My Time in Paducah at the AQS Quilt Show

Judy and Lauren accompanied me to Quilt City, USA

There were so very many wonderful blue ribbon quilts and not enough blue ribbons to go around. I think every quilt at the show was a winner!

Judy especially liked the light tan background quilts with feathered stars.

Lauren enjoyed the brighter quilts with bold colors.

I was glad to meet Joy, whom I learned to know in Mississippi. Her home was wiped out during Hurricane Kitrina and she and her husband relocated in Paducah.

I took a picture of this quilt for my farming husband, Paul.

Amazing kaleidoscopes!

We found it interesting to see the exhibit of The Tentmakers of Cairo and watch this Egyptian man do hand applique.

I especially liked this “Tuning Fork” quilt by Heather Pregger.

One day we visited the Yeiser Art Center to view Fantastic Fibers 2014 - A Cutting Edge Fiber Art Event.

We studied this quilt  by Susan Carlson a long time.

I also enjoyed an evening class with Karen K. Stone called “Windsor Gardens.” You can see my work in progress HERE.

The next evening I had a class with Stacy Michell making two “Hawaiian” quilts. This also was a fun class.

And the book signing of New Quilts from an Old Favorite – Carolina Lily at the National Quilt Museum was wonderful.

I got to meet the other artists in the book and visit with lots of other friends and people that came to the exhibit.

Linking to:
Esther's Wip's On Wednesday
Lee's WIPs

“Only a Lily” – New Quilt From an Old Favorite

Each year I like to enter a quilt in The National Quilt Museum’s New Quilts From an Old Favorite contest.

This year the traditional block that our quilt was to represent was the “Carolina Lily.”

I was stunned when I received a call recently that my quilt “Only a Lily” had won 1st place. And then I got all giddy and had to call some family and friends and share my good news.

When my sister, Emily, started making some quilts using Gloria Loughman’s technique from her book “Radiant Landscapes,” I loved the effect.

Blue Bell

So, I bought a book too and studied it and decided to make a ‘lily’ quilt to practice for my entry. 

I was pleased with how “Lily” turned out and decided to use the technique for my entry.

So, I found a piece of fabric that I thought would work good for the background …

… and I cut red and green squares of 2 other pieces of fabric. I traced off a motif of the traditional Carolina Lily pattern onto the squares … 

… and cut them out.

  

When Emily saw my little bits of scraps left over she decided to make another small art quilt using them in the sky of her “Setting Sage” quilt.

I thought it marvelous and decided to change my background to the same yellow that she had chosen. But alas, it didn’t have the same effect that hers did.

  

So I went back to my original choice of background fabric and I loved what I saw.

Here, I have added a black border with slight curves.

Then I cut out ‘lily’ parts and laid them on the background. Deciding which lily I liked best was a hard choice.

When all the fusing was finished I was ready to quilt.

And after the quilting was finished the quilt wanted to wobble, ripple, and pucker up.

But that didn’t cause me too much worry as it all flattened out when I blocked it with lots of water.

And then I added the piping and binding and blocked it again.

Only a Lily

56 1/2” X 56 1/2”

“I am only … a  [humble] lily of the valleys [that grows in deep and difficult places]. … Like the lily among thorns, so are you …” –Song of Solomon 2:1, 2 (Amplified)

Detail

Don’t forget to enter my fabric giveaway HERE.

Finish It Up Friday