Midatlantic Quilt Fest Post 1

Hi Everyone,

As promised, I'm back to share some of the great experiences from Midatlantic.  Between the quilts, the shopping, the quilts, the shopping, a class, more quilts, a rather "intriguing" thing I did, and more shopping, there is lots to tell.  The show opened for an hour and a half preview on Wednesday night.  We mainly shopped on one half of the venue.  On Thursday we had to attend an unrelated luncheon, so we didn't get back to the show until 2.  We stayed until it closed at 6.  Friday we arrived at opening (10) and stayed until 5pm.  It was a totally exhausting day!  We finally got to all the vendors that day and saw the rest of the quilts.  Saturday we had an all-day class, but I managed to run to two vendors that I decided I needed to revisit.  Sunday morning, Dorothy went home and I was tempted to go back, but I had already exceeded my "comfort level" of spending so I stayed home.  I only regret it a little bit!

Today I'm going to show some quilt photos.  I did take picutes of some of my favorite quilts, but I also took a lot of photos of little "ideas" or techniques that I really liked and want to remember, so there are two different photo types.  Today I will feature the awesome quilts.

I loved this one.  The stitching is incredible.

 

 

 

 

The applique here is exquisite, but I LOVE the choice of background fabric.  The dots and circles give the quilt a certain "effervescence." 

 



 

 

While not a prize winner, who can't resist the sheer numbers of tiny baskets here? 

 



 

Let me state here that I did try to take photos of the names and information for these quilts, but the photos didn't always turn out "readable."

 

 

This next one was a big prize winner.  It is hard to see in the first photo, but there is a white outer border filled with stunning quilting.  The detail photo below shows a closeup.

 



 

The next "quilt" is actually several panels.  A quilt group took a photo, divided it vertically into 8 panels, and they each did a section and then hung them together.  What a fun idea, and an extremely talented group!

 

 

 

This art quilt is beautiful, as well.  I got a detail of the branches--all stitched.  I must say that in some of these quilts, the thread work, applique, and quilting were hard to discern from each other.  Amazing work!

 

 

 

The next one is quite a stunner.  The applique, again, is exquisite.  The quilting is jaw dropping.  I particularly love the branches stitched onto the plain squares.  You can't see them in the first photo, but you will further down.  The wool balls in the leaf clusters and the choice of those purple/pink berries is perfection!

 

 

 

I'll conclude today's post with this one.  It was one of the masterworks of the show.  It really required the help of a white-gloved volunteer, because as gorgeous as the front of this quilt it, the quilter used colored thread, thus making the back an equally spectacular "whole cloth" quilt.

Look here at the binding.  There is a line of "lace" or braid with ribbon running through it.  This show had lots of amazing binding techniques!

See what I mean about the quilting?!!!!!

 

 

As I mentioned yesterday, I have never been to a big, juried show before.  It was a really great experience.  My biggest problem was that no matter how many days we looked, there were just way too many incredible quilts--after 6 or 12 or 20, my brain just lost track.  I feel like I can't even remember some really stunning quilts!

 

Have a great day!  More tomorrow!

JoAnne