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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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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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Click the logo to learn all about the Festival, And, if you have a blog, consider participating! You’ll get to showcase one of your quilts for whole bunches of appreciative quilters. I’m a prize sponsor and there are lots of others too.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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This year there was a Preview Party on Thursday night that started at 5:00. Here was my aisle at 2:00.

Hmm… well, it was all good by opening time. The shot also shows this year’s lovely grape carpet.

My little space in Vendorland.

I stayed once again at the Turret House, a lovely, comfortable Victorian B&B not far from the convention center.

Resident English bulldogs Winston and Waldo show their power-nap skills to visitors.

Winston, the white one and the younger of the two, would come trotting up to me, head-bump my legs, and swish in and out of my long skirt. That was jolly good fun.

My place setting one morning… dragonfly napkin ring and fresh-picked bleeding hearts.

On Friday and Saturday the show closed at 7:00, at which time I would stagger across the street to find something to eat. On Saturday I had just gotten my food at the tacqueria when Beth and Liz swept in and folded me into their party. They introduced me to another gal but I didn’t quite catch her name in all of the plate-moving and napkin-getting. All of a sudden this gal says to me, “Aren’t you the one who did my blog hop?” It was PAT SLOAN. I totally didn’t recognize her from her picture.

After we had all established who we were and how we knew each other, we ate our food and talked and talked and talked. It was wonderful. Let’s just say that the Lizzie B gals are an entertainment unto themselves. After at least an hour, all of a sudden Pat pointed to my apron and said, “Hey, that’s my fabric!” We laughed and laughed.

Wish I looked as perky as Pat after nine hours on the show floor.

Notice the sign above Pat’s head that looks like it says to Get Naked. Don’t worry, she kept her clothes on. It really says to Get It Naked… in other words, to order the lower fat and calorie version of their foodstuffs LOL!

Here is said apron.

The pattern is one of Gina’s at Threaded Pear. I added a monogram à la Laverne. The cute pin was gifted to me by the designer, David McNutt. Thanks David! I love it. And, obviously, I love the fabric!

Until next time… some really cool things coming up…
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

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