Bloggers are the Best!

What a fun week I had with Randy from Barrister’s Block! We visited the Coastal Botanical Gardens, shopped at a specialty wool shop, Attic Heirlooms, shopped at Alewives Fabrics who specializes in modern and whimsical prints, did some antiquing, took our boat for a dinner cruise to Boothbay Harbor, had dinner another night at our summer house on the ocean, had a LONG and fabulous visit with Cyndi at the BusyThimble, and oh yes – we went to the quilt show (Maine Quilts 2017)!

All these wonderful adventures and when we got up Saturday morning to leave for the airport, we realized we did not have one picture of us together! So, here we are saying goodbye.

 I was so busy having fun I took no pictures at all except for a few at the show.

One of the exhibits I was in was an invitational "Ruby" challenge to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show. We were all given a traditional pattern from Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Quilts (one of my first quilt books in high school). We were to make a traditional 4 block quilt with the red and white fabric provided and then come up with something totally "ours" for the second quilt. It was a fun exhibit. Here are my two.

I named my "interpretation quilt", "Forty Years of Fun" and made 40 yo-yo's with fabrics from quilts I had made over the past 40 years. The rest of the quilt is made from vintage feedsacks in my collection. Fun! 
A few close ups. 

No, I did not hand embroider the rick rack. I was asked a dozen times, so I thought I should clarify - wink! Cute though, isn't it?

I think my favorite in this exhibit was Carol Petinelli's. 

She chose Spider Web and look at her interpretation. So cute, including baby spiders hanging from beaded spider webs!

I wish I had been better about taking photos! I did take these of one of my favorites by Carolee Withee. Isn't she amazing! She won first place and Best Embellishment - no surprise! Do you see the shade pull in the middle? It represents being inside the parlor looking out at the garden. Such vision! Carolee also has a knack for entertaining. She does lectures on her method of saving old linens and making them into quilts accompanied by many of her own songs about the process. She is one of the sweetest people I know! Congratulation Carolee!

Look at this detail!

I put my "Pot Luck" potholder in the display - not the judged section - area and it won a ribbon anyway! It is an NACQJ award from Mary Derry. I was thrilled!

I also won 3 ribbons for the one I put in the judged section, but I can't show the photo because it is my quilt from the Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt sew-a-long. I had permission from the museum to hang it in the show, but the organizers of the sew-a-long, Doreen (Aunt Reen's Place) and Dawn (Collector With A Needle) have asked that we don't publish our finished quilts until after the entries for the upcoming exhibition have been chosen. I won first place in applique, Best Hand Quilting and Judge's Choice from De LeClair. I am thrilled with any ribbons I receive, but am most proud of a Viewer's Choice or Judge's Choice. To me that means that at least one person liked my quilt a lot. I also love winning ribbons for my potholder quilts because it draws the crowd to the quilt and thus they become curious about the "method". I like to spread the cheer!

Thanks for a great visit Randy! I hope we have many more visits to come!