NW Quilters Show Winners

Here are a few of the winners from the Northwest Quilters 41st Annual Show, held Friday and Saturday at the Portland Expo Center. Kudos to all the quiltmakers. I was honored to have one of my quilts receive a ribbon for Jolene Knight's amazing free motion quilting. Can't wait to present her with the ribbon! 

Carrie Perkins cleaned up with her exquisite Jacobean Journey Quilt, completed in 2015

Since it's going to be another busy day, I'm pushing the easy button and posting pictures of the labels. Pictures were taken with my iPhone. I left my camera with a friend in need in France, and will go get a new one this week. 

my quilt, Oregon July, with award-winning hand guided long arm quilting by Jolene Knight

Buhbye, #twitter

It was a sad day in the Twittersphere, but nobody really cared, least of all me.

I deleted my Twitter account after a series of problems caused by Twitter, such as: locking me out of my account when I was in Europe, forcing me to change my password for no reason, continuing to prevent me from posting links to my blog, and being completely unreachable when it came to customer service.

To be honest, I never liked Twitter and won't miss it. Most of the time I only used it to post links to my blog. If you happened to be following me on Twitter, you can still find me everywhere else.

Buhbye #twitter.

for Jolene

My goal for the Northwest Quilters 41st Annual Show was met when my quilt, Oregon July, was displayed with both sides showing. I teased Jackie Nance about saving money on the drape, but really, I very much wanted people to see both sides of the quilt. People said they wanted to see the back, and I wanted them to see it.

It's really a reversible quilt, and the image on the back is like a wonderful secret, not meant to be discovered at first. Oregon is a well kept secret when you come from back east, as I did. It takes time to discover all the things about Oregon that make it such a spectacular place. In July, Oregon is especially sublime.

The quilt is about coming to Oregon for the first time in July 1998, falling in love with the place, and eventually discovering that it was so much more amazing than I first thought. Oregon made a big first impression. The large patchwork on the front in cool, serene colors represents my first impression. Since I didn't really know what Oregon was all about until I spent time here, the quilted landscape drawing, fully revealed on the solid green back, represents the incredible beauty here, and the sense of discovery.

Long-arm quilter Jolene Knight nailed it. We discussed the idea when I brought the piece for quilting, and she just got it. She is from Oregon, so I think she appreciated what the quilt was all about. The remarkable thing about it was she did the quilting from the front! The quilt received a second place ribbon for Long Arm Hand Guided Quilting at the Northwest Quilters Show, one of the more competitive categories, and the ribbon goes to Jolene! She earned it. But wait, there's more...

Jolene's quilt, Triangle Log Cabins, won the Guild President's Choice Ribbon!! Now, you have to understand, Jolene is relatively new to quilting and I believe these are her first ribbons. It may also be the first time she's entered a show, although her work has appeared in other peoples' quilts for the last couple years.

I thought it was wonderful of guild President Sue Hatt to select a modern quilt made by a bright, talented young quilter for the President's Choice ribbon. It was not entered in any voting categories, so that made the choice even more lovely. Thank you, Sue Hatt, and big congratulations to Jolene!!

Paris Pictures

On Monday the 20th, we took a tour of Paris on the roof of a double decker bus. It was great, reasonably priced, and we saw a lot of the sights in an afternoon. Here are some of the pictures I took during the ride.

Beautiful city, lots of history, architecture, and art. The food was amazing, and the city full of energy. I look forward to returning to Paris. 

intriguing question

Salon Pour l'Amour du Fil, Nantes, France

In Nantes, several people asked me an intriguing question. "Which quilt is your favorite?" My answer, "I don't know," often led to a stroll down the long row of quilts on display, and I would point out several favorites.

1860s quilt, Kentucky

Of course, I love the old ones with intricate hand piecing and dense, decorative hand quilting. The old quilts are classic, well crafted and surprisingly modern.

1860s quilt, Kentucky

1860s quilt, Kentucky

I love the quilts that offer insight into the history of the design; the Mountain Mist New York Beauty, Capper's Weekly Springtime in the Rockies, and Ladies' Art Company's Suspension Bridge.

Capper's Weekly Springtime in the Rockies, 1930s

Suspension Bridge Block

I also love the new quilts; Karen Stone's Cinco de Mayo, Linda Hahn's Bensonhurst Blooms and many others.

Cinco de Mayo, Karen Stone Design, made by the Buda Bee Quilters, TX

Each quilt is a piece of the picture, a chapter in the life story of the complicated patchwork design. We know it as New York Beauty, but there were many names for it, more each day.

You can read all about it in my book, "New York Beauty, Quilts from the Volckening Collection" (Quiltmania). For more information about where to get the book, click here.