The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show 2023

Did you see the image at the top of this post? It looks like quilts are so popular even the Crane sisters are heading to the door 🤣!

Each year after the Madison show I like to do an overview of all the fun. This year my friend Julie is in the midst of chemo and told me that she was really looking forward to this post, since she can’t attend the show. What a blessing that I can share a bit of it with those of you who aren’t able to attend!

It was a wonderful time to catch up with friends, restock the stash, add new techniques to the toolbox, and BE INSPIRED!!!

I arrived a day early to help hang the ThreadBenders Travel Poster quilts in a special exhibit.

But before I get to our special exhibit ~ I can’t wait to share some news about the AQS show in Grand Rapids that took place this past week. Last year our Travel Poster’s won second place in the Ultimate Guild Challenge competition, and we just found out our current group of challenge quilts ~ Curves Ahead ~ won second place this year!!! Congratulations ThreadBenders!!!

So here are the Travel Posters in Madison:

I just love the artistic banner members of the group made to hang with our quilts (and it was fun to hang them with the ribbon).

During the show I was thrilled to have the opportunity to teach two workshops on my repliqué techniques from my latest book,

and all three of my Silhouettes and Shadows lectures appeared to go over quite well.

In my class on Thursday I noticed a man sitting at the machine in the far left corner. I went over to introduce myself to David and got to meet his sister Barb!

I don’t remember having a brother/sister team in a class before. The next day there was a man sitting in that exact same chair. What a delightful coincidence to meet Wayne and his sister Mary!

I am so blessed to be able to teach and have many, many wonderful students. Saturday morning was free on my schedule and I couldn’t resist taking a class about doodling on quilts with Ruth Ann Berry. She owns a shop in Fife, MI called the Quilter’s Clinic and she specializes in 3D quilt patterns of her own design (I’ll share what I learned in class in a future post).

When I wasn’t teaching or taking a class I was able to see the show. I’ve said it before and I’m sticking with it: the vendors are wonderful and I’m so grateful for all they make available to us at the show. But, as soon as I get through the doors, I head for the quilts. Oh my! The quilts in this show just keep getting better and better!

The ribbon winning quilts did not disappoint, but I love them all. So here’s a quilt parade of some of the quilts that may not have won ribbons, but they made me smile:

The Hayward Wisconsin quilt guild is a great group that my friend Cathy belongs to. She entered their group quilt in the show for the guild and it was fun for all to see. Cathy’s block is the huge muskie statue that resides in Hayward (3 down, 2 to the right).

After enjoying that quilt I came upon Stella and couldn’t resist adding her to my favorites (she’s actually a sturgeon, not a muskie, but I’m kind of into fish art lately):

I’m often drawn to asymmetry and I felt the unexpected borders really made this quilt attractive:

The Quilt of 60 Quilts had a calendar theme and the small quilts were hand cross stitched:

They were so lovely I couldn’t resist a detail shot:

This led me to notice quilts that fit a seasonal theme. Ranae’s Quilt had a Spring like feel to me. I loved the simple pattern, and bright colors:

The color and graphics of Indian Summer are striking ~ and fit my seasonal theme:

From there I found a Winter quilt. Doesn’t this pattern look beautiful in Christmas fabrics?

DNA Helix is a quilt based on the double helix design in every strand of dna in our bodies. Isn’t God’s imagination beautiful?!? Who knew it would make such an amazing bed quilt?! And it’s all paper pieced – WOW!

Fussy cutting can yeild some amazing results. When I first looked at this quilt I marveled at all the appliquéd circles. Then I looked closer and discovered the black and white dots were all printed on their fabrics ~ and fussy cut to fit perfectly (there are colorful fussy cut dots too). Amazing!

My first quilt was a sampler quilt, and I’m always attracted to them. So 365 Day Challenge really grabbed me.

Next I came upon 365 Little Blocks – Wow!

As I read the sign I realized it was made by a friend whom I’ve traveled with. Then, a few quilts farther down the aisle, I bumped into Eileen. What fun to hear about her quilt and catch up!

I was delighted to also find a whimsical sampler of fabrics. Sue had quite a collection of cow fabrics!

And the quilting added to the fun:

I’m not only attracted to samplers, but I have a soft spot in my heart for patriotic quilts too. This one contained both. The sampler blocks are in the blue field of our flag:

And here’s another patriotic quilt that was made from a veteran’s uniforms. Such a wonderful tribute!

I’ve recently been into One Block Wonder quilts and Bathtime is one that was made from 7 repeats of the same panel. It, and the next few quilts, were all ribbon winners. I know I said I wanted to share some of the non-ribbon quilts, but these spoke to me and I just had to share them too.

The 3 Dimensionality of One-Two Punch blew me away. It fit so well with my lecture about shadows. The “threaded borders“ are wonderful too!

The next quilt I actually chose as my viewer’s choice. It’s a small quilt, but the detail is amazing. I had the great opportunity to hear it’s story from Ann herself. I’m hoping to interview her and let you in on some of the details of the making of this quilt – in her own words – in a future post.

I began this parade of quilts by stating that they made me smile, so I want to end with the one that made me laugh out loud ~ My Favorite Murder! Please read the entire story 😁.

I wish I could have shown all the quilts, but space is limited and you can see more on the Great Wisconsin Quilt show’s website (click here) or Facebook page (click here).