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Aug
25
A celebrity quilt
Filed Under History, Patterns, Quilt shows | Leave a Comment
My pal Pam Crooks is a pal of Penny Tucker, who writes a delightful blog that you’ll be interested in, The Dedicated Appliquist.
At one of our Nite Needler meetings, Pam told me about a quilt that was making the rounds of the internet, having achieved celebrity status after its debut at the Spring International Quilt Festival earlier this year.
I was fascinated with this concept of celebrity quilts, so of course I had to check out the quilt known as 19th Century Folk Art by Maker Unknown or The English Medallion Quilt.
First glance and small photos do not do this piece justice. Once you see some of the closeups, you’ll be delighted with this forgotten appliqué artist’s sense of design.
Penny’s blog post from May pulls together lots of links about the quilt and about some reproductions of it. Pam sent me one more from Threadbare in Australia.
What are some other celebrity quilts that have “gone viral?”
Until next time,
Kay
Aug
10
Pets on Quilts
Filed Under Prizes, Quilt shows | 1 Comment
The winner of More Fabulous Flowers was Lynn D. in N.C. Congratulations!
The SewCalGal is holding a Pets on Quilts show!
Everything’s pet-related, from the quilts in the show to the prizes donated by the sponsors. Of course I’m a sponsor, being such a dog person as I am. I put up copies of my first book, Dog Cabin and Others: A Fast Fun Theme-Quilt Project, which has poodles on the cover.
(Okay I’m a cat person too. I haven’t told you this before, but this summer I’m a foster mom for kittens from the shelter. I have three cuddlebugs right now.)
But back to the topic at hand. The Pets on Quilts show runs through August 21 and you can enter now! Be sure to read the rules of the show… if you have a blog you can enter that way, if you don’t have a blog you can still enter your pet-on-quilt. Or, you can simply enjoy all the entries in the show!
Until next time,
Kay
Jun
29
Princess Feathers
Filed Under Designers, Hand appliqué, Quilt shows | 8 Comments
I was just in Reno, Nevada for the Quilting, Stitches and Crafts Expo at the Grand Sierra Resort. As I was touring the show floor, I was drawn with a strong magnetic attraction to this gorgeous Princess Feather quilt.
It’s the 2011 Opportunity Quilt for the Foothill Quilters Guild of Auburn, California. They call it “Prince’s Plume.”
Many hands went into the making of this beautiful quilt.
For more information about the guild or this amazing opportunity quilt, contact the Foothill Quilters through their website, www.foothillquilters.org.
I made a new friend at the show! Knitting designer Lorna Miser, author of Faith, Love, Hope, Knitting was just across the aisle from me.
Lorna Miser
She had luscious loops, skeins, and twists of hand-dyed yarns, as well as cute knitted items like bags and footie socks.
Lorna has a new book coming out in November, The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn.
My neighbor to the left was an old friend, Dee Lampson of Dee’s Designs. From her I purchased The Most Cute Jumper in the World.
This one had me written all over it. Dee makes jumpers, overalls, separates, and two-piece outfits from her own original patterns, using beautiful high-quality fabrics like we see in our independent quilt shops. Look for Dee at fine art and gift shows, quilting and sewing expos. She specializes in custom sizing, no size is too small or too large. Contact her at “deesdesigns1 (at) sbcglocal.net” if you need one of her designs.
I can’t tell you what a delight it is to see Dee’s creations after all the dreadful things that are offered to us at the mall.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
7
Flowers for Betsy
Filed Under Books, Prizes, Quilt shows | 2 Comments
The winner of Melinda Bula’s Cutting-Garden Quilts is… drum roll… Betsy! Congratulations!
Thank you so much to everyone who left comments and said nice things about this blog and the information it provides. Makes me feel like all my efforts are worth it so I appreciate that.
Miscellaneous other notes:
I’ll be at the Monterey Peninsula Quilt Guild show this weekend, June 12-13. Check out all the info about the show at mpqg.org.
I just posted a gorgeous teapot quilt over at the Show & Tell Center. Go see this South African beauty.
I still have a few Scratch & Dent copies of Teapots 2 to Appliqué. If you’re interested, please read my earlier post about how to get one.
Detail from Teapots 2 sampler quilt
The blog recently reached 500 subscribers… Yippee!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Mar
29
Animal company
Filed Under Patterns, Quilt shops, Quilt shows | 2 Comments
I was in Sacramento for three days for the Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival. I had so much animal company!
The show was at Cal Expo, a great big huge events and State Fair grounds. As soon as I got there I knew there had to be some horses around and I was craning my neck for stables or any other sign of equine presence. The next morning I saw the harness racers breezing around the track!
This one had his stablemate along for the jog. Either that or they were both warming up, I don’t know, but when I was a kid I read every Black Stallion book there was and sometimes the horses had friends.
I kept thinking about The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt and it really took me back to childhood.
Now bear with me, I’m gonna get this to tie into quilting.
