Past Heritage, New Traditions

That was our theme for Illini Country Stitcher's 2013 Quilt Show!  This was my second time chairing our biennial quilt show.  It is a lot of work, but it is enjoyable to see ideas come to fruition, and to have a chance to display all our guild members' immense talent!  At times it is like herding cats, but you just gotta love it!  I'll blog later about the show itself, but now I am just gonna brag a bit on myself!
I entered 7 quilts into the show, in 6 different categories.  I came home with 7 ribbons, but one quilt didn't win anything.  So I will start with that one!

Resting Amongst the Cone Flowers was a quilt inspired by a class with Ellen Anne Eddy through our guild last summer.  I thread painted the bunny and the dragonfly in class.  The background fabric is some of her hand dyed fabric.  It was entered in the art/innovative class.  The competition was stiff, and I was not surprised that I did not win a ribbon there.

This Double Wedding ring quilt was entered in the Antique class.  It was gifted to me by my Uncle Howie when I got married.  He said it was made by my Greatgrandmother Matilda Bell.  However....she passed away in the late 1920s, and this quilt contains many printed feedsack fabrics which were not manufactured until the 1930s.  So we have a family mystery quilter!  This quilt won third place!

This quilt was from a pattern in Quilter's World magazine last fall.  I fell in love with it.  I donated this quilt to a local charity for their silent auction, then purchased it back.  It placed third in large wall hangings.

This quilt belongs to my hubby, and he insisted that I enter it in the show, as he likes it better than the above quilt.  It was also made and donated to the same charity, and hubby purchased it through the silent auction.  Both quilts were in the same category, Large Wall Hanging, and hung across from each other in the show.  It placed second!  Hubby says, I told you so!  I am proud to say that this quilt (well the top, anyway) has been to Houston!  I took it there when I took a class with Teri Lucas to get her opinion on how to quilt it!  Thanks, Teri!

My small group, Material Girls, had a row swap last year.  I requested a Christmas themed quilt.  I was just overjoyed when I was gifted with my rows!  I had a lot of fun deciding how to place my rows and then quilt it!  It placed second in group wall quilts.

This little gem has won before, at the Midwest Heritage Quilt Show.  This was started in a class with Sally Collins at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in 2012. It now has won two first place ribbons!

 

 

This beauty won first place in Mixed/Other (meaning more than one technique was used, ie. a combination of paper piecing, and applique) and Best of Show!  This started life as a Block of the Month through The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. The design was by Sarah Vedeler, although I modified the design starting in month 6!  I call this Sedona Joy, because it was a joy to work with such beautiful colors!

I am still flabbergasted that I won so many ribbons.  The competition was truly marvelous, and people were constantly sighing and saying how hard it was to make a choice!  Counting the ballots took the committee 5 hours because there were many ties!  I am so proud of our guild and the great talent that our members posses!