Not a lot to report on last week's "To Do" list but it was a thrill filled week none the less! I had a long list of things I had hoped to get done but only got to two of them:
I did add the last two borders to finish the "Picture That" QOV top that was Item #3:
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| And its pushing maximum density on my design wall! |
I'll be sending it down with the other QOV top made and both will be given to the guild member who will quilt them. Now that it's done I really need to work on the Log Cabin WIPs I also want to finish. I want to send at least one of them down with the QOV tops to my MIL in May so it can be presented at the guild's "Log Cabin Challenge" meeting in June.
I also did get to Item #5 and made up the first of the two "Alaska" BOM blocks for this month:
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Two down six more to go! |
The reason I didn't get to anything else this week was because of two special occasions: the first was that my DH and I celebrated our anniversary! My gift for the occasion was actually something I had asked him about a month ago: We attended the American Quilters Society New England Show held in Hartford, Connecticut!
I had known that the show was scheduled for this past weekend but hadn't put two and two together that our anniversary was the day after the show opened because I had already planned to go on the show's last day on Saturday. However when my husband asked what I wanted to do to celebrate, I asked if he could take Friday off from work so we could go to the show that day instead. I figured the crowds were likely to be a little less if we did that and he could use the next day to rest after walking the show with me!
It was my first time attending an AQS show. I thought they had held this show here before but it was actually the first time the show has been held in CT. It is also only the second time they have held a show in the northeast since the first one held in Syracuse, NY in 2016.
As we entered the show (after a stop at the "show swag" booth), we got to see a display "in the round" of all the big show winners:
For me, this one was particularly influential. I had talked last week about adding applique to my "Hexie Snowflake" quilt but had been debating about whether I "should" really do it by hand since the hexies had been done that way. Well this quilt and most of the others in the show were done with fusible applique and machine stitched and all were gorgeous!
So that settled that for me because the applique I wanted to add would be easier done that way any way! There was also another quilt in this show by this quilter that excited me but more on that later.
There was a great exhibit of landscape quilts called "A River Runs Through It: The Farmington River Quilt Experience".
All the quilts in this exhibit depicted quilted renderings that captured the beauty of Connecticut’s “Wild & Scenic” waterways. The quilt pictures were designed so that the image of the waterway "flows seamlessly from one quilt panel to the next".
The latest Cherrywood Challenge quilts were also on display with the theme of "Abyss – Creatures from the Deep":
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| This is just one wall of two! |
There were also a lot of Quiltworx by Judy Neimeyer quilts on display:
There were some more versions of this particular design and a few other Quiltworx designs in the show. I attended a lecture on entering quilts in an AQS show given by Michelle Thompson, the AQS Contest Coordinator. She said that for most patterned designs (or images used to inspire a quilt) you have to get and submit written permission by the designer or image artist along with your entry to use their work in the competition. However, AQS already has a "blanket permission" from Judy Neimeyer for any Quiltworx designs so you would not need to supply that if entering one of those designs in one of their shows.
There were a couple of "Dear Janes" on display:
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| This particular one was set "on point". |
I had a wonderful conversation with a group of ladies who have seen the original at the Bennington Museum in Vermont. They say it's phenomenal in person and is displayed horizontally (not hung) and the museum only puts it out on display once a year (in September)! Yet another of my "quilt bucket list" items I really need to plan to go see!
Two big surpises for me was that Ricky Timms "The Visitation" was on display at this show:
This quilt had won "Best in Show" in Houston in 2025 and won 1st Place in the "Large Quilts - Stationary Machine Quilted" category here. I had seen the video he made about making this quilt so it was a big thrill to get to see it in person!! Even my husband was very imprssed with it.
The other unexpected quilt sighting was to see another Pat Holly quilt --- this one made with her sister Sue Nickles: the original "Jubilee Album" quilt was on display!
This one was part of the "Threads of Liberty: Celebrating 250 Years of American Spirit with AQS Instructor Quilts" exhibit.
Back in January when I made the label for my "Beth Dutton - Yellowstone" quilt it had been because I saw the cowboy boot block on the cover of a Fons & Porter Love of Quilting magazine from 2003. That issue had been the first issue that this quilt had been patterned in as a series quilt.
I had this set of magazine issues because at one point in the past I had thought about making this quilt. Making the label block revived my interest in making this quilt but this time as my "America's Semiquincentennial" quilt. Hmmm, is this one of those signs that the Quilt Muses are telling me to "go for it"?!?
Needless to say there were many, many, many more quilts we saw that day! Added to that was the vendor mall (and two CT LQS that I have visited in the past were vending) and an opportunity to sew up a few blocks for the "Quilters for a Cause: Supporting Local Heroes" charity at a booth staffed by members of the Greater Hartford Quilt Guild. Yes, it was a great anniversary activity and I look forward to attending this show again when it returns to Hartford next year but it will be in August.
Our Community Garden had its first meeting of the season the day after we attended the show. I only saw the announcement of it after we came back from the show so it was a good thing we had changed the day I had originally planned to go to it! Although the garden's official opening will be late this year (not until mid-May due to continuing garden bed construction work), there will still be times I will need to start going in to prepare our bed for planting. So Sunday was a total "chill out and recuperate" day for both of us!!
Now that the "glow from the show" is starting to recede, the new "To Do" list for this week is:
1. (Once again) hoping I can continue and finish quilting "Modern Twist".
2. Layer "Lady Claire Boxtrot" so I can start quilting on it before this month ends.
3. Test out doing some of the fusible applique motifs for the "Hexie Snowflake" wallhanging and decide if it can get done this year.
4. Piece two more of the "Alaska" BOM blocks.
5. Make the final stitching decision for the "Rainbow Log Cabin" top and layer it.
6. Start making the alternate blocks for the RSC "Rainbow Log Cabin Hearts" layout.
Another long list that I'm not sure how much I will get to. So I look forward to seeing what everyone else will be trying to get done in the coming week on the "To Do Tuesday" lists over at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt"!
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