Southport Congregational Church Quilt Show, 2012

I've spent the last week kind of noodling this post around in my head, because it feels like there's so much to it. Those of you who have been reading since last year may remember that I attended this show with my grandmother last year, too. (If you missed those posts, take a second to go back and browse--there were some really incredible pieces!) Southport Congregational Church has been putting on this quilt show, Fabrics and Fabrications, since 2003, and it is hosted and run entirely by community volunteers. The proceeds go to Emerge, Make a Wish and Project Learn. This year's show hosted over 150 quilts and quilted objects, and the theme was "Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice!". There was a huge showing of scrap quilts, as you'll see, as well as a special exhibit of art made from found or repurposed items. The special exhibit was super-crowded, and I didn't manage to get many photos of it, unfortunately.

The day was overcast and kind of dreary, which meant that there wasn't the same stained-glass glow lighting the quilts in the sanctuary as last year. The lights were turned all the way up, but some of the photos still feel a little dark--my apologies! I also didn't get a chance to take as many pictures this year--last year, my grandmother had brought her cane, but chose not to walk very far, and sat at the entrance of the sanctuary while I ran around and ooh-ed and ahh-ed and snapped photos. This year, she'd brought her wheeled walker, and I believe I might have used the term "heck on wheels" more than once. She's a speed demon with what she calls her "jeep". So I didn't get as many photos as last year, and therefore chose to keep this as one post.

There were LOTS of scrap quilts this year, and they ranged from antique to contemporary, traditional to modern. Actually, you'll see that there are quite a few more modern quilts this year than last, something one of the volunteers mentioned while talking to a reporter from the local paper as we walked through the chapel display (the chapel's pretty small, I swear I wasn't eavesdropping...much). It was cool to see that shift in the show quilts in just a year's time!

Finally, I will say that there were a few issues with the program this year, so I will share what I can that I think is accurate. I'm also linking out where I can--I'm not receiving any compensation or incentive to do so, just so this is all above board!

This first is a star sampler using a Connecting Threads pattern, using fat quarters. It was finished in 2010 by Pat Cole, machine quilted by Butler Country Crafts, Clyde Park, Montana.

This Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt was hand-pieced, -appliqued and -quilted. I don't think I've ever been to a quilt show that didn't feature a hexagon quilt! There's a reason we're all obsessed with these all over again, I think--they're so timeless. We might not use seafoam green borders if making one today, but if you didn't include that, you could easily be looking at something a modern quilter might create today.

Log cabin variations were very well represented this year. This one was made in 2008, machine pieced and quilted.
This next was made in the 1930s, and was machine pieced on a Singer treadle sewing machine, then hand-quilted. Many of the fabrics were flour and feed sacks. I could have honestly looked at this one all day.


Another log cabin quilt, hand pieced and quilted, finished in 1998.

I kind of love the crazy scrappiness of this next one. It was made sometime before 1920, according to its family pedigree, and is just a flimsy (an unquilted, unbacked quilt top). It was hand-pieced by the owner's grandmother and great aunts. I really kind of have to wonder why it has gone unfinished for nearly 100 years. What happened? That's one for Jennifer Chiaverini to write about, huh?


This next one I totally fell in love with. I love Ocean Waves, though the thought of so many little HSTs gives me pause. It's a bucket-list pattern for me. This one is a quilt that obviously saw lots of hard use and was well loved over the years--you can see that some of the fabric triangles are worn clean through to the batting in some places. The program says 1922, and was made by the same women as the quilt above. Can't you just see a group of sisters sitting and hand-piecing triangles every night? This one went into the owner's grandmother's wedding trousseau. I love the stories behind these.


This four patch had pride of place on one of the front pews. Unfortunately, this is one that the program sort of doesn't agree with the number, so it will go down as the mystery 4-patch.

And now we start seeing some of the modern-feeling quilts. This one, made in 2006 by Richard Killeaney (a local CT quilter), is machine pieced and quilted, using 13 men's dress shirt fabrics (some over dyed with natural dyes). The back and batting are organic cotton. As a side note, there was a second quilt made in a similar style by Mr. Killeaney in red and white fabrics from recycled men's shirts. Unfortunately, I could not get a photo where that one did not read as sort of muddy pink! Could not do it justice, sorry Mr. Killeaney!

This next is also one of Mr. Killeaney's quilts, and I really wish I'd gotten a better picture. Called "Design Elements", it represents different elements of quilt design, including photocopies on some of the fabric of paper piecing designs. The creme color represents masking tape. This quilt was made in 2003.

Can you tell yet that I seriously love Richard Killeaney's design aesthetic? This 2008 Zig Zag quilt is another of his designs, made from 13 different men's shirts, with a linen backing and organic batting. May I say that the linen backing gave this quilt the coolest drape? I didn't touch, but I did ask one of the gloved volunteers working there to show me. I just love the neutrals, the echo quilting, the giant zig-zags. It honestly made my heart go pitter-pat!

