Vermont Quilt Festival... partie 1

As promised, I will be sharing my experience at the Vermont Quilt Festival. I did not register for any courses this year due to surgery but I did pay their fee to be on the mailing list for 2008. I visited the merchant mall and viewed the three exhibits they had this year. There was the regular quilt exhibit, the Alzheimer Exhibit and an antique quilt exhibit. Pictures were prohibited in the Alzheimer: Forgetting piece by piece gallery, however you may view what was in the exhibit here. It was an extremely touching exhibit. I spent a long day at VQF, with lots of rest in between.

I was taken aback by the amount of raw edge applique quilts that had been entered in the quilt show. Perhaps some will think I'm an applique snob, however, I would have never thought of "raw edge applique" as show quality quilts. Sure they must be fun to make but to me it would be like entering a "paint by number" canvas in an art show. But then again, it hasn't been long since machine quilting has been accepted in quilt shows. So, I guess it's a matter of getting used to the idea. I'm working on it! ;o)

What I will be showing are quilts that I thought were special and that I wanted to share with my friends on Blog Land.

This is quilt C304 and is called Sweet Treats by Denise Lareau from Manchester, NH. It was longarm machine quilted by Nancy Tatro. Now, for my longarm quilting friends, isn't sweet, no pun intended ;o), that she gives credit to who machine quilted it?

This is a raw edge applique quilt. I loved it! It was a fun quilt to look at. I couldn't help but think about copyright and trade mark when I saw her Bazooka and Bubble Gum block. I remember a huge ugly debate on a newsgroup regarding the same issue. Personally, I'm not bothered by the reproduction of the design.

This is C219, Scrap Baskets by Catherine P. Boyle from Pittsburgh, PA. Except for the backing, the quilt is made entirely from scraps. I'm quoting from the Vermont Quilt Festival booklet. I will say, I don't know if I would consider all of that fabric as scrap. Perhaps the basket, but not the background. Perhaps she meant more from my stash. Who knows? I couldn't help but think of Darlene and her love of baskets when I came upon this quilt.

This quilt is C1003 and is entitled You can't make a Silk Purse From a Sow's Ear, SAYS WHO? by Nancy DiDonato, Diamond Point, NY. What an original design. The purses were embellished with beautiful crystals.

C802 Althea's Waltz in the Starlight Ballroom by Judith Heyward from Mt. Pleasant, SC. What a stunning quilt this was. The back was as beautiful as the front.

This will be it for for now. I'll share more of my favourite later.

Thanks for stopping by!