Monday, March 26, 2012

Quilt Show

As promised, a few days after I took the picture last week of the beginning blossoms of the wisteria outside our kitchen window, I took another one.That wisteris is in full bloom and we've got patches all around our house. So far it looks like none are in awful spots. So perhaps we'll leave them for another year. When they get into a tree we care about, we'll cut it back. Can't really get rid of it since it just moves on to another spot in the yard, or on to a neighbor's yard, so might as well leave it where it is.....for now!

 As usual, I'm being distracted by other things so the only warp this week is the one on the loom. I'll finish it today and maybe start winding a new one.
I love the cheerful colors of this sea blue. I was so tired of black. I've got several more black warps planned but I needed this one!! The next color probably will be navy but with an accent in it to give it a bit of punch!
 The other week I went to the quilt show in Pigeon Forge but I forgot my camera. Friday morning I had to be at the bobbin lace meeting and was going to head straight to Maryville for the Smokey Mountain Quilt show. I forgot my camera again, so came home inbetween to pick it up. This time I have pictures.
I'm sure each pattern on this quilt has meaning to the maker. I like unusual quilts, ones where the maker made up something and made the whole thing their own. Plus, I just like the Smokies!
 I'm a sucker for the reproduction 30s fabric. Again, someone got creative in designing their quilt. I've got a stash of the fabric that needs to be sewn into quilts but mine will be baby quilts.
 I'm not much of a machine quilter. If I had a long arm quilting machine that might be different but when I quilt on my Bernina, I mostly stitch in the ditch. I saw 2 quilts at the show that had an incredible amount of quilting on them.
 The squares are redwork and I think they were hand done and then she quilted like crazy all over. Talk about control in making it work well!!
This was the last quilt show for awhile. I like to go to them to just look at color, design and inspiration. I may not do alot of quilting myself, but seeing what others do is always inspiring, especially when it's just within an hour of where I live!


I was sewing Thursday on my handwovens and heard a click in the machine. Yeah, then the feed dogs wouldn't work. So my trusty 1130 Bernina had to go to the shop. I just hope that it's an easy repair and not have to be shipped to Chicago for the repair. Thankfully, I do have another sewing machine or I'd be sunk. This time of year I'm doing alot of assembly work on the pieces I weave so can't have a machine go down.
Another thing I"ve been doing this week is skein yarn and wind a couple of warps to paint. Everything seems to take longer than it should but by next week I do hope to have some of the warps painted so that I can weave some vests with the multi colored warps! I'm excited about that!
Until next week, keep weaving!
Carol

4 comments:

LA said...

I LOVE that Smoky Mt. quilt...the use of the traditional blocks placed around the landscape says a lot about the traditions of the mountain folk. You really should do an "Itty Bitty" quilt for the Center show!!!!

KarenInTheWoods said...

That wisteria looks wonderful! (so do the quilts and weaving)
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Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
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roxie said...

Love wisteria! I could stand with my face buried in the blossoms for hours if the bees would let me.

Thanks for sharing the quilts. I, too, find them inspiring. People do things I would never even consider and pull it off magnificently! What fun!

Bonnie said...

The Wisteria is beautiful. I just love that second quilt. Like to see it up close. That took some thought and planning as well as the Great Smokey Mountain one. Very nice.