Taking the Atlantic by Storm!

If you’re a quilter you may have been aware that the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival took place last week in Hampton, VA. Their website states it’s “the largest quilt festival on the Eastern Seaboard”.

Two of our guild members, Lori Crawley and Holly Santangelo, attended. Holly had entered two of her quilts into the competition and just like her son Joey who won on the Pacific coast (see October post), Holly has won on the Atlantic coast! (click photos to enlarge) Congratulations to Holly on this amazing and well-deserved accomplishment! We are all so happy and proud of you!

One of the best things about Holly is she remains extremely humble, even though it is obvious her talent for design, color, and execution is so superior to a good number of us!

Holly’s “Married to the the Sea” quilt won Best Hand Workmanship in the Traditional category. Her description explains, “I designed this using a computer-aided drafting program with traditional block manipulation. It is hand pieced (except for the Mariner’s Compass and sailboats), hand appliquéd, and hand quilted. It took 5 years to complete.” If you attended our quilt show this past October you would have had the pleasure of seeing this incredible work of art.

Holly describes her “Veggies” wallhanging, which won an Honorable Mention in the Innovative category, as beginning with a free screensaver she found on her computer and traced. She enlarged it to fill four large sheets. The pieces are raw edge machine appliqué held in place with a tulle overlay. It is machine quilted. You may also have spotted this piece at our fall quilt show.

Again, our sincere congratulations to Holly!! We’re hoping she’ll still remember us now that she’s a “Nationally Recognized Quilter”! LOL

Thank you to Lori for sharing lots of pictures from the show. As you enjoy seeing some of the competition Holly was up against, you’ll understand even more what an impressive accomplishment this was.

Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge.

ADMIRERS!

ADMIRERS!

Bringing Comfort to Others

This month’s meeting was devoted to a Sew-In to make some comfort quilts that will restock our stash. Approximately 30 members were present to sort and iron fabric, cut strips, sew units, and assemble into lap-sized quilts.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of all our busy bees but thank you to all who donated their supplies and time to this worthy endeavor!

Prior to the Sew-In, we held a brief meeting to discuss some future program options and share this month’s (#5) UFO and Show & Tell projects.

UFOs (Unfinished Objects aka Quilts, etc.)

Susan B. showed off her beautiful quilt that began with a heart block swap from February 2022. Susan N-C showed off her machine embroidery skills on a sewing machine cover she made.

Nancy R. shared a woven table runner she had completed and Nancy D. showed us another adorable wallet pattern she had completed.

Sue M. was catching up and brought in her projects 2 and 5 to share – a comfort quilt and a table runner to match placemats she had made some time ago.

Ruth W. gave us a quick overview of how she creates, or should I say recreates, a photo by tracing the main image of her desired picture onto a plastic notebook sleeve and photocopying the line drawing. She then brings the photocopy to the print shop to have them enlarge it and creates place markers of the main images in white on the fabric while she fills in the background. She then will work on her main images. Lots of pieces and layers go into Ruth’s art quilts before they are complete.

Show & Tell

Barbara F. was busy creating small comfort quilts from donated pieces she had picked up from church groups and elsewhere to create an array of golden quilts.

The Nancys, who do happen go to a lot of workshops together but didn’t this time, discovered they had both picked up the same kit at a show. Great minds do think alike! Joan Kurker sewed this cute little penguin door hanging, which she’s going to have to keep an eye on because her neighbor is coveting it. LOL

Until next time, keep your bobbin full and your rotary cutter sharp!