More quiltfest pix

 Here are some more pictures of the Bluffs Quiltfest. This is one of our presenters doing her trunk show.

 Here is our other presenter doing her trunk show. The crowd seemed to really enjoy these trunk shows and the presenters views  on their quilts and quilting in general. I met a lot of nice quilters as we shared some insights and laughs throughout the day!

 It was fun for us to see all of the interest in our show and hopefully we will continue to improve the shows each year.

Bluffs Quiltfest

 Bluffs Quiltfest was a lot of fun yesterday. Laural (seated) from the Bluffs Art Council got us together again this year for our second annual event. Here she is ready to greet our quilting enthusiasts.  That is one of my older quilts on her table. I made that quilt in the 90s and hand quilted it over a period of three years.

Marsha is on the show committee and demonstated the easy and fun method of making the 15 Minute Tablerunner during the show.
 

 Mary demonstrated English Paperpiecing Hexagons...Judy was very interested in her chicken pincushions. Mary also had an antique signature quilt on display at her table, so she talked about it as well.

 Judy (another show committee member) demonstrated how to make the Hot Dog Pillowcase. Our demonstrations went on all day long as people walked around, except while our two presenters gave their trunk shows.

 I demonstrated one method of stringpiecing, but brought lots of models to help tell my story. You can see a picture of me during my demo on Giselle's blog....she came to the show from Omaha.

 We don't have a quilt guild in Council Bluffs, so are a small group and don't have the set up to show the quilts like some of the larger guilds do. But people seemed to enjoy the show, and we gave everyone a glove so that they could touch the quilts if they wanted to.

 I had a great time at the show and met lots and lots of nice quilters yesterday! I will post more pictures tomorrow! Happy Sunday.

Bluffs Quiltfest and kitties

 Last night we set up for the Bluffs Quiltfest show. We have many beautiful quilts from local quilters, some are antiques, but all use traditional patterns to make gorgeous quilts. I am excited to see our two trunk shows, too. One of them is a quilt appraiser and has a collection of antique crazy quilts. The other quilter is a former shop owner and has a huge collection of quilts she has made as well as collected. I will be demonstrating how to make string pieced blocks...you can see how comfy they are! If you live in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area, be sure to stop by Community Hall in Council Bluffs for the free show between 10:00 and 4:00 today.

More stringpiecing and quilting

 In preparation for my demo on string piecing at the Bluffs Quiltfest on Saturday, I quilted another string pieced design this week. I used the same panto as I used on the Corner the Stringpiecing Market quilt.

 This backing fabric is a little heavier than most, but it fit this quilt so I used it. The panto is Ebb and Flow by Lorien Quilting. I turned the quilt so that the pattern would flow down the length of the blocks. It almost looks like flames.

 I colorized the strings for this one just for fun. It's interesting what many different tones and shades of a color look like when put together. Even some that don't seem to match blend in well.

 Ready to bind. I used some leftover fabric from another project several years ago for the binding, to keep with the "use them up" feel of these quilts.

 I now have four models to take to show different types of stringpiecing, plus some demo blocks, so that should make a good presentation.

 I am teaching the Which Way is Up? class today, and the last session of the Modern Cathedral Windows class tonight, so it will be a very quilty day. Have you done any string piecing?

Council Bluffs Quiltfest

 I have been part of a committee working on our second annual quilt show in Council Bluffs, Bluffs Quiltfest. I was asked to help last year and wanted to help continue a yearly tradition of quilt shows in our city. We don't have an official guild here, but have several smaller groups that get together to sew, and some do charity quilting as well. Our show last year featured a speaker, and a sampling of some of the area's best quilts.

 We decided to invite a couple of local quilters to do trunk shows this year, as well as feature some demos on current trends and takes on traditional blocks.The trunk shows feature a local quilt appraiser and her collection of crazy quilts and a former quilt shop owner and her vast collection of quilts she has made over the years.

 I am doing a demo on string piecing. I have taught many classes on this popular way to use up leftovers and scraps of fabrics. I plan on showing how to put this block together, but have taught classes on several different string piecing patterns, so will have those displayed as well. I decided I wanted to take the one I made using selvages, but it wasn't quilted, so I put it on the machine Monday (top photo) and got a good share of it finished. It's small, so won't take long to get it quilted.

There will also be demos on English Paper Piecing Hexagons and the Hot Dog Pillowcase. If you live in the area, come out and see us on June 15 for a fun event! Details on time and place are on the flyer below.