A Quilt Show–In Person At Last!!!

Posted on October 23, 2022 by zippyquilts

I’ve thought for years that quilt shows should be held simultaneously with woodworking shows, and many of you know exactly why!

Happily, I found that the Catawba Valley Quilters’ Guild in Hickory, NC, holds their show concurrently with Klingspor’s woodworking show! My husband and I attended this past Friday and were so happy to be able to do so.

Here are just a few of the quilts that were on display.

This beautiful quilt was at the door. It had no label, and the nearby greeter knew only that it was “last year’s first place winner”. I loved it!

Here are pics of a few of the blocks (are they still blocks if they’re round?)

Some of the quilt labels had no information on the design source for the quilts, though I recognized some of the patterns. Where information was given about the design source, I’m listing it.

Made by Ann Becker in a class with Margaret Solomon Gunn

“Escher’s Christmas”, made by Teena McRary, based on designs by M. C. Escher

“Garden Jewels” made by Pat Carson and Pam Bowman. The label indicated the pattern is from the book Kaffe Quilts Again

“Connected Places” by Dianne Johnston and Julie Wilson

“Fun With Pinwheels” by Libby Sigmon and Rebecca Mullins

“Arizona Friends” by Cindy Konarski. Pattern is “Happy Together” by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

“Happy Trails” by Maryann McCormick and Rebecca Mullins. The smallest squares finish 1/2 inch!

“My Mountains” by Gigi Miller

Of course there were many more beautiful quilts, but this gives you some idea. I hope we can all go back to “in person” quilt shows soon!

More from Quiltfest

Posted on August 26, 2018 by zippyquilts

One of the good things about Quiltfest (held in Jonesborough, TN every July) is the quilt show. This year there was a contest in addition to the show of quilts made by the teachers. Here are some of the quilts made by people who taught at Quiltfest this year:

Zen by Debbie Maddy

Usagi by Debbie Maddy

Pathways by Debbie Maddy

Twinkle Star made by Lucille Amos (likely from a Judy Niemeyer pattern)

Diamonds in Bloom, made by Linda Crouch-McCreadie from a Judy Niemeyer pattern

O. G. by Karen K. Stone

Neutrality by Karen K. Stone.

This was a beautiful quilt and included lots of texture and metallic embellishment. Here is a detail view:

Detail of Neutrality by Karen K. Stone

New York State of Mind by Pat Holly and Sue Nickels

And here are some of the quilts entered in the contest rather than made by the teachers:

Red Bud Winter by Melinda Tweed

Leaves by Kristi Ottinger, quilted by Linda Crouch-McCreadie

It’s Complicated, by Kristi Ottinger, quilted by Linda Crouch-McCreadie

NC Quilt Symposium–Teachers’ Show

Posted on July 1, 2018 by zippyquilts

Here are some of my favorite quilts displayed by teachers at the recent North Carolina Quilt Symposium. I wish I could have taken classes with all of them!

Bending Star by Gyleen Fitzgerald

Blooming Happy by Gyleen Fitzgerald

Pursuit of Happiness by Gyleen Fitzgerald

Jack and the Beanstalk by Gyleen Fitzgerald

Even With Brown by Gyleen Fitzgerald

Facets by Marge Tucker

Hay Bales by Marge Tucker

On the Dot by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle

Flowered and Feathered Frenzy by Susan Cleveland

Bouncin’ Trio by Susan Cleveland

There were many other beautiful teacher quilts–these are just some of my favorites.

Next week I’ll show some of the award-winning quilts made by attendees at the NCQS.

Blue Ridge

Posted on April 15, 2018 by zippyquilts

My modern guild is having a challenge to produce quilts for display when the traditional guild has its next show in the fall. The guidelines are: no more than 36″ on any side, and using some Riley Blake solids whose colors were extracted from a landscape photo chosen by the guild. The quilts aren’t due for several months yet, but I had a brainstorm and produced mine already. Here we go:

The quilt is faced rather than bound

And here is a detail. In case you haven’t caught on, this is the one that was stained by basting spray. However, that came out just fine with dry cleaning.

Name: Blue Ridge

March 2018

Finished size: 30″ x 17″

Fabrics: Riley Blake solids

Quilted by: me

A Few Favorites

Posted on February 25, 2018 by zippyquilts

I’ve been thinking about what inspires my quilt designs, and the first thing that came to mind was the beautiful or fun or amazing quilts I see at shows, guild meetings, retreats, wherever. Here are a few of my favorite quilts for inspiration.

I love the variety of bright colors and the tiny pieces in this one:

Quilt made by Jerri from TINY pieces of Liberty of London fabric

And this is a favorite because of the bright colors and eccentric design:

Cinco de Mayo, made by Renny Jaeger; pattern by Karen K Stone

This unusual design appeals to me:

Rena was given a circle cutter at the last retreat, and she went wild!

Pamela Wiley’s excellent workmanship and eye-popping designs make her quilts among my favorites:

Outside In by Pamela Wiley

I like the use of color in this next one, as well as the movement generated by the curved piecing and curved quilting:

In the Marsh #2, by Carol Bryer Fallert-Gentry

And this one reminds me of Maine, where we lived for a while:

Coves and Islands by Carol Anne Grotian

What inspires your designs?

