Quilts and Jager What??

Three of us piled into the car yesterday and drove quite a ways south to a quilt show in Sierra Vista.  You might wonder why people would drive so far just to look at quilts.  Quilters are a strange lot.  They will drive clear across the country if it means finding fabric ... plus you can occasionally find real deals at the vendors who attend the shows.

We hit the vendors first, since we could see the quilts any time.  It's like Black Friday.  Ladies are grabbing bags of material, hugging them tightly and rushing to the checkout stand.  I'll show you my purchases tomorrow.

First off, no one ever said every quilt was beautiful.  This isn't really my favorite, but the use of fabric is pretty cool.  Every single heart is made up of four pieces of different fabric.  It's really much prettier in person and the sewing is impeccable.

Then you have something like this with a million tiny pieces.  It's beautiful but no thank you.  If it's so tiny I have to squint to see it, I'll never finish sewing.  It will become the forever uncompleted pile in the closet.

Now THIS one ... as you can see by the purple grand prize ribbon .... is AMAZING!!  With the exception of the black, there is only one piece of fabric used here, cut into hundreds of pieces.  Each and every circular piece is actually four to six pieces of the exact same cut of flower, then sewed together ... kind of like looking at material next to a mirror.  It's hard to explain ... and even harder to sew.  THIS is a fabulous work of art.

This one I picked for two reasons.  One, I love kitties.  Two, do you have any idea how hard it is to cut and sew stripes without getting them crooked?  Not to mention, I love the black and white.

Not only are the fabrics and designs on display, but the quilting is what makes the final product.  If you click on this picture to enlarge it you can see just how much stitching went into this.  I bet there are five spools of thread in this one.  

Speaking of cost, which I wasn't, but fabric nowadays runs $10-12 a yard, plus batting (the stuff in the middle) plus backing (which on a queen size can be 5-8 yards), amounting to around $150 for your standard twin size.  That doesn't include the hours and hours spent sewing the thing.  So if someone gives you a quilt, cherish it ... in actuality, it probably cost around $500.

If you have any of those doilies left over from your grandmother's stash, here's an idea for a quilt.  Stitch them all on a beautiful background and hang them on the wall.  You can do the same with your husbands old T-shirts he doesn't want to get rid of.

There were many many quilts, but THIS one was my favorite.  Isn't this just crazy?  The amount of work in this is incredible since it's a king sized piece of magnificence.  I'm not sure it would make for a restful night's sleep, but it is beautiful none the less.

By the time we were done with the show, it was lunchtime.  Pat mentioned a German Restaurant, but couldn't remember where it was, so I yelped the German Cafe.  It's a very tiny place without a lot of wait staff.  We stood in line for about 15 minutes before they came to say they were changing waiters and it would be just a minute.

Patty Chance has all the patience in the world.  I probably would have left after they seated NINE people behind us BEFORE finding our table.  As she took menus to the nine, I was getting more antsy.   

Finally, Pat led us to one of the three empty tables where the waitress finally arrived to tell us there were nine dinners ahead of us in line at the kitchen.  Are you kidding me??  We waited in line for 15 minutes before those nine even showed up!!!

Bite your tongue Nancy .... Patty patience, you need to have Patty patience.  Lucky for us, the nine couldn't decide on what to order, so we did get in first.  THIS is JagerSchnitzel.  I'm part German and have never heard of it before.  I thought schnitzel was pounded thin.  This was a huge piece of thick pork, deep fried and covered in brown mushroom gravy.

Top right ... what else but German potato salad.  Top left, German slaw.  My very first taste of German food and it was DELICIOUS!!  I ate the whole thing!!  Even though there was dill in everything (and dill is NOT my favorite), it all tasted wonderful.  Who knew?

I'll be back to sewing today and spending some time on the patio with the puppies.  Unfortunately I can't leave them outside alone.  My little two foot tall fence won't keep the coyotes out of the yard should they decide on an afternoon snack.  While I'm there, I might as well trim the rose bushes.  Yup I have FIVE rose bushes ... in Arizona .... in the desert.