The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII - My Purchases

The vendors are a big part of the attraction of quilt shows for me.  I get as many ideas from the vendors' booths as I do from the quilts on display.  Quilt Fest of New Jersey was a smaller show but, I came home with plenty of loot!

I found Country Inn, a Blackbird Designs book by Barb Adams and Alma Allen.   Thelma blogged about her recent foray into hand applique.  She is using a pattern from Country Inn for her project.  I won't be starting that project, at least not yet, but I'd like to try applique and this book is full of eye candy.

I bought Blooming Possiblities because the projects in it are so darn cute!  The vendor, Cranberry Quiltworks, had samples from the book on display and I bet the book was sold out by the end of the show. 

I bought this bundle of fat quarters from the same vendor.  The fabrics cross several lines but go together so well.  And I already have some larger pieces of a couple of those prints so they will be ready when the right pattern comes along.

Cranberry Quiltworks also had this twill tape, made like measuring tape.  Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but it was only $0.79 per yard.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to have it on their website.  Maybe by email...

And I found what I was especially looking for:  wool, in small pieces. 

Ever since I saw this project in Sew Scrappy magazine, I've been wanting to make it.  I've never worked with wool before but am game to give it a try.  I think this will be a good portable project for the summer. I still need to find the black background.  Please let me know if you are aware of any sources.

By the way, The Practical Bag was perfect for carrying all this loot around the show as I made my purchases. 

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII - New Technique

One of the vendors at the Quilt Fest of New Jersey was Sue Pelland.  Her quilts covered the walls of her booth and she demonstrated her invention, the Leaves Galore template.  It is an acrylic ruler that makes it easy to cut the leaf or orange peel shape.  I saw the quilts and watched her demo. 

Yes, she reeled me in!  An Orange Peel or Joseph's Coat quilt has long been on "my list" but I was not enthused about having to cut all those shapes with scissors.  Well, this ruler means you can cut with a rotary cutter.  Plus, it is designed to eliminate a lot of waste, as one row of shapes lines up very closely with the next. 

Sue has instructions, including videos, on her website.

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII - My Visit

I visited the Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII last week, where this quilt was one of the award-winning works on display.  It is Chromatic Transitions, by Rachel Wetzler, and it is a beauty!  I was wowwed by it!

It is all machine applique, using a tiny zig zag stitch.

Here are few more quilts that caught my eye.  Dots With A Twist of Lime, by Marion Lutz, using Kaffe Fassett prints. 

Isn't this a great idea for a scrap quilt? It's going in my idea file.

 

This is My Eldon, by Bethany Morelli.  This quilt took an award for Best Machine Workmanship. 

The piecing used very narrow strips, which I attempted to show in this blurry photo.

This small wall hanging is Treasures At Sea, by Amy Hamado.  It is only about 14" by 18" so the Storm At Sea blocks are all tiny. 



I'll have another post with more about the show later this week.

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey opens this Thursday.  This is the seventh year for this show, at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset.  It is not a huge show but I always find something to like in the exhibits.  And of course, the vendors always entice me to part with some of my money.

I am thinking of going to the show on Friday.  If you will be there, let me know and we can try to meet up.

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VI

I learned a new quilting term today - SABLE.  It means Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy.  Good one, huh!  I think I'm there!

I learned it from one of the vendors at The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VI, which is at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset through Sunday.  I made a quick visit today, quick because I had to fit it in between various work obligations.  Quick was ok because I was not particularly impressed with the quilts on exhibit this year (the vendors were another matter but I'll get to that later).  The main exhibit at this show is a collection of quilts that were the winners at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, held in February in VA.    While I could admire the workmanship, none of the quilts fell into the "I wish I made that" category for me.  And the other exhibits were a little bit on the arty side for me.

This is a yo-yo quilt.  It was bed size.  Here's a close-up.

I don't have any desire to make a quilt out of yo-yos but I would like to try a pillow.  Another project on my quilting bucket list.

While there were not a lot of vendors as shows go, the ones who were there had what I was looking for.  I actually purchased everything on my shopping list.

I found some orange wool and black wool, and some black buttons; all items I need for the snowman quilt using the pattern I won from Thelma.

I found some more Kaffe Fassett prints that coordinate with the others I have, for the quilt I plan to make "someday."

I want to make one the projects in Stellar Quilts and need more light 30's reproduction prints.  I found these fat quarters that I think will do nicely.

I found this special ruler that was on my shopping list.  Only now I can't remember why it was on my list or which project I need it for!  Oh well, it will come to me eventually.  I'll chalk it up to a blond moment, not old age!  And this little book by Billie Lauder.  I had not seen these before but she has a series of them.  Full of tips and instructions, not actual quilts to make. 

