which gave way after an hour or so to heavily overcast skies.  The sun broke through shortly after I entered Nashville ~ their air quality today was awful.  Smoggy, smoggy, smoggy.  The heat had also increased, so the walk from the Opry Mills parking lot through the old Opryland theme park to the Opryland  hotel/convention center was a bit uncomfortable ~ but...

What a thrill to see my quilts hanging along with the others today... wow!  Chris and I wore ourselves out looking at the amazing workmanship.  There are just NOT enough hours in the day!

There were no ribbons attached to mine ~ I really didn't expect to find any ~ but they are present and in great locations.  It was such fun to watch others stop and look... and even more fun to talk with some of the other quilters wearing pink "competitor" ribbons on their name badges.  And many thanks to the kind anonymous quilter who used my camera to snap a photo of the two of us with Thirty Years Later...

At one point, we heard shrieks of joy and everyone headed in that direction.  The beautiful purple Best of Show ribbon had just been pinned to the winning quilt ~ about 20 of us grabbed our cameras and started taking photos.  The woman who made the quilt was beaming ~ five years of incredible work.  No photos can do justice to the exquisite applique and amazing detail.  Fabulous!!!

I've created a Picasa album with the photos I took this afternoon.  Tried very hard to capture the name tags associated with the various quilts in order to give credit to the makers.  There are still A LOT of quilts at the show that we haven't seen ~ saving those for Day 2!  And another half of the vendor area remains unexplored...

Chris and I stayed at the show until just after 5 then headed to Applebee's for dinner.  Then off to our respective hotels to crash and regroup for tomorrow.   Stay tuned!

Blogger and/or Picasa are being tempermental about organizing the album (approx. 145 photos - some with captions, some without) ~ sorry about the last few that are out of sequence... we walked through several times and kept noticing things we missed on earlier rounds!

Enjoy the photos - click here to view.

Quiltdivajulie

Nashville Bound

Leaving early Wednesday morning to drive to Nashville and the AQS quilt show at the Opryland convention center... first order of business will be to locate And Sometimes Y and Thirty Years Later.

The awards ceremony begins at 1:00 and then back to touring the show until closing time. Chris is planning to meet me there ~ I'm sure we'll be as giddy as second graders after too much sugar, but we're going to enjoy the experience!

Hope to takes LOTS of photos ~ will try to post some after returning to the hotel Wednesday evening (Internet connection permitting). Stay tuned for LOTS of color!

Quiltdivajulie

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"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." (Emily Dickinson)

The Deadline Was Yesterday

The deadline for entries was yesterday. This will be only the second year for the Delta Fair ~ last year it featured food, rides, and entertainment. This year they've added displays and competitions for "crafts, collectibles, and culinary." [Note: the Mid-South Fair celebrates year #151 at the Fairgrounds in September ~ their final year in Memphis as they'll be moving to new facilities at Tunica, Mississippi beginning next year].

So, entering our wood and quilts into the Delta Fair offers a whole new venue in the greater Memphis area. We have no idea what the display area will look like or how much competition there will be ~ but we do know that most of the chairpeople worked in parallel capacities with the Mid-South Fair for many years. The Delta Fair's class/category structure is slightly streamlined, i.e., no distinction between amateur and advanced (those who receive payment for teaching or quilting). It will be interesting to see how many entries there are and what kind of effect their addition has to the overall attendance numbers.

The photos above show my six entries draped over our balcony ~ waiting for transport to the Agricenter on Saturday, August 23:

Vortex Interrupted (bed quilts)
Geese at Sunset (wall quilts)
I Did It My Way (crazy quilts)
Leftovers (crib quilts - pieced)
Tea at the Folk School (crib quilts - applique)
Elsie's Embroidery (non-traditional)

Over the weekend, I took "formal portraits" of these six ~ you can see those here. (In a day or so, I'll share links that DH found for quilt photography ~ what a saint to teach me the special camera settings and lighting tips) I need to take these outdoors and shoot some fun photos ~ just haven't had time and energy simultaneously.

My primary reason for entering these is to share their amazing colors and, maybe, just maybe, they might encourage a viewer to play with fabric.

You can peek at one of Chris' entries here.

Quiltdivajulie
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"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years." (Simone Signoret)

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Back at the end of April, these two items were mailed off on a wing and a prayer.

Today, I received word from AQS that BOTH of my entries for the show in Nashville have been named as semi-finalists!! Totally UNBELIEVABLE!!!

And Sometimes Y along with 30 Years Later will be on display August 21-23 at the Opryland Convention Center along with the other 275 +/- semi-finalists.

I am still in shock! Just ask my husband ~ I've been entirely giddy all evening! One minute I'm laughing, then tears, more laughter ~ omigosh!!!

Rest assured, I have no grand plan to become a "show quilter" ~ in fact, that aspect makes these two even more special. They were completely finished before the thought of entering them into the show even occurred to me... unlike so many that are created specifically for competition. Nope, these are MY quilts ~ free spirited, unique, scrappy, and colorful. And soon, while they're hanging at the show, they'll have the opportunity to make lots of people smile!

Hope you take a minute or two to enjoy the lyrics of this song ~ sometimes crazy dreams really DO come true!!

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"Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born." (Dale E. Turner)

For so many reasons...

It's only the letter "U" - but it represents SO much!

After 2 specialists and an MRI, it turns out that the pain is coming from a pinched nerve in my neck - "cervical radiculitis" (say it out loud and you'll hear the irony). New pain meds are helping and I start physical therapy this week. Typing is still painful, but at least possible now.

Actually stitched this letter yesterday afternoon, using my new machine! It had sat for over a week before being set up (NOT my usual method of operation). Have only managed a straight seam or two for now...

And the fair has started - click here to see an album of photos from Friday night. (there's also an album of photos showing our entries before we took them to the fairgrounds here). Larry earned 5 blue ribbons and the only best of show for woodturning. I earned 4 blue ribbons (each with a best of show for that class/category) and a red. Chris did really well with her quilts (blue/best of show, blue, and red) and her mom got ribbons, too. Woo Hoo!! All in all, it has been a great birthday weekend - contacts from friends, calls from family, went to a wedding for a former co-worker, awesome weather, being loved, and feeling a little better. As Mrs. Goodneedle says "Life is Good."

Sunbonnet Sue ~ Going to the Fair

My sister slept under a Sunbonnet Sue comforter much of the time that she was growing up. Last year, I took it all apart and created an entirely new quilt for Susie using the hand-pieced sunbonnet girls originally made by my paternal grandmother and reproduction fabrics.

I was very new to digital photography when I took this "before" photo. I wish now that I had gotten better ones. Oh well...

Now, my sister has loaned her new quilt back to me so that I can enter it in this year's Mid-South Fair (entries are due tomorrow but the results won't be available until the fair opens on Sept. 21).

Yes, Chris did the amazing quilting work...and before I return the quilt to my sister, I'm going to add a hanging sleeve so that it can be displayed instead of stored. To see photos of all 5 quilts that I'm entering, along with photos of the 5 pieces that Larry is entering in the woodturning categories, please click here.

(Added later:  the quilt won a blue ribbon and "best of show" ribbon for its category!)