It’s that time of year again! The night’s are getting cooler (at least they are here in Wisconsin ?), the leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn color, and the Madison Expo was a great success! And, just so you know, they announced they’ve changed the name of the show to the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show!
I arrived in Madison on Wednesday morning and helped to hang an exhibit of quilts by the ThreadBenders entitled Photo Inspiration: Door! We are a fairly new art quilt guild and it was very exciting to see our quilts hanging at this wonderful show.
We’d love to have you visit our ThreadBenders site and see each of these delightful quilts “up close and personal”. To do just that click here!
After hanging these quilts on Wednesday I went to visit my friend Evelyn and work on our Japanese jackets (There’s a fun story that goes with these jackets, but it’ll need to wait for a future post). We got them done in time to pose together at the show.
This was the 15th year of the show and I’ve been blessed to teach there every year, but this time was a little different as I didn’t have a class on Thursday. So I attended a great lecture by Deanna Springer on “Celebrating Nancy”. Then I took in the quilts, shopped the vendors, and had an all round wonderful day.
I stayed with my friend, Laura Krasinski, at the Clarion Inn attached to the convention center. This year we were on the 8th floor and the view was great.
The main portion of the Alliant Energy Center, where the quilt show is held, is on the far left. The Holiday Inn Express, where I taught my Friday workshop is the building on the right. The main structure in the center is the Colosseum (no part of the quilt show was there), but the arrow is pointing to our beautiful state Capitol in the distance. I couldn’t resist zooming in for a better view:
I entered two quilts in this year’s show and it was an honor to have them hanging with so many fascinating quilts.
I pinned most of my log cabin blocks to the above quilt so they wouldn’t walk away, but I left 4 tethered with ribbon in case passers-by wanted to try my modular technique. The quilt show volunteers are trained to not allow any touching of any quilts. It was a little disappointing, but I am very grateful to all the wonderful volunteers who make this show possible, and I understand that they have to follow the rules to keep all the quilts safe.
I’m sure the winning quilts from this year’s show will be posted soon on the show’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WIQuiltShow/
Each year I like to highlight a few quilts that didn’t get ribbons. These are pieces that really touched me (there were so many I liked, but I only have room to share a few). For those of you who couldn’t attend, I hope you find these quilts as interesting as I do.
Joan Beyerl Pierner from Suamico, WI made a fun version of Kim Lapacek’s pattern “Dresden Neighborhood” entitled “Outer Space Dresden Neighborhood Quilt:
I’ve seen many versions of this popular pattern and this one made me smile. Then, as I traveled along the aisles, I found a quilt that took Kim’s pattern to a whole new level. This is the “The Family Board Game Quilt” by Marcia Wachuta of Boscobel, WI:
Her description says: “…I wanted to make a quilt that was a game board for my grandchildren, with the Dresden as the center and all the little houses connecting with pathways to each one. Each house represents a family member’s home.” – how creative!
The next quilt was made by my friend and co-teacher Mary Alice Hart. It’s called “Roses For Caroline”:
It was quilted by Mary Francis and a portion of the description says: “This quilt, started after the birth of my granddaughter, was my introduction to hand appliqué.” It is very different from Mary Alice’s usual work, and it is Beautiful!
Skippers Friends is by Shirley Guier of Houstonia, MO and her description read “I started working with leather last year and wanted to try something of my own”.
I really wanted to know more, and wondered if it was truly a quilt (3 layers held together with stitches). A kind white glove volunteer was nearby and helped me to discover that the answer was yes!
Shirley had placed the batting and backing against the center of the back of the quilt and the stitching was very impressive.
This next quilt was made by Laura Sipes of Clinton Iowa, and is entitled: “Sunshine: Generation Quilt”.
It is more traditional than many that I’m posting about and I love it. The pattern, colors and quilting all work great together. Here’s a portion of the story: “One of four quilts made by three generations: myself, sister, mother and grandmother, made possible through a block exchange. Each quilt looks different regardless of the same blocks used!” I think it’s Delightful!
Another traditional quilt that drew me in was Scrappy Pineapple.
At first glance I commented to my friend “wow – look at all that paper piecing”. Then I read the card only to find the quilt was made by my friend Janell Weinberger of Sun Prairie, WI and it wasn’t paper pieced! Here’s what her description states: “Love the technique Eleanor Burns uses in her book. Makes the pineapple pattern so easy to piece! I did change the sizes of everything to make it much smaller”. She made the block much smaller – yes – but the quilt is bed sized! Another delightful quilt!
My vote for Viewer’s Choice this year went to Deborah Hyde’s quilt entitled “Persephone (Jenn)”:
It blew me away! Each piece is 1/2″ square and the mosaic technique not only perfectly captures the subject, but it does so while using a traditional quilt block pattern. And it’s quilted through every square! Here’s a close up:
The description states: “Inspired by Greek mythology, my lovely neighbor was the model for this work. The pictorial aspect of the work is complicated by the overall pattern in which it is embedded – the traditional Amish quilt pattern “Sunshine and Shadow”. I wasn’t surprised to discover that it had won the Viewer’s Choice ribbon for this year’s show. Congratulations Deborah!
It was a spectacular show – and that didn’t include the vendors, special exhibits, etc.. I’m so blessed to be able to attend every year. And to top it all off, I get to teach! As always, I had a wonderful time sharing with students through my lectures and workshops. This year my lecture was entitled:
I had great groups both days and we all learned and laughed together:
I taught a workshop on how to break through the roadblocks when it comes to choosing quilting designs, and I think I learned as much as the students. It was a great group – and I only wish I’d remembered to take a photo to share here.
This year I was able to attend a number of excellent lectures and my favorite was by Mary DeRay. Her topic was Sashiko
And her quilts were stunning.
Her work is a fascinating mix of piecing, applique and Sashiko stitching. And Mary is full of energy and inspiration!
It was a spectacular show and I’ve already booked my room for next year!
Did any of you who went have anything else to share???
Juleen Jaeger says
Sorry I missed you, Chris. Decided at the last moment to go with friends. I had knee replacement in January and wasn’t sure how it would be to walk the show but it was great and I’m so glad I went.
Joanie over says
Was there on Friday, was hoping that the quilt that was choosing as viewers choice would get that award, the attention to details that were needed for that quilt were mind blowing, the small pieces were all so even in there rows, I did one a few years ago with 3,000 1-1/2 inch pieces, said never again, didn’t need that much creative challenge “stress”. Nice variety of vendors. Sometimes it was hard to move in the aisles with all the motorized chairs, just have to remember I may have to use one sooner than I would want to. Was at the 1st show, to now see how the show has developed over the years has been amazing , can only imagine what the future will be ?.
Glennes Youngbauer says
Loved your lecture “You can Quilt as you Go”. Looking forward to make the wine bags at our quilt retreat in October. And I even got on your picture of the class waving! The Show was certainly fun and especially getting to see all my quilting girlfriends.
Bernadette Martin says
Joaine mentioned the motorized chairs in the vendor area. I was so glad those people are able to attend things like this. I, like she, agree that it may be us some day. How awful no to be able to share so much with like-minded people.
I was able to attend two days and take 4 classes. It’s so hard to pick just 4. Didn’t get to your class, Chris. Maybe next year. Yours are always so much fun.
And it’s good to see more men. We had one in one of our classes.
See you all next year!
Bernadette
Bill Hoernke says
I really enjoyed your Friday afternoon workshop. I will try to email a couple pictures to you. Great Job!