Another Quilting Road Trip

Last Thursday my quilting friends and I went to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza XX Show in Phoenixville, PA. It took us exactly 2 hours to drive there and 5 hours to walk the show where there were over 600 quilts and 200 vendors. There was so much to see we were all in overload by the end of the day. I'm definitely attracted to quilts that look "old" or have that "folk art" appeal and photographed my favorites. But there's one contemporary quilt that also caught my eye plus my pick for Viewer's Choice.

Away From Home was hand appliqued and machine pieced by Sandra Davis of Lexington, VA, and machine quilted by Carolyn Campbell of Walkers Creek Quilts. Sandra's inspiration came from Nancy Rink's book Away From Home: Quilts Inspired by the Story of the Mill Girls about women working in the textile mills in Lowell, MA.

The fabric is from The Mill Girls 1830-1850 collection by Judie Rothermel of Marcus Fabrics.This quilt measures 101" x 101"!

Grandmother's Farmhouse Garden was made by Sandra Griffith of Reading, PA, and won a blue ribbon for Best Hand Workmanship in the Wall Quilt category. Sandra's inspiration came from an 1880s antique quilt that was reproduced by Gail Kessler in 2011. 

It is 31" x 31" and has over 1,000 fussy-cut 1/4" hexagons. Wow!

Marlene Shea's original design, Homecoming, is absolutely charming.  

The people in the windows are photo transfers representing the original families who lived in the houses. 

And check out the clever use of toile fabric under the willow trees. 

Great Aunt Minnie's Garden by Nancy Losee of Williamsburg, VA, was inspired by her reminiscence of her great aunt's garden surrounded by giant sunflowers and bean vines.

Feathered Star blocks are set with small Ohio Stars in the corners.The quilt was machine quilted by Sylvia Thompson.  

Pennsylvania Hearts and Hands by Kelly Cunningham of Stevensville, MD, is a reproduction of a quilt owned by the York County Heritage Trust in York, PA.

Kelly is a "longarmer" who created the patterns and stitched them on her longarm machine both freehand and using patterns she digitized herself.

And here is Eloise Joins the Circus by Janet Fogg of Milwaukie, OR. Eloise is an imaginary elephant who "joins the Circus of Paris and parades the streets wearing an organza ruffle and the Eiffel Tower atop her head bringing excitement to all she meets."  The hand-dyed fabrics are by Jeanette Viviano. 

BEST IN SHOW and my pick for Viewer's Choice was Creation Springs Forth by Betty Ekern Suiter of Racine, WI. This original-design quilt has it all--hand applique, hand quilting, and hand-dyed fabrics by the quilter in 35 colors.

It measures 80" x 80" and "took 3,000 yards of thread for the quilting and a total of 3,630 hours to complete. . ."

I thought the checkerboard quilting design along the outer edges was really interesting.    

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Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer