AQS Grand Rapids Quilt Show, III: Natural Beauty

I am back in Pentwater and getting caught up. I am deluged with great produce and am making soups, sauces, and freezing for winter use.

Here are some more quilts from the Grand Rapids, MI American Quilt Guild Show. Today I am focusing on nature themed quilts.

I so enjoyed seeing the MasterPieces Quilts of Inspiration! Many of these quilts I had seen in photos, and it was so great to see them in real life. I had seen Velda Newman's Sunflower State, and it remains a favorite quilt.

Piece and Quiet by Cynthia England was another show stopper. I couldn't get a good pic of it until close to the end of the day!

This winning quilt was so interesting. Ann Horton's Bandelier National Monument was very innovative.

The first prize award went to Tim Latimer  for his hand quilted Tree of Life. This whole cloth quilt showcases his amazing talent in hand quilting.

Laura Fogg's Zucchini Quilt caught the eye of my friend who came along with me to see the show. Perhaps because her husband is a gardener!

I loved the rendition of water in Wolf River by Mary Ann Van Soest.

This Ultimate Guild Challenge quilt from the Tall Pine Quilters was so cute.

Lynn Randall offered Bees. A Small Blessing was the theme chosen by the Des Moines Area Quilters Guild for the Ultimate Guild Challenge.

Color Wheel Opposites was the theme the Milwaukee Art Quilters were challenged with. Gotta love blue and orange!

Claudia Pfeil's Silk Road Tour included this quilt, Parrot's Island,  that made me smile when I turned the corner and saw it.

Pfeil also offered The Magical Mermaid's Castle. Well, perhaps not really natural at all! But what nature's sea looks like in our dreams.

Listening to the Radio

Oh, mairzy doats and dozy doats and little lambsy divey 

A kiddle divey, too. Wouldn't you? 

Oh, mairzy doats and dozy doats and little lambsy divey 

 A kiddle divey, too. Wouldn't you? 

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear,
A little bit jumbled and jivey. 

Say, "Mares eat oats and does eat oats

and little lambs eat ivy." 

Oh, mairzy doats and dozy doats and little lambsy divey 

A kiddle divey, too. Wouldn't you?

 Oh, mairzy doats and dozy doats and little lambsy divey 

 A kiddle divey, too. Wouldn't you?

Listening to eight hours of Sirius radio traveling across the entire width of Michigan, alone in the car, I end up going from one station to another just alleviate the boredom. And find myself traveling through time as well as space.

40s on 4 has been a favorite station; must be channelling my mom who grew up then and was the Jitterbug Queen of the Projects. Mom used to break out in song when I was young, Mairzy doats being a favorite, along with "One Meatball."  Mom's home made spaghetti and meatballs being a family favorite, we heard that one...a lot.

So after hearing about little lambs eat ivy I went forward to favorite station number two, 60s on 6, only to hear "I Am A Rock", one of the first 45 records I ever bought. Twenty two years between the songs, Mom  the same age I was when we were listening to them.

Nostalgia not being a good driving partner I went to stations that played music I was not listening to at the time the songs came out. Still, a Hank Williams song recalled to mind when we went to the drive-in movie theater, Mom, Dad, my brother and I, to see The Hank Williams Story. I liked those songs okay. Channel change again, and I learn all kinds of new things. So, that was what Sting sounded like? Or Pearl Jam. A little opera, which I listened to while reading for my lit classes back at Temple, then an hour of Prairie Home Companion,  recalling Gary's Powdermilk Biscuits  t-shirt way back when, and finally I popped in  new CD of Miles Davis. No association with Miles, as listening to jazz came to me only about 20 years ago. Because I was tired of how every song held its association with the PAST, and sometimes one needs to just hear the music.

More on shirts

The Facebook virtual quilt museum, Quilts-Antique and Vintage, have been discussing men's wear used in quilts. They have been sharing some remarkable quilts. I was looking at the Eastside Detroit quilt I purchased earlier this year and remembered its use of men's shirts was part of its charm. All those lovely stripes, and some big pieces of a small check.

The red stripe, blue and white stripes, and blue, grey and white are all shirting fabrics. Also a brown and white stripe, and a red, white and blue stripe.

AQS Grand Rapids Show, II

I wish I had taken more photos! I guess I am not used to the 'digital age' with a camera that has no limitations of how many photos I can take. Still, I have lots to share.

I love quilts with a message, especially quilts that relate to history. This Hallowed Ground by Dianne J. Little of Livonia MI commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is presented in the alternate blocks.

 I could not believe my eyes when I saw this quilt by Timna Tarr of South Hadley, MA. She fussy cut Washington's portrait from 8 yards of fabric! E Pluribus Unun: Out of Many, One.

An Ultimate Guild Challenge from the Flying Geese Quilters Guild in Irvine, CA is Creating an American Shrine by Carol Culbert. She inked the history of Mt Rushmore.

Another entry from the same quilt guild is Pioneer Mother: Symbol of Courage, Strength, and Determination by Linda Berry Smith.

