heavy laden . . .

This post, that is . . . with pictures.  :)  This past weekend was our guild's biannual quilt show!  I spent the afternoon there on Saturday and have the quilty photos to prove it!

I didn't enter a quilt in this year's show, though I did place my Blue Melody in one of the exhibitions that had been set up . . .

So it was fun to have that around!

We had over 250 quilts on display this year -- the show was amazing.  We have SO many talented quilters in our guild . . . it's very humbling to sit among them! Here are a few of my faves . . . 

I *adore* this one . . .the faces of Santa and the reindeer in the progressive photo frames just CRACK me up!!

I'm a sucker for a patriotic/red, white & blue quilt! 

Yup.

This was my sweet friend's quilt!  Sarah is a Sassy Affirmation Sister (as is Gail)!  ♥ Really, as a trio we are enablers of one another -- of the best kind! *wink*

And these two quilts belong to my darling friend, Kari!  The first was a work of collaboration with Sarah's quilt, above.  And the second? Roll Tide!

This quilt was a beauty up close, but from a distance, the appeal is obvious!!

This was my favorite of the Christmas pieces ... I really felt like it deserved a ribbon.  All hand applique!  It was very beautiful!

This sweet redwork lighthouse quilt, with the reverse applique, was made by the same maker.  Her handwork is just amazing!

This beauty won the Best of Show!  This was pieced by none other than Barbara Black who blogs at My Joyful Journey.  The quilt (and Barbara) even got a nod from The Quilt Show!  That's pretty cool, huh?!?

This is my sweet friend Lois (and me)!  She's a talented long arm quilter and in fact, she's the one who quilted the show winning quilt that Barbara made!  Amazing!

This quilt was another amazing winner.  Pictured here with its creator, Linda (right), and quilter, Robin (left).  It won first place in its category (two makers, extra large, pieced), best machine quilting - track machine, and won the viewer's choice award!  The quilting in this piece really made it, in my opinion . . .

I wish I could have taken a close up of all the blocks!  It was exquisite!

Joc, Ellie and Evey joined me later in the afternoon . . .

The girls felt that since they were going to a Quilt Show, they needed to bring their quilts!  Aren't they cute?!

They also visited our selfie station.  Quick side note, I did a lot of the props for the station! 

One of the reasons they waited so late to come by was because they wanted to attend a demonstration on English Paper Piecing I did that afternoon . . .

My table all set up!  It was a fun 45 minutes; I really love doing things like that.  I've found that I really enjoy teaching adults.

The birthday weekend wrapped up with a celebration at Joc's!  

It was a lot of fun -- she's such a terrific cook and hostess!

Okay.  I'm done ... except for one thing!  I did pick a random winner for the blog hop ... first let me say what a lovely bunch of happy birthday wishes ... thank you!  The winner of the book was:

And it's on its way to her!  Congratulations!

Have a great rest of the week!

:)

challenge accepted . . .

Shoulder recovery continues to go well . . . I'm still in the sling, which makes typing difficult.  So consider this post a labor of love!  ;)

Our guild -- Heritage Quilters of Huntsville -- helds its bi-annual challenge show at the July meeting, which was last Thursday, July 19th. 

The challenge, Stitchin' the Blues, was introduced in November and involved creating a quilt using only blue and white fabrics, maintaining size parameters, and keeping projects top secret.  Which for me was the HARDEST part! But since the show has come and gone, let the revealing commence!

I had an idea almost the minute the challenge was introduced.  Seriously, when I came home from the guild meeting that evening, I sat down at my laptop and came up with this basic concept . . .

Which eventually morphed into this finished piece . . .

(the front -- one of my favorite things about this quilt 

is that the musical notes play out a classic blues riff)

(the back, which I love almost as much as the front)

(the label, which I printed)

Y'all, I expected with seventy-plus entries of small quilts in blue and white, that the exhibit would be impressive.  I was blown away by just how impressive it was in actuality!  Here are a couple of shots of the exhibit and a few of my favorite entries (my photos are not up to par...I was taking them one-handedly and it shows!):

photo by Pam A.

photo by Teresa C.

Here's a closeup of the center of that one:

And now for the money shot . . .

You see that goofy grin? I was incredibly humbled and thrilled that out of all those gorgeous quilts, mine was chosen to be one of the top ten of the exhibit.  On top of that, I think I nearly broke into tears when it was announced my piece, Blue Melody, took second place in interpretation of the theme! Giddy, giddy, giddy!  It was a lovely evening -- one I had the pleasure of sharing with my mom!

I'm going to make a quilter of her yet!! It was a good choice for her first guild meeting. :)

And each participant received a lovely gift ... a beautifully handmade blue and white apron. The challenge committee made these.  Isn't it pretty?  I *adore* toile.

The perfect momento!

This was the best guild challenge experience I've had (and that's prior to the ribbon winning).  I enjoyed the process, finally understood what a challenge was (an upcoming A Quilter's Journey article coming on that), and felt like my finished piece exceeded my expectations.  A terrific--albeit challenging--experience!

:)