Quilt Show and Cloth Book

The Guild of Quilters of Contra Costa held their annual two-day show this past weekend April 7th and April 8th. Because of other commitments, I could spend only a couple hours on Sunday viewing the show. I still enjoyed it and snapped a few photos of quilts I wanted to remember.

I loved the swirly quilting pattern on this four star beauty by Kitty Nowack, titled Shine. I often struggle to create a special pattern for each block when I quilt but I think this allover treatment is gorgeous.

A closeup better illustrates the flowing movement the stitch lines inspire.

The swirls remind me so much of Vincent Van Gogh's painting Starry Night. Although the colors are more subdued than the strong blues of the painting, the motion in the quilt is every bit as energizing.

I was also drawn to this quilt titled Hillside Village by Birgit Knuth. Why? I love red for one. Second, I found the mix of house blocks with diagonalized four patch blocks interesting. The four patch blocks are not truly set on point... or are they?  The piano key borders, light on top and dark on the bottom, give the eye yet other places to explore.  And I love polka dots, so that red and black dotted border clinched it for me. There is lots to look at in this quilt.

I was even more fascinated with the quilt construction when I read its story card and source for the blocks: orphan house blocks from the guild's Country Store, backwards Arabic Lace blocks, and scraps from Birgit's stash. What a delightful eclectic mix this concoction turn out to be. It made me smile.

Two hours is not a lot of time to view a show yet I still did manage to find enough time to pick up a bit of fabric from two vendors. These eight fat quarters just called to me. The lacy pattern on the purple and orange ones allows them to read like a solid but still have lots of interest. Buying two fat quarters of each of the two stripes will allow me to use them as a binding somewhere. If not, I always find a use for red and white stripes of all thicknesses and variations.

I bought three one-yard pieces that called to me from another vendor. The aqua flagstones on the left will make a nice blender fabric or option for a border  –  enough print to be interesting but not so much as to overwhelm.  The blue stripe in the middle will also make a nice border or can be used for binding; I do so like to bind with stripes. My stash is quite full so I try hard to avoid buying more novelty prints because seems that every novelty print needs to be another quilt. But on the right, those funky stylistic chickens on the yellow background with the flower eyes and brown squiggles seemed to have my name on them. "Cluck, cluck," they called. "Buy me, buy me." So I did. When I got home I showed my husband my purchases. I saved the chickens for last and crowed to him, "And aren't these funky chickens just soooo cute...?" He murmured neutrally, "Uh-huh. They even have those brown worms." I exclaimed back, "WORMS? Those are not worms! They are artful squiggles!" But you know, now I cannot see them any other way. I am not so sure I like this fabric so much anymore.

This week I finished the baby quilt for my new grandson due to be born via C-section tomorrow. I will blog about that quilt once I have gifted it later this month. But this week I did make a cloth book for him that I am willing to share today. The 24" x 44" From the Ground Up panel was Designed by Viv Eisner and licensed to Wilmington Prints. My grandson-to-be's daddy is my son, who works as a project manager for construction sites, so the theme of this book is fitting.

I cannot fill in the name until I learn what it will be. I sewed crinkly plastic inside the very center page so the book with make that crispy crunchy sound babies seem to like in their toys. I know his older sister did. I was able to special purchase the machine washable crinkly product on line; I have yet to find it in any store.

I trimmed the pages so closely that I'd inadvertently sewn the page numbers into the seam allowances. I had to assemble the book relying on the rhyming of the lines of text. From a google image search for the panel as sold, before it had been cut it up, I managed to zoom in and confirm that I did order those pages correctly! Whew! Hooking up now with Let's Bee Social #223.