This was my major purchase.  The pattern for the Bow Go Bag, along with the fabric and leather handles.  I saw the jelly roll of batilks, loved the colors (called Ocean Mist) but couldn't think of anything in particular to make with it so put it back (and felt virtuous!).  Then a vendor I came across later had samples made up of the bag along with the pattern.  It is made by putting the fabric over cotton clothesline then sewing it together (similar to the It's A Wrap baskets).  So I bought the pattern then went back to find the vendor with the Ocean Mist jelly roll (only one left when I got there, oh my!), selected the batik yardage for the bag lining and bow, then tracked back to find the vendor with the pre-made leather purse handles.  That vendor is called Quilt Plus and they sell online as well as at shows.  They have a variety leather handles as well as purse handles made of wood, plastic, and metal, and they have the metal purse frames. 

So, I have quite a few projects to keep me busy.  SABLE, definitely SABLE.

Quilt Fest of New Jersey, Part 2

Today, I have some of the pictures I took of the quilts exhbited at The Quilt Fest of New Jersey. The first two won prizes at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in VA last month.

This quilt was paper-pieced. I especially like the borders: trees on two sides, the mountains at the top, and the fish at the bottom.

Extremely detailed and realistic.

This was stunning, both from a distance and close-up. The wedding ring arcs are embroidered, not pieced. I'd like to try a border similar to this sometime.

The black defining the seams between the diamonds is rick rack sewn on top. Another idea I may try.

Making "Christmas Pickle" has inspired me to try more curved piecing. I thinking of trying something like this using a Moda Layer Cake.

The strips were pieced in sets, cut into triangles, then the triangles were pieced together into the diamonds.

I really liked this quilt and the next, which have appliqued flowers against a pieced background of neutrals.

Here's a close-up; the background is pieced rail fence blocks. The applique was all plaids. I think the artist is Elsie M. Campbell (I didn't think to take notes at the show). She had a pieced quilt make entirely of plaid fabric taken from men's sport shirts.

This paper-pieced block was part of the "Herding Group" quilt. The artist paper-pieced a block depicting each of the AKC recoginized dog breeds then joined the blocks in quilts for each division of the dog show (Working, Herding, etc.). We have our own Corgi, Reggie, so I am interested in all things Corgi!

Hope you enjoyed this very abbreviated show.

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey

I treated myself to a day off and went to the Quilt Fest of New Jersey today. This is an annual show put on by Mancuso Show Management at an exhibition center in Somerset. Sadly, the poor economy appears to have had an effect; there were noticeably fewer vendors this year and tlhe show was not particularly crowded. But I still had a great time. There was a good variety of vendors. At some shows, it seems like everyone is selling fat quarters and they all have the same fabrics. That did not seem to be the case today, with quite a variety of fabrics on offer, and a variety of patterns too. There were several vendors with fabric from other countries (African Asian), someone vending vintage Japanese kimono fabric, a dealer in vintage linens and textiles, a large book vendor, plus the usual sewing, embroidery, and quilting machines.

I'll wait until tomorrow to share the pictures I took of the exhibit quilts. Let's start today with the important stuff - my loot from the vendors!

Barbara Persing and Mary Hoover, the women who wrote StrataVarious Quilts were there in person with their own booth. This book has been on "my list" for a while so I bought it from them and they autographed it. The technique here is that you sew narrow strips into "strata" then cut the strata into squares, triangles, etc. and piece them together. Most of the examples in the book use batiks. They had a good deal on Moda Layer Cakes so I bought three: Aviary, Legacy, and Patisserie. No immediate plans for them but I'd been eyeing the collections online and the Layer Cakes are a good way to sample a fabric collection.

I got three fat-quarter packs from another vendor, The Fieldstone House. They're at the show every year with a great selection of fat quarter packs and lots of conversational prints. I also got a pattern and that wooden thing is the base for a pin cushion - my bargain of the day at only $1.50!

Here is some more fabric - some silvery, snowflakey pale blues (for eventual snowflake quilt), some neutrals (I've used them a lot lately and my stash needs replenishing) and at the bottom is a panel of a variety of floral motifs on black, very antiquey looking.

And lastly, a little bundle of white wool (this vendor had fabulous hand dyed wools ), two Clover bias makers, some needles, and a purse frame and pattern.

The local Janome and Pfaff dealers were there so I checked them out. The Janome 6600P might be a possibility for me but I want to check out some other brands.

More tomorrrow!