Vermont Quilt Show

I spent a couple of very quick days with my mom and daughter up at the Vermont Quilt Show.  It's a 4 hour drive from me, up through all the NH and VT mountains.  The show itself has a decent variety of quilts...some pretty good, some really good, etc.  There is no jurying of entries, so if you are fast to mail your entry in, you will be in.  It is a far cry from the Houston and Paducah quilt shows, and even the good machine quilting shows, but it is a noce local and regional show.  I like the show because I run into many folks that I know (but heck, I do that at every show).  Inappropriate comments on judging sheets last year burnt many bridges for them.  Some things can't be said if you want to get good entrants and sponsors.

Springtime in the Geisha's Garden went to VQF sort of by default though.  It was the only eligible quilt I had.  It is quite ridiculous that they require that the finish date of the quilt you enter be from Feb of the previous year -- a mere 16 months old at most.  But...that is their rule, so we all live with it.  All of my 2015 finishes were away at NQA.  This quilt was the only one left.

This year was all about her...

Sophie worked so hard on her MQX quilt, only to discover in about December that it would be too large for VQF.  She then made about the smallest quilt of any usefulness so that she had something to enter.  Why? you may ask...Because though the rest of us get nothing but a big bill and a ribbon for entering, the youth quilters win a sweet little sewing machine, compliments of Janome!  Dave LaValley of Bittersweet Quilt Shop (of somewhere, NH) is giving it to her, and over 20 other kids.

She also came home with a nice bag of loot containing a roll of batting and 7 fat quarters of Northcott fabric.  Here she is with her new dresser quilt and yellow ribbon (yea...she hates the ribbon, but she's all about purple now.  Pink is passe', and yellow never was in vogue!  Go figure.  Eight year olds are silly, even if she did tell everyone that asked that she was nine!

I got to meet Nancy Cooledge from Hancock, ME.  She's a lady client that mailed me a quilt last summer (above).  She had her's in the quilt show, and it had a nice yellow ribbon on it!  She was very happy.  And my client Wendy (from seacoast NH) sent me the quilt below the previous winter to quilt, "Nantuckety Day".  It went to a couple other shows previously, and has gotten nice ribbons.  I am happy for her to have the purple ribbon and a special ribbon for traditional quilt I believe.  It's hard to believe a simple 9-patch chain gets enough points for a purple ribbon, but the judging here is different.  No NQA.  No certification of judges.  No extras for originality and difficulty, I guess.  Lots of points for overall appearance.

The quilting on this quilt, subtle and not at all visible above, carries this quilt, along with its appealing color-scheme.  It is always pretty to see it hanging.  

Here are a few of the others I liked...

 (By Timna Tarr, who also quilted a couple others in the show.)

 This is by Gladi Porsche.  It has beautiful batik colors and hand quilting.

This is the after-effect of duo Kathie Beltz and Mara Novak's MQX winning quilt Free Fallin.  They decided to color it for VQF.    Even though I like the original version better, the quilting is beautiful. It should have been recognized more here than it was (or wasn't!).

 I'd have to go back to the book for this maker.  You know me, anything orange is appealing!  It is sweet, and original, and has nice quilting.

This is Christine Wickert's newest, all dupioni silk and hand appliqued, hand quilted.  It's a pattern by a quilter who's name is just escaping me.

 I saw Flo Verge, another VT longarmer.  I had Flo in a class at MQX, but she's pretty good.  She had her own quilt here, as well as several clients.  I liked this border specifically.

We got to speak with George Siciliano a bit too.  His uber-pieced minis are beyond borderline insane.  Each 1" block has 10 times more pieces than I would ever consider using!  I have a sample of his leave-in foundation though that I am going to order. Hopefully the days of ripping out papers are done!  This has over 7000 pieces!

All in all, it has been a good month at the quilt shows.  Here's my results...

"Kaleidoscopic Calamity" 1st Minnesota Quilt Show

"The Jester's Folly" 1st and BOS small quilts NQA Quilt Show

"Autumn's Surrender" 1st Shipshewana Quilt Festival

"Big Bertha" 2nd Shipshewana Quilt Festival

"Zen Garden" 3rd Shipshewana Quilt Festival

"Springtime in the Geisha's Garden" Purple ribbon (over 98 pts) and Best Mixed Media VQF

"Bouquet Royale" 1st and Masterpiece Quilt NQA Quilt Show

Time to get sewing and make progress on some things!