Numbers 130 and 75 in the next two pictures were both made by one of the lovely ladies my grandmother and I lunched with that day, Charlotte Matthews. I'm particularly enamored of this first one, with the almost pixelated edges and neutrals mixed with just a couple of pops of color. Her process on this was to copy a photograph onto graph paper, then determining colors and sewing it together using just squares. It is called Leaves in Pond Ice. I can see it, can you?

Charlotte's other quilt, #75, was a scrappy throw to cheer up a friend. I was also taken with #74 beside it--do you see the wonky piecing? Me, too!

And finally, can you guess who made #46?


If you guessed Richard Killeaney, you'd be right! I have to say, I didn't look up anything in the program until after I got home, so this was all purely by what spoke to me. This piece was Mr. Killeaney's RISD thesis, machine pieced and appliqued, lined with flannel.

I hope you enjoyed my little highlights tour of the show--I'm very excited to attend a second show here in CT next month, the bi-annual Connecticut Piecemaker's Quilt Guild show, A Spring Shower of Quilts. The madman was nice enough to accompany me at the last show, two years ago. I'll be interested to see if there's a shift toward more modern quilts in this show after two years, especially since seeing such a shift at the Southport show.

What's inspiring you these days?

Southport Quilt Show, part 2

Back, as promised, with more photos from the Southport Quilt Show, Fabrics and Fabrications. You can find part one over here.

Among the things to catch my eye at the show yesterday were a few patterns you may be familiar with. The first?


Recognize it? It's Denyse Schmidt's Cogs Wheel pattern, done crib-sized for the quilt-maker's grandson.

I really love the quilting on this--the echoes of the cogs give it a more modern feel. I really love the choice of the blue background--it made the colors pop.

Over in the chapel, there were more quilts displayed. It was crammed with people, and really had to get a good photo, but from the door, I could see this cute little crib quilt...


Another Denyse Schmidt pattern, this time it was Single Girl done in pretty scraps on white. I cannot get over how striking this pattern is--I need to get off my butt and get cracking on my own version of this! If you'd like to do the same, there's a support group going on over on flickr, check it out here. You'll have to supply your own copy of the pattern (copyrights being what they are), but the support group leaders (Katy, Nova and Megan) are all giving great tips and tricks on everything from cutting templates to sewing curves. A huge help!

There were a lot of antique quilts which show that current trends (paper piecing, log cabins) have some great historical basis. Like this hand-sewn and hand-quilted paper pieced scrap quilt from 1900, draped over the piano just inside the door. You can see more of that stained-glass glow in this photo, too.



And of course there were hexagons, like this Grandmother's Flower Garden.



I love the way the blue and white tie together all of the scrappy hexies. This quilt had been acquired sometime in the early 80s in Appalachia--original date of completion unknown. For the amount of use it received (20 years on a child's bed), it held up beautifully.


And the log cabins!



This one caught my eye--I think it has a great modern feel, for all that it is at least 50 years old.

And then there was this one:


It's being used as a table topper, and was a yard sale find--it was going to be thrown out at the end of the day! Sacrilege! Each of those tiny logs finishes at barely a half inch. Unreal.

And finally, in the chapel, there was a great display up in front of the altar. I had to wait for quite some time to get a shot with no people in it!




I love the two barn raising layouts displayed like this--it's almost like the top one is being reflected in a pond. Very cool, and so lovely. They're both pieced using lots of silks and velvets, so the luster of the fabric was really rich in the stained glass light.

Altogether an extremely inspiring show, and I hope to be able to attend again next year. Now, to put some of that inspiration to work!

Southport Quilt Show, part 1

I had the great good fortune today to do something very special. This morning I met my grandmother at the Southport Congregational Church in Southport, CT to have lunch and attend their annual quilt show. I missed it last year due to a work conflict, and so I planned ahead this year--extensively!

It was absolutely worth it. The event is put on by a group of volunteers, and the proceeds from the show, called Fabric and Fabrications, go to benefit Make A Wish, Emerge, and Project Learn. They really out-did themselves. Before I go any further, to my CT readers, the show continues tomorrow--I highly recommend it!

The use every aspect of the church for display. The view when you walk in is really quite stunning...



Antique quilts, contemporary and modern quilts. Art quilts. Really, it's inspiring, and I have to say, my pictures don't do them justice.


One of the first quilts I got up close and personal with was this Double Wedding Ring quilt.



All hand pieced and quilted. My regular readers know by now that I have a deep-seated love of scrappy quilts, so it's no wonder that this lovely drew me right in. I could have spent an hour up close and personal with it!

The sun graced us here in CT today, and the effect through the stained glass windows over the quilts was really lovely, giving everything a hazy, golden effect.



This bed sized quilt took up its own pew. It is approximately 100 years old, and overall in great condition. Each of those little HST squares finishes at just over 2.5"! That is a labor of love, no? I love the bits of poison green that pull your eye around.

