Quilt Show!

this past weekend i went to my very first quilt show, "And the Stitch Goes On", presented by the Boundary Bay Quilters Guild in celebration of their 10th anniversary.

i'd never been to a quilt show, but i assumed it would similar to an art show - lots of quilts on display, and since it's a guild, not one artisan, lots of variety.

and it totally was. there was so much eye candy and inspiration! (there are a lot of pictures, so i'm posting them small, and as usual, click on them to go over to flickr and see them bigger)

this quilt was what you saw when you walked in the door, it was being raffled off. i love the blue batiks!



i really love log cabins, and this one was just so bright and beautiful.


ohmygoodness, the work involved in this! there was another version of it upstairs that had been simplified a bit and was equally cool, but wasn't accessible to take a photo of. but check out some close ups of this one -


this is a baby quilt, using "olivia" fabric. my friend sass really loves olivia, so i had to take a picture of it!


i found this one really interesting, because as anyone who's seen my rubbermaid full of them would know, i LOVE doilies, and i've been planning a doily quilt for a few years now, and just haven't gotten around to it yet. this one is definitely not my particular style, but it's still really neat.


this quilt was made by someone i know, for her daughter's 21st birthday. as much as i'm freaked out that she's 21 (i knew her when she was a brownie!), the quilt is awesome.


i love the brightness of this one, and the single rows of the flying geese pieces (are they still called flying geese if it's just one row? i think so...)


there is apparently a smaller group within the guild who get together to focus on art based quilts, different surface designs, etc. they obviously have read the same issues of quilting arts as me, as there were a few pieces that were very recognizable!

there were also several pieces using bleach discharge, which i love, and i'm currently working on a quilt using the same technique myself, so i was excited to see theirs.



i loved the modern lines and squares in this baby quilt. so lovely.



there was also a section of the show where a number of quilts by the same person were displayed, and she was their feature quilter. a lot of her stuff was bordering on art quilt style, and was really amazing.









the other part of the quilt show, the part i WASN'T expecting, was the vendors. yay, fabric shopping!! now that i think about it, i really should've known there would be vendors, but i just didn't think about it. i think i read somewhere that there were 17 vendors total...

it could've been very dangerous, but the majority of the vendors weren't my style, or didn't interest me (like the thread vendors. so many different kinds of threads! so overwhelming!), so it wasn't as hard on my wallet as it could have been. i mostly bought small pieces to add to my stash, or things that i'd been thinking that i needed anyway.

i picked up some batiks from BatikKorner, mostly in my usual batik colours - jewel tones, but also a few greens for a specific project.


Country Folk Fabrics/Tom's Sewing Machine had a booth, so i picked up a few fat quarters from them, including a print i'd been planning to go pick up anyway, another halloween design from the line that i used for a bunch of my halloween blocks.


the guild itself had a booth, and among the pre-made things, they were also selling jelly roll "cupcakes" to celebrate their anniversary and to raise money for the charity quilts that they do. since i love stripes, i picked up a few. okay, 4. (and i kinda wish i'd bought more, cause that's only 40 strips....)

hello CUTE!

there was some duplication between the rolls, but really not that much, considering.

i bought 3 thermal screens, though i only managed to get a halfway decent photo of one of them.

i got a dragonfly, a butterfly and a screen with several bees on it. they're very cool, similar to silkscreens. and the woman who was selling them does custom designs at pretty reasonable prices, which would be so great if i decide i'm too lazy to actually silkscreen any of the designs i've been thinking about lately!
(she doesn't have a website, but her name is Eileen, and she can be reached via e-mail eileenneill AT shaw DOT ca if you're as intrigued as i am!)

i got a few notions, pins because i really needed more (i ran out while basting my quilt-a-long quilt, darn it!), some threads to play around with (they were on special, not what the tag says), and a great 6.5" ruler, which is perfect for the halloween blocks that i need to get my butt in gear on, and it was only a $1 cause my bill was over a certain amount.


and then there were the fat quarters. ohh, the fat quarters. i got 24! for $40! they were $2 each, and for every 10 you bought, you got two free, which worked out splendidly. i scooped up a bunch of super cute japanese imports

(the strawberries! the cuteness!)
and then got a bunch of stripes and polka dots, etc. and a sock monkey, cause i only had 23, and grabbed it quick!

the fqs, the thread and the ruler were from Carola's Quilt Shop and Thread Company. she had some lovely fq bundles as well - kaffe fasset and batiks, and some cute charm packs, but i resisted. i really love the prints that moda makes, but i hate how they all have creamy or brownish undertones. why must they do that, really?

there were a few folks from Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild there, Jenny from the Quilted Bear had a booth (i resisted buying halloween fabric from her at the show, because i knew i'd be going in to the store soon anyway), and so did Maureen from Creative Edge Quilting and Sewing, and it was lovely to chat with her.


all in all, it was a pretty fabulous first quilt show experience, though my body was pretty darn unhappy with me afterwards - i was so inspired, but i came home and collapsed instead of sewing!