Quilting in the Garden 2016

My husband and I have been attending this annual show for many years and I have blogged about it as far back as 2011. It is an Alden Lane Nursery annual event. Held outdoors beneath a stand of historic oak trees among flowering plants and decorative bushes, quilts are hung along clotheslines suspend between the trees. In the final paragraphs of this post are some links to shows from past years.

When we first entered I was tickled by this Christmas-like use of a dress form. I have a stylized mannequin at home and perhaps I will press it into service this holiday season in a similar "fashion". Her gold ball necklace is delightfully gaudy.

C&T publishing was one of the featured artists at this year's show. It initially seemed odd to me to have a publishing company as a featured artist; is that not usually a person? But in retrospect it is extremely appropriate since they have had a huge impact on the quilting movement and art. C&T publishing certainly found their niche in the book publishing world and I am sure many, many of us quilters have several books by them.

C&T also sells these eco-friendly zippered bags made from 100% recycled polypropylene water bottles and featuring quilt designs. I already own this elephant and staggered stripes pair and find its size and sturdiness are great. The texture was initially strange to me but now I love it. The other featured artist was Jennifer Sampou. She is actually the designer whose two patterns are behind the quilts featured on this two-pouch set. The large pouch is the Strips and Selvages pattern and the small pouch is the Elephant and I pattern.

At the show I bought this patchwork squares and climbing vine pouch set - my only purchase of the day. Yay for my restraint! Its featured quilts are by Cheryl Arkisan and Amanda Jean Nyberg from C&T's book Sunday Morning Quilts.

A guest artist was Freddie Moran Her series of four pear quilts, one for each season were hung over the entry to the nursery. Spring and Summer are 83 and 84. Autumn and Winter are 85 and 86.

I am having a hard time deciding whether Autumn with its deep plum leaves, or Winter with its delicately curving vine and little cardinal bird, is my favorite. I think it is Winter. Then again, maybe it is Autumn.

On this next billowing quilt, I found the bright lime green, deep purple, and bold blue tones to be very eye-catching in combination with each other. I did not realize until I was home that the breeze had prevented me from grabbing a number on this one so I regetfully I am unable to identify and give credit to its maker. My best guess is that it is a Dresden Plate variation but it is the color choices that make it so striking in my opinion. I tried to find the source by searching Google for an image match. Google thinks the best match is a lime tree or a coral reef. Go figure.

My head had been turned by the Christmas tree skirt on the way in and, on the way out, my eye was similarly attracted by this holiday themed Peppermint Pinwheels by Sujata Shah from the C&T book Cultural Fusion Quilts.

A closeup look shows the relaxed piecing that gives this quilt its organic charm. The prints are just so darn happy and call to my love of stripes and dots and whirls. Knowing me, though, I would fight to make all those points meet and I would lose the fun aspect of those cheerful candies in the process. If they all conformed uniformly, that carefree ambience would just be gone. Note that all those center squares are misaligned. I have to really study to be random. That is where I am striving for growth as a quilter. I had an entry in this show back in 2014, and I had to work at being wonky. The blog post for my Grinch quilt was July 2, 2014.

I have been attending this annual show for many years and have blogged about it as far back as 2011. For the curious I have supplied links to my posts about the show in past years. Some of my favorites from the Alden Quilting in the Garden for 2015 are here in my post for September 26, 2015. I had an entry (my Grinch quilt) in the 2014 show and I show other quilts from that year in my post for October 3, 2014.  My favorite quilts from the 2013 are shown in my post for October 2, 2013 and there was a quilt in that year's show made from the same quilt blocks as a quilt of mine but laid out very, very differently. A smattering of the quilts from the 2012 show are shown in my post for October 27, 2012. The topic of my second post ever, when I first started this blog five years was a brief description the 2011 Alden Lane's Quilting in the Garden. My very first post where I learned to upload a photo was October 3, 2011 where I show some metal sculptures I bought at the 2011 show.

This show is fun every year whether just touring the quilts, buying from the vendors, taking a class, listening to a lecture, or entering a quilt of my own. It is a fine September tradition my husband and I enjoy together attending each fall. Our anniversary is within a few days of this quilt weekend so we never miss our anniversary since the show is a reminder. By the way, this year is our 41st anniversary. We had a low-key dinner out last night. This morning, however, is time to share this perspective on the Alden Lane 2016 Quilting in the Garden, so I am linking up to Let's Bee Social #144.