Seating was at a premium at the luncheon, so we didn't linger there too long. My gram and I shared a table with one of the contributors/volunteers and a friend for a bit, and they were lovely. I was delighted to see her quilt up close and personal after lunch!


Lakeside Hunter's Star, by Millie Ohm. It was made for friends who are building their dream house, as a gift. It was really striking--it caught my eye when I first walked in. If you look back at that first photo in the post, you can see it off to the right.

Finally, just inside the door when I walked in, I saw another great Double Wedding Ring quilt, another antique. It was in some disrepair, but without ropes in front of it, so I could get quite close.



No, no. Closer!



Made with a variety of 20s and 30s floursacks, as far as I can tell. (Note, I'm not a historian, just a quilter and enthusiast!) But look a little closer. See a print you recognize? That caught my eye in a flash! (Wondering what I'm talking about? Go and look at Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope fabric collection, then come back and look at this photo again. I'll wait...)

Come back tomorrow for part two of the quilt show, including some modern quilts, and more mention of Denyse Schmidt!

Back from the quilt show!

My husband (bless him) and I just got back from spending a rainy Sunday afternoon at the bi-annual quilt show put on by the CT Piecemaker's Guild. I have to say, firstly, that the man really does listen. He asked about fabrics, techniques, remembered local vendors that I had visited in their brick-and-mortar stores. And he looked good doing it--there was more than one woman at the show who looked at him with a mix of surprise and approval, and a little jealousy. He was certainly in the minority this afternoon!

I didn't take very many pictures, I'm sorry to say. There were several that I loved for their layouts, their colors, or their workmanship--mind, most of what I personally liked didn't win anything. That's the thing about art--it's so subjective. What I did notice? A LOT of batik, a number of art-quilts, a surprising number of scrap and string quilts, and nearly everything was super-traditional. I have been challenged by several people to enter the next show, two years from now. Being that my style really tends to be more modern, I'm not sure what the reaction would be. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, of course. AND two years is quite a long time. With a little luck, I'll actually have another finish, period, between now and then!

Now, on to the pics I DID take...


The madman and I both liked this one--we both dig Asian-inspired work. The small patchwork is all 1" finished squares of a multitude of Asian-themed fabrics. The red borders are printed in small black kanji. I can't imagine the tedium of piecing so many tiny blocks--I admire the work tremendously, though.

Speaking of amazing:


This was titled "Pieces of My Past", and the quilter had worked for over 2 years on it. All paper-pieced hexes, by hand, and also hand quilted. 3,185 hexes in all. She said she used fabrics from her mother's hankies, her father's boxers, and her grandmother's aprons. I found it awe-inspiring, and it makes my own stack of hexes (just shy of 50, 2 nights of watching movies with the madman) pale in comparison...


My own little stack of 2" hexagons. I'm happy to have a handwork project going--makes me happier to sit and watch movies, because I feel like I'm accomplishing something.

Another quilt I admired was this one:


This is about 1/4 of a Dear Jane reproduction. It was mostly hand-done, and took the quilter a year and a half of work, finishing just before the show. The squares were so tiny, no more than 5" finished. My fingers hurt just looking at it!


I also was impressed with this one--the colors here are muddy, but in life, even in the sub-par lighting (the one I took with a flash washed it out terribly), this glowed with amber and gold. In the note, the quilter mentioned that it took her two years to find all of the colors to grade this properly.

Finally, a cute little Christmas quilt


It was done in kaleidoscope quarters, just 4 little fussy-cut squares from the outer border fabric. The effect was quite lovely.


Now, to continue the glut of pictures, on to the spoils! There were vendors all around the perimeter of the show-room, plus two smaller conference rooms full of vendor stalls. I saw three that I was familiar with, chatting with the woman who had sold me my Janome last summer and talking about the move of her store's location in the coming weeks--the new shop will be right across the street from my favorite Indian restaurant, and right down the road from our favorite sushi place. I foresee a number of date-nights taking place over that-a-way! Sorry, Mr. Madman! I also saw a shop that I thought had gone out, but in fact had moved closer to me, so in celebration, I bought two charm-packs of Cotton Blossoms, which I am amassing a small stash of.



A third vendor, which is normally nearly an hour's drive each way, had a delicious spread! Tons of jelly-rolls, FQ packs and patterns. I picked up a FQ pack of some gorgeous Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey:


I love the vintage-sheet look of some of the larger-scale prints, and can see this worked into a great spring quilt.

And finally, I couldn't pass this up:



A FQ pack of Amy Butler's Love. I initially wasn't all that interested in the line, but after working with it for Kat's month of the Beehive, I fell in love with the large-scale paisleys and retro-feel prints. For now, this will be pet and patted and eventually, it will become something. I do hope to someday finish something I've already got started... Honest!

Coming up is my 4-day weekend sew-a-thon, so I'm hoping to post a bunch of pictures of new things, like Kat and Tanya's finished blocks for the Beehive, another block of the Jelly Roll quilt-along, and more hexes!!