AQS Quiltweek in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Yesterday I stopped at the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  One of the winning quilts had beautiful hand quilting on a clam shell quilt.

Beautiful stitching!

There is so much variety in quilting now, and since I am still in love with the old traditional quilts, I feel like a dinosaur at recent quilt shows.  But I will show you what I took pictures of, and my thoughts on the quilts I liked.  I hope you like them too.

This was a little wall hanging made by Yvette Sullivan, of Lasalle, Ontario, Canada.  It's a pattern by Edya Sitar, and I had not seen it before.  I liked it because it looks so springy and perky.

Rainbow Nest

There was an exhibit of vintage patriotic quilts, and I liked all of them!  Here is a sampling:

This quilt is folded over at the top, and looks to be 6 Stars down by 6 Stars across.  One of the fabrics has Washington's picture on it, so the quilt was made at the time of the centennial in 1876, or after that date.  It measures 58 X 69 inches.

Washington Eight-Point Star Quilt

It has such peaceful, beautiful simplicity and I loved this little "mend" on one side.  It helps me remember that "finished is better than perfect" with my projects. 

No problem!

Another fun one from the patriotic exhibit:

V is for Victory!

The information next to it says it was made to celebrate victory in World War II, and is titled, appropriately, "Thumbs Up".  Interesting little "X" in the corner of each square too.  It's 72 x 86 inches.

Thumbs Up!

Another in the exhibit was a bold red, white and blue quilt:

Kansas City Star Pattern

Detailed Information

 Closeup picture:

Bold and Beautiful

Moving on from the exhibit of vintage patriotic quilts, here are a few that I photographed from the quilts entered into the competition:

A paper piecing labor of love:

Closeup of the center:

Titled "Why Not?" and made by Angela Petrocelli, of Prescott Valley, AZ.  She used light and dark values to perfection.  It took second place in large quilts, home machine quilted, and is 75 x 75 inches.  Many people who were looking at it wondered how many hours were spent making it.  I never keep track of the time, and I bet Angela didn't either.

I liked the sashing on this one, and took a picture to remind me of how I liked the dark squares of the nine patches, and how they emphasized the separation of the blocks.  It was made by Kathy J. Havelka, Louisburg, KS and is the Afternoon Delight pattern from Susan Garman.

Afternoon Delight

   

I love how the rows of nine patches look from the side view:

Quilt is 89 x 89 inches

Next is a quilt that has the detail of a photograph:

Thread painting by Jan Berg-Rezmer, Gladwin, MI.  Entered in the Wall Quilts - Home Machine Quilted, it measures 34 x 34 inches.  It is named "Stick with Me Kid" and the detail in the reflections in the water is incredible!

Closeups:

The yellow cat thread painting:

I wish I knew how to do this, but then, I have so many things on my bucket list right now, that I don't really want to learn any new techniques, other than faster and more accurate ways to piece the quilts I have in progress.

Hope you enjoyed this little mini quilt show.  

Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward......And Life Goes On

When I last blogged, I posted a picture of a block ready to assemble into a 6 inch square:

When I began putting the half square triangles together, I discovered that I had trimmed them all to 1.5 inches, instead of 1.25 inches.  The thought of picking up all of these little hsts and trimming a quarter of an inch off of each one did not sound like fun, so I started over with more fabric and made new hsts, trimming them to the correct measurement.  It is easier to pick up a larger hst and trim it down than it is to pick up a teeny hst and trim it even teenier. I did the re-do using all the same pink and brown fabric, so it looks different, but I like it.  I will use the above hsts in another block in the future.

Here is the final block:

The Post Title applies for the robin family that I told you about in the last post.....the four babies were suddenly only one, and we don't know what happened to the others.  Then, when the grandchildren were here Sunday, we got the ladder out to look at the lone baby left in the nest, and while I was taking his picture, he leap out of the nest, sinking to the porch floor below.  He is not quite big enough to fly.  I scooped him up, replaced him in the nest, and we hoped for the best.   All is good; he is thriving with lots of feedings from the parents, and will be leaving the nest on his own any day now.   And life goes on.

Here's my picture of the baby robin just before he jumped.   I'm not going to bother him again!

I'm linking with the Patchwork Times blog, even though I'm a day late for "Design Wall Mondays".  But as today's post is titled, it's par for the course.  Two steps Forward, One Step Backward.....And Life Goes On!
Link:  Design Wall Mondays - August 1, 2016