My first quilt teacher used to say, “A man on a fast horse would think it looked pretty good.” Now these men weren’t exactly on the horse, but they would still think that all of our quilts looked great!
As soon as you came in the door to the show you were treated to this sight.
That’s Rochelle herself from Rochelle’s Fine Fabric and Quilting, who came all the way from Port Orchard, Washington, with scissors in her head. And she didn’t even have a headache. What a gal.
My booth was directly across from The Rabbit Hole Quilt Shop from Chico, California. They had a trunk show from the Big Fork Bay Cotton Company. Look at all these splendid animals that kept me company during the show!
Little Sacramento dogs get to go with their humans lots of places. During the show, I saw a cockapoo in a European shoulder bag, a Yorkie in a sling, a poodle in a purse, but the only one I got a picture of was the pom in a pram.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
28
And it’s over
Filed Under Quilt shows | Leave a Comment
With no closing ceremony, the quilt show melts away for another year.
The Bargain Garden
They came, they bagged their bargains, they left almost nothing behind.
The Harvest Building
Tear-down time in merchant-land.
The Crosseti Building
Take-down underway.
Clean tarps to lay the quilts on.
Hard work going on by dedicated guild members, their kith, and their kin.
The line for quilt pickup.
Within an hour the building is clear.
…and the work on next year’s show starts… tomorrow.
But tonight, rest.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
27
Up and running
Filed Under Quilt shows | 3 Comments
The Bargain Garden
That's a lot of bargains.
The Harvest Building
Auction quilts and vendors at the ready.
The Crosetti Building
The show, beautifully hung and decorated.
Tin Can Alley. (This year's theme is Recycle, Reuse, Renew.)
Of course I had to zoom in on the tin can dog.
My bright little spot.
Such a fun day.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
27
The miracle of a guild show
Filed Under Quilt shows | Leave a Comment
This weekend is my home guild’s 32nd annual quilt show. I look forward to it so much every year. I have a big smile on my face every minute of the weekend… can’t help it. This year I did my best to capture a photo essay of the stages, from nothing to everything to nothing again. It’s quite a miracle what happens. Well, if a miracle can be due to the hard work and step-uppitty-ness of a whole lot of quilters, their spouses, their kids, and their grandkids. What a community.
The PVQA Bargain Garden.
Laura, our BG coordinator, collects donations all year. She sells at every meeting but despite that, our storage locker was jam packed and so was Iris’s garage!
Before the first load arrived.
After we got things kinda sorta sorted from the garage delivery, then the truck from the storage locker arrived. Holy cow.
The Harvest Building
Another building at the fair grounds, where lunch, quilts, vendors, and the stage for the fashion show and live auction will be.
The Crosetti Building
The main exhibit hall, getting ready for intake and setup. My booth location is to the right side, near the front.
The racks are up and the layout is mapped. The menfolk like to come and help because they get to climb on ladders and use power tools. Yes, that's right, these racks are assembled and disassembled every year.
This year the show chairs charged a special assessment to purchase backdrops for the show. Not sure yet how they're looking.
It’s 6:00 in the morning and here I am blogging. (I often don’t sleep well due to the excitement.) I got my booth all set up yesterday so today it’ll be all bright and shiny when the doors open for the show at 10:00. Oops, except that it’s going to be rainy today. Oh well, what can you do. My spirits won’t be dampened. 
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
1
Pat’s pics of antique quilts at Houston
Filed Under Borders, Circles, Color, Designers, Hand appliqué, History, Quilt shows | Leave a Comment
Daily blogger Pat Sloan put up a post showing some of the antique appliqué quilts that were displayed during Festival in Houston. They are so amazing.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
20
PIQF favorite
Filed Under Designers, Embellishment, Quilt shows, Show & Tell | 8 Comments
Pacific International Quilt Festival was last weekend and as usual it was a colorful, energetic, heavenly concentration of quilts, quilters, and wares under one roof.
The quilt that reached out and grabbed me this year was Fragrant Memories by Rachel Wetzler of St. Charles, Illinois.
Fragrant Memories by Rachel Wetzler
Rachel graciously consented to my posting her quilt on my blog. She reports, “It’s one of my favorites as it brings back ‘the good old days’ when mom’s warm bread or rolls awaited me after school. Yum!”
The description read, “One of my favorite childhood memories is coming home from school to the aroma of mom’s homemade bread. This quilt is one of five in my Simply Sensational series using architectural settings to highlight each of the five senses.”
I think Rachel succeeded in the smellorama department, don’t you? I wanted to step right into that kitchen and dive into a cinnamon bun.
This quilt won the Best of Country ~ United States award in the World Quilt Competition.
Rachel is an amazing quiltmaker. I found this interview with her on the Alliance for American Quilts website that was done in connection with the Q.S.O.S. project. She talks about the series and about how it wasn’t all that easy to make LOL! (I imagine not!)
Thanks, Rachel, for sharing your fragrant memories with us.
Until next time,
Much more from PIQF,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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