Quilt Show Surprise!!

Apparently Mother Nature got the message.  It's 63 degrees this morning ... ALMOST a little chilly, with rain expected the first of this week.  Yay!!  I'm finally able to turn my sprinklers down.  Keeping up with the neighbors very green lawns has always been a hard road to travel.  

So was this road on the way to the quilt show.  I thought this was in someone's back yard.  Turns out it was in many someone's FRONT yards.  What a surprise!!  I've not actually driven this neighborhood before, only a short way when I made a wrong turn.  It's a narrow winding street of gorgeous houses and even more gorgeous landscapes.  

Probably close to a mile long, half a mile had quilts hanging from the trees and all along the street.  Luckily we were early and got a primo parking spot.  Just look at these houses!  Ranch style I think, and every one looking like a magazine cover.

You could not pick a more beautiful place for a quilt show.  Lots of hard work went into this one.  I've actually tried to join this Quilt Guild for a few years, but never could find out when and where they met.

Probably the only reason I went to this one is because Cyndae's friend Diane Swenson was the featured artist.  Diane and her husband are RV'ers.  AHA ... we have lots in common!

Our first stop was the house where her quilts were showcased.  This HOUSE ... OMG it was fabulous with amazing wood floors and a vaulted ceiling!  Not to mention Diane's quilts hanging everywhere.  There is a story about every one.  This hand embroidered pink one was made by her grandmother for Diane when she was 6 years old and it's still in amazing shape.  

One day her Grandmother heard a loud noise outside.  There was a bear looking for dinner.  Her grandmother shot and killed the bear, which then ended up being a bear rug.  It always scared Diane to death ... laying there with it's mouth open.  Obviously the quilt has lots of memories attached to it.  That's Cyndae on the left, who has known Diane for many years.

While traveling in their RV and being the bored passenger, Diane would cut out fabric pieces and hand stitch them onto backing pieces.  This is called appliqué.  Pretty easy to do while on the road, with fabulous results when you finally got back home and sewed all those squares together with your sewing machine which does not fit in the rig.

Like most (if not all) of my RV trips, she got to stop at fabric shops all along the way to gather up beautiful pieces to use in her quilts.  The pictures do not do these justice.

The amount of work she puts into just one square is amazing!!

And so we wandered outside once again and walked along the street.  The quilts were gorgeous.  This just says FALL.  I have to give it up to the husbands who went above and beyond.  There were MANY quilt frames to hang quilts on, not to mention half of them were hanging from the trees.  Someone spent a lot of time on a ladder!!

Right off the bat we ran into a house-load of kids selling donuts.  As you can imagine, I did NOT pass THAT up!  One little boy was playing tetherball.  I remember THAT!  Got my nose broke playing that game when I was a kid.

There were Easter quilts, Halloween quilts, fall quilts and just plain quilt quilts.  Appliqué is the name of the game nowadays, so there were lots of those that take months to complete.  I'm more of an instant satisfaction girl, just sewing squares together.  I have to admit though, Diane has motivated me to try some appliqué again.

At the end of the curving street we found these ladies with a table full of cookies.  I got out my wallet to purchase TWO, but come to find out they were free because we paid $10 to enter the show.  AND a free bottle of cold water to wash them down.  

This one caught my eye.  How cute is this ... and each row of bunnies had a REAL fluffy cotton tail!!  Here's what amazes me most.  I never would have thought of using those colors, but I absolutely love it.  (Feet below the quilt not included).   Let's face it ... I'm not the least bit artistic, but I can copy someone else's choices.  I may have to find this pattern.

Cyndae took off as soon as we returned home.  Apparently we have been spoiled by not having a lot of traffic during the Cvid years, because now EVERYONE is on the road.  It's funny how in my old age, I have no patience for drivers who go 30 mph in a 45 mph zone ... for 6 or 7 miles!!!!!

There's a lot more to see, but I won't drag you down with dozens of quilts today.  I'll save a few for tomorrow.  It's a good thing fabric stores are closed today, or you KNOW where I would be!!!  Oh wait ..... the INTERNET IS OPEN!!!