Alden Lane's Quilting in the Garden 2019

At the amazing Alden Lane Nursery's Quilting in the Garden event, quilts are hung on clothes lines strung between four-hundred-year old oak trees. It takes many volunteers in addition to the dedicated nursery personnel to pull off such a event and those volunteers are generally drawn from the local quilt guilds.

I belong to two guilds. Amador Valley Quilt Guild sets up and runs the Budding Beginners, a hands on activity area for children and interested adults to try their hand at making a quilt block. My friend Renee is in charge of this inviting community activity and I helped a bit with the setup Friday night September 27th. Participants rotate through stations that are arranged in one area of a designated building.

Kits are prepared in advance for novice would-be quilters to make an appliquéd block. They can choose from a wide selection of options.

Alternatively they can make a pieced block on one of the two sewing machines that have been set up with pre-cut kits ready for them to assemble.

My other guild, Diablo Valley Quilters, is one  of the guilds that provides volunteers hang the quilts.  The quilts are hung on Saturday morning, taken down Saturday night and rehung Sunday morning so they are not exposed to the elements over night, and then taken down at the end of the show Sunday. I helped with the hanging 7:00 am - 9:00 am Saturday morning. It was funny to see all the ladies covered with the clothes-pins they would use to clip the quilts onto the lines strung between the grand spreading oak trees. Blue clips are stronger so they are used secure the end corners of the quilts and the weaker wooden clips to grip the edges in between. Then the loaded lines are hoisted up among the tree branches. No ladders are needed during the hanging ritual.

When I left after the 260+ quilts had been hung, the sky was still pink with the recent sunrise. It made a pretty backdrop for this lamp post bedecked with gigantic "spools of thread".

Quilts seem to surround those who stroll beneath them. In the next photo, three lines of quilts encircle this gracious oak.

It was a very windy weekend and sometimes the quilts were nearly horizontal so you had to admire them quickly. These bright colors and eclectic patterns are enjoyable no matter what the angle.

Margo's Doll House (109) by Joey Connolly, Eclectic Friendships (22) by Jan Scrutton, and Senoritas (8) by Sandi daRoza make an eclectic mix, hanging on this line. Quilts were hung facing the sun whenever possible.

This patriotic mainly red, white, and blue line showcases many of the quilts of the March Madness challenge.

I take snapshots of a smattering of individual quilts that spark my interest for a variety of reasons. Halloween Churn Dash (72) by Rhondi Reeves is a crisp reminder in a classic pattern that screams the holiday because of the color selections and of course the feature black cat.

Tucked off on the left side is a glimpse of Halloween Open Options (79) by Lora Zmak. I am impressed that such a simple basic pattern as Open Options by Material Girlfriends can be so graphically striking, merely by the color choices, in this case only orange and black.

I took this photo of Two-Wheel Nirvana (96) by Lynda Smith because it amuses me how varied are the interests of quilters.

I keep telling myself I want to make an all-curves apple core quilt but I still have not gotten around to it. Apple Core (73) by Rhondi Reeves will remind me.

But I have made a curved pieced quilt. Blue Hues (60) is one of two quilts I entered in the show. My blog post about its completion is dated 12/30/2018.

The other quilt I entered is Orange and Grey (61). Its completion post is dated 8/10/2016.

I photographed this modern graphic quilt, Ombre Blossoms (30) by Carol Ancog, to remind myself that a simple parallel channel quilting pattern can be very effective.

The noble, all-wise, carved bear statue of Alden Lane Nursery presides over Quilting in the Garden wearing a quilt shawl.

The gift shop is also a feast for the eye within. The blues of this display are so serene and inviting.

I most definitely shun black, gross, slimy, bloody horror for my style of Halloween ambience! The seasonal decor of this display is my kind of Halloween... smiling, quaint, friendly ghosts and pumpkins, orange/yellow/beige/creamy candy corn colors, a bit of witchcraft, and a grinning mummy thrown in for jovial trickery.  

I left the show smiling, filled with colors, and pleased that another tradition of the fall season had been fulfilled for me. No trick... this show is an annual treat for me.