On Saturday August 19th I went with my quilt friend Kathie to the annual quilt show of the Delta Quilters Guild in Brentwood, CA , a town about 24 miles north of my home in Livermore, CA. I have been to this show several times and it is one of my favorites. It is of a moderate size with an enticing boutique feature. The quilts are creative and inspiring, while remaining within the range of skill and techniques to which I can aspire. This year was a 30 year anniversary of the show and it sported a bemusing theme of imparting "Pearls of Wisdom".
There were six stations scattered through the show where an attendee could gather a pearl and learn accompanying words of wisdom, truisms mixed in with humor. Although I missed photographing the first one, I did document the other five.
After collecting the pearls there was an assembly station where they could be strung on a string along with a clip on one edge and a charm on the other. I assembled mine once I returned home. Only my pink pearl is missing its accompanying pearl of wisdom.
FEATURED QUILTER
The featured quilter of the show was Bobbie Whitlock, a current member of the Delta Quilters Guild. Her quilts are beautiful; two of them are presented in the following photos. I asked how she got the quilting to stand out so impressively in the flower one and she suggested the use of wool batting to give higher texture levels.
OPPORTUNITY QUILT
So impressed was I with the opportunity quilt, that I bought twenty-four tickets for it. The drawing for the winner was to be on the final day of the quilt show so it was not going to be traveling about to more shows collecting even more entrants. At least I brought along my inked stamper so I did not have to write and my name with contact information twenty-four times. Alas! Twenty-four was not enough to win. The pattern is titled Summer on the Delta, designed by Material Girlfriends. I suppose I could buy the pattern and sew one for myself but it is quite large at 92" x 92".
Sunflowers alway make me smile, so the assortment of them peeking out between blocks of Field of Sunflowers amused me. The color combination and subject matter were very cheerful.
Who doesn't enjoy the variety of colors and shapes in Quilters Color Therapy?
This quilt photo of Fine Wines from Local Vines was taken to remind I have been wanting to make an attic windows quilt.
With a few fine black of lines of detail in Little Nugget, it went from black/white neutrality to wild whimsy. Aren't those circles transformed into loopy hedgehogs so precious?
I am fascinated by the use of colors to convey transparency. Mia's Quilt succeeded quite well. I also liked the diagonal plaid effect.
Having complete a Grinch quilt of my own back in 2014, I needed to capture the festiveness of Merry Grinchmas as well. Seeing others' creative deployment of panels is always interesting. My own Grinch quilt was made from a panel intended for a cloth book. Details for completed Grinch quilt is in my blog post published 7/2/14; its completion photo is in this post after the Merry Grinchmas images.
I like the random splashes of orange in Sharks Hunter Star. Photographing it also reminded me I had been intending to make a Hunters Star quilt.
Once again I was impressed with the look of transparency by judicious fabric color choices. I also admired the use of English Paper Piecing as well as regular piecing in A Twist in Time.
RANDOM OTHER EYE-CATCHING ITEMS
This small placemat-sized quilt was one of many others in a display. I noted how effective the HSTs and itty bitty yellow corner triangles were for stars peeking out in the snowy sky.
The featured quilter of the show was Bobbie Whitlock, a current member of the Delta Quilters Guild. Her quilts are beautiful; two of them are presented in the following photos. I asked how she got the quilting to stand out so impressively in the flower one and she suggested the use of wool batting to give higher texture levels.
So impressed was I with the opportunity quilt, that I bought twenty-four tickets for it. The drawing for the winner was to be on the final day of the quilt show so it was not going to be traveling about to more shows collecting even more entrants. At least I brought along my inked stamper so I did not have to write and my name with contact information twenty-four times. Alas! Twenty-four was not enough to win. The pattern is titled Summer on the Delta, designed by Material Girlfriends. I suppose I could buy the pattern and sew one for myself but it is quite large at 92" x 92".
QUILTS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE
I did not take photos of all the quilts (122 of them, not counting those of the featured quilter) but here are the ones that caught my eye. For most I supply a brief reason why I was attracted to them.
I like the random splashes of orange in Sharks Hunter Star. Photographing it also reminded me I had been intending to make a Hunters Star quilt.
Watercolor Pinwheels caught my eye as another creative use for a panel.
The honeycomb stitch on this baby set was so soft and welcoming. The green kitted braid around the edges added creative and tactile interest.
In the area for the Quilts of Valor, this quilt had a very interesting pattern to it.
PURCHASES
This Brentwood show usually has an extensive and reasonably-priced boutique section. Maybe the influence of the table I'd just seen stayed with me, because I was drawn to this beach fabric themed tote bag. I have way too may tote bags and walked away from this twice. But the third time was the charm and I could not resist its magical draw. The next photos show the front, the back, the inside with its pockets, followed by closeups to display the front and back fabrics. Ya gotta love those sand dollars!
In the vendor section I picked up a delicate eyeglass case that called to me. Could I make something like this myself? Of course I could. Would I ever get around to it? Nah! I might as well reward someone else's industry.
I could not leave a quilt show without buying some fabric. I have been on a kick to collect orange fabrics so I added one yard of this to my stash.
This is a great show and I love to visit it annually. I am so, so glad it recovered and came back after COVID isolation. My to-do list of quilts I want to make, patterns I want to try, and techniques I want to learn suddenly grew in leaps and bounds. This show is a fantastic source of inspiration and fun.
What an impressive show! I am also sad you did not win the opportunity quilt, because it is gorgeous AND big enough to actually be used. I LOVE the idea of going around the show collecting the pearls (and I'm amused at how you can see their numbers dwindle in later photos). That makes for a pretty cute keepsake from the show!
ReplyDeleteAs for the quilts... I, too, tell myself I will do a Hunter's star someday. And I love that Merry Grnachmas quilt, even if it isn't as colorful (or Seussian!) as yours. That diagonal plaid effect is stunning, and I really like the visual texture of that beige/blue Drunkard's path quilt.
As for purchases, that tote is very impressive - I love all the compartments and it's unusual to see a handmade item with that kind of structure to it, I'm sure that was a lot of extra time. The curvy stitch at the top is a really nice touch, and the colors give it a fun, beachy feel that reminds me of your bedroom and that table! I'm glad it came home with you, and I can't wait to see a photo the the next time you sport it on an outing (unless it's serving some other, more storage-ey purpose right now...).
Anyways, sounds like a great show and I'm glad these shows are coming back post-covid too!