Thursday, September 15, 2011

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza

Today, I went to a quilt show, the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza.  It is at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, near Valley Forge and King of Prussia.  It is on through Sunday (Sept. 18) and I highly recommend it to those in the area.

There were some impressive quilts on exhibit and fabulous vendors.  While in prior years so many vendors were selling fat quarters from the same limited set of fabric lines, this year there was tremendous variety among the vendors.  I had to work very hard on impulse control!  I'll show you what I bought tomorrow but tonight's post is about the quilts I saw in the show.


Sandhill Stars by Sandi McMillan of Albion, NE
This quilt was pieced and quilted on a domestic machine.  It won 1st Place in the Traditional category.  The workmanship is exceptional!  The center of each star is perfectly flat, none of that cupping effect you can get when so many pieces come together.  In the photo below, you can see the feathers quilted in the background spaces. 



Blue Rapsody by Carolyn Rider of Portsmouth, OH
This quilt won a ribbon for best machine workmanship.  Look at the quilting in the white spaces in the photo below.



Summer Mole by Cheryl Lynch
The design was inspired by Mexican tiles.  She has several quilts on display from her book called Quilt Fiesta!  This quilt is both pieced and appliqued, which you can hopefully see in the close-up below.



In My Retirement by Marge Hurst of New Zealand. 
Hand pieced and hand quilted, this quilt won an honorable mention in the Traditional category.  You can see the quilting below.  I like this quilting design for a hexie quilt.  I'm guessing that Marge didn't have time to make this until she retired!




Aurora Florifeous by Helen Marshall of New Zealand
Wow, I love the use of color in this design!  Think of the stash required to make it!  Many of the hexies were fussy cut; see close-up below.



Forest Sunlight by Jecelyn Thornton of New Zealand
Machine pieced and hand quilted in batik fabrics.  Batiks are not usually my thing but I love the use of color in this and how it actually looks like a light is shining from the center of the quilt. 

 These last three quilts from New Zealand were part of a special exhibit called World Quilt Competitive XV:  On Tour.  It included quilts from many countries.

Come back tomorrow for more on the show and a glimpse of my loot.





4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing these fabulous quilts, especially the close-ups. So much inspiration!

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  2. Thanks for sharing. It's so inspirational and I always love to see the quilting!!

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  3. Thanks for showing my quilt, "In My Retirement". I guess I should really have called it "For My Retirement" because I am going to save it for when and if I have to go into a nursing home someday. Won't the ladies and I have great fun fondling all the lovely fabrics and as Liberty Of London prints (all the prints and the backgrounds are L of L)are often used for clothing in New Zealand we will also be able to reminisce about the clothes we had.

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  4. The Blue Rhapsody quilt shown here; looks a lot like the pattern on the front cover of McCall's Quilting Magazine June 1999 issue [Rhapsody in Blue] quilt pattern.

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