My friend nicely took a pic of me in front of my quilt, I Will Lift My Voice Like a Trumpet. The AQS volunteer let me behind the barrier, too! I was proud to have my quilt displayed with so many amazing quilts.

Shirting Quilts

I have a few quilt tops from various flea markets that some day I intend to quilt. That day seems to be getting further away each passing year! I loved that these men's shirting fabrics. All those lovely stripes! So 1970s. The menswear shirt designers were getting pretty bold and exploring new colors like pink and tangerine. They were not 100% cotton, and some were even all polyester, the new wonder fabric.

The next quilt is made of leftover fabrics from a factory. There are stamped numbers on the edges of the pieces. It is a 'summer quilt' with a pieced top and backing but no batting or quilting. It was another cheap eBay find. Our son uses it for his summer quilt now.

The second quilt I ever made was a memory quilt using Mom's painting smocks. Mom was an oil painter, starting painting in an adult ed class when I was a little girl. She favored polyester blends and red tartan plaids.

I used some of her daily blue and beige shirts for a lap quilt for my grandmother.

And more found their way in a quilts I made for my Aunt, mom's sister. Looking at a book my mother-in-law had from her local library I found and traced a pattern called Dobbin's Fan, which I used for these quilts. The fan base was one of mom's shirts, as were some fabrics in the fans.

After my father-in-law passed, I was asked if I was going to do a memory quilt with his shirts. I have the blocks made, but need to set them together. I want a dark  blue print for sashing but have not shopped for it yet. Here are blocks made of Herman's shirts. They were newly bought and rarely worn. Herman was  96 when he passed, and preferred the same old shirts he had worn for many years. Several in his closet had been made by his wife, Laura, who used to sew all their clothes. Herman had  saved the new ones for 'special'. An they will now make a very special quilt.

American Quilt Society Grand Rapids Show 2013 - Caohogan Way and Guild Challenges

Thanks to a friend who has a house in Grand Rapids, I was able to spend six hours at the quilt show and not have to drive one and a half hours to get back home. It has been eight years since I last saw a major show. And this one was wonderfully diverse.

I will offer several posts with some of the quilts I found of particular interest to me. The major winners are readily found online, and very much worth seeing. So I will concentrate on other quilts in the show.

The quilts that most stayed with me were in my particular interest areas, of course. Words on quilts, literary or historical quilts, embroidered quilts, quilts that bring a smile or a laugh, and just creative never seen before original quilts.

Celebrate the Caohagan Way was a fun and uplifting exhibit at the show. The quilts are from a Philippines Island and made by about 80 quilters who have been quilting for about 15 years. Junko Yoshikawa, a Japanese quilting teacher,  taught quilting to the women of the island, and the craft now provides about a third of the island's income! They can be ordered for $300. The exhibit was an overview of the 15 years quilting tradition on the island.

I loved the SLO Quilters of San Luis Obispo, CA Guild Challenge for words on quilts. Edgar Allan Poe was a favorite poet of mine when I was about 11 years old. This is Nevermore by Sue Barker.

The Flying Geese Quilters Guild of Irvine, CA had the challenge History Lesson- An Event in American History. This is Follow the North Star, with Harriet Tubman, by Sandy Ingraham.

The Prairie Quilt Guild of Wichita, KS had the theme In Living Color. Sharon E. Smith offered Maranda Reads little Red Riding Hood. It is a quilt about reading that includes the story and a photo of a baby reading. Whats not to love?

Under was the challenge theme for Across the Square Quilters from Charlotte, MI. Under Cover was made by Carol Randall. My child loved to make a hide-out of our dining room table. So this brings back memories.

The Ann Arbor, MI based Tuesday Night Friends theme was I've Got the Quilting Bug. This winning quilt guild had amazing quilts like Jewel Box Beetle by Sue Holdaway-Heys.

I could list so many more, but will save them for another day.

Vintage Fabrics

I have a small collection of vintage fabrics, culled from various sources over the years including garage sales, thrift and collectibles shops, and flea markets.

I love these prints. The pink and aqua is unusual as mostly I find the prints in browns.

I love kitchen prints. So much fun!

This towel was in mint condition. Kendall towels are very collectible. I got this for $3 at a flea market.

At the same flea market I found a set of kitchen curtains in wonderful shape. I paid $5. Imagine the kitchen that had fabric will metallic gold on the curtains!

Speaking of metallic gold in prints, this remnant of drapery or upholstery fabric is wild! Gold, turquoise and olive green. These are the  decorating colors people had when I was a girl.

Over 15 years ago I found a lot of decorating fabric samples. They are all from the same time period and each pattern had several color ways. Gold shows up again.

The bottom pic you can see a snippet of the kitchen print shown above. So I know they are all from the same time period.

Some of these prints look similar to things popular today. Today's designs are less detailed and fussy, and more graphic and modern. Novelty print,s like the kitchen curtain print with coffee urns, are still popular. But I have yet to see a fabric decorated with microwave ovens, Cusinart blenders, and Keurig coffee makers! Or with iPads, smart phones and flat screen tvs. Although I have wondered why we don't make album quilts showing modern cars and fashions like the 19th c ones with horses and steam boats!