A Little Quilt Show

Posted on August 27, 2017 by zippyquilts

Quiltfest, in Jonesborough, Tennessee, is accompanied by a little quilt show of things done by the teachers and the shop owners. Naturally, I took a few pictures 🙂 Here are some of my favorites:

Clam Shell, a Judy Niemeyer pattern made by Louise Amos

Detail shot. This quit was at least queen size, and the little HST squares finish less than an inch!

Cinco de Mayo, made by Renny Jaeger; pattern by Karen K Stone

Quilt by Shannon Shirley. The blocks are TINY and the baskets have tiny chain-stitched handles. See detail view below

Detail of quilt by Shannon Shirley

Lobster Stew, by Nancy Mahoney

Quiltfest is 3 days of classes and other programs held in Jonesborough, TN every July. So, who’s coming to Quiltfest with me next year?

Review: Karen Combs Teaching Tumbling Blocks

Posted on November 13, 2016 by zippyquilts

Karen Combs‘ Tumbling Blocks class, which I took at AQS-Chattanooga in September, was one of the best quilt classes I’ve ever taken. Of course, “tumbling blocks” is a traditional design, but I always like a challenge.

Tumbling Blocks, made in class with Karen Combs

Karen is so well organized and clear that I had 4 blocks made by the end of class and had started on the background! Her method for the Y-seams was so well explained that there is no need to even consider the “cheater” tumbling blocks made with half square triangles.

One of the “secrets” to making this block easy is to buy ombre fabric that varies from dark to light in the same color, so you don’t have to hunt down 3 values of the same color individually! Of particular note, Karen showed us how to use a standard quilting ruler to cut the blocks–NO SPECIAL RULER REQUIRED! I think this is notable in a field where so many teachers are selling their own rulers, which are then needed for the way they teach a class.

Karen’s class sample is a table runner, which probably does show off the blocks a little better than placemats. But I have more table runners than I can use, so placemats it is.

The quilting is done to emphasize the 3-dimensional aspect of the blocks, so I imitated what Karen had done. The background is quilted with random loops.

I’m pleased with this project, and I certainly recommend you take Karen’s class if you have the chance!

A Nice Surprise and a New Scrap Project

Posted on November 6, 2016 by zippyquilts

First, the surprise: One of my quilts, Cherrywood Toss, won first place in the Modern category at my local show! Needless to say, I was thrilled!

Cherrywood Toss. Read about it here.

And then it was on to a new scrap project! I’ve been wanting to make a scrap quilt with a zillion pieces ever since my friend Jerri made her postage stamp quilt.

I came across the “lego quilt” on Pinterest and followed the links to this post by Tonya Ricucci of Lazy Gal Quilting, which gives specific directions. Go visit her post–there’s a cool picture of an antique quilt that gave her the idea.

Strips on my design wall

Tonya made her 10″ (finished size) blocks using 1-1/2″ strips composed of scraps of various sizes. She mentioned that there was some difficulty getting them to come out the right size. Because of that, I am making my strips 11″ long unfinished so I can trim the blocks to 10-1/2″ wide after they are assembled. Also, I’m making the first strip in each block 2″ wide unfinished so I can trim in that direction as well.

So far I’m just making strips and putting them on the design wall to be sure I have a balance of values throughout the quilt. I’ll let you know how it goes. This takes a LOT of time! And like most scrap quilts, it doesn’t seem to use up even 10% of the available scraps! So far I’ve used only one drawer of the scrap cabinet!!!!

This might be a good leaders-and-enders project, since it seems like it could take forever. I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show, Part 2

Posted on October 30, 2016 by zippyquilts

There has been so much going on (that’s good!) I haven’t had a chance to post the rest of my favorites from my local guild show. Here are a few more of them.

Please note that this is a local show, so most of the quilts were made from patterns or workshops. I’ll list the source where I have it.

Jen Kingwell design beautifully done by Susan Roper

Traditional design made “to use up scraps”

Our guild has a very active group making Quilts of Valor for men and women who have served in the military. The next two were made for that program.

Inspired by a design on the Alycia Quilts blog

Design by Jenny Doan for Missouri Star Quilt Company

Design from the book Modern Paper Piecing was both pieced and quilted by Linda

Debby designed and made this quilt after a study of Amish quilts

Quilt is based on a Mind the Gap design by Moda. Karen cleverly named it after her “mistake” in placing the green strips!

Christeen designed this quilt herself, and I think the name should get a humor award!

Betty designed and made this quilt for a log cabin challenge

From a pattern by Kathy Wells

I’m lucky to live near so many talented quilters!

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show 2016

Posted on October 16, 2016 by zippyquilts

One of my local guilds had their biennial show recently, so of course I have many pictures of the quilts. This is an opportunity to display the best needlework of many of our local quilters.

I’m starting with ten of the most elaborate ones. The quality of the pictures is limited by both the lighting in the hall and the arrangement of quilts in 3-sided cul-de-sacs, the way it is done at AQS as well. However, it is obvious that a lot of work went into these!