Eye candy from 2016 AQS Chattanooga Quilt Show...

 

I made a quick trip to the 2016 AQS Chattanooga Quilt Show last week on opening day (what was I thinking?!?).  It was less than 200 miles away, so I just had to do it.  

I got pictures of a few quilts to share with you...opening day crowds prevented me from getting more...I hate blocking quilts to take a picture when there are eager show-go-ers!

This first quilt won Best Hand Workmanship and Viewers Choice. I had seen it in magazines and it was STUNNING to see it in person.

It is hand-quilted, hand-appliqued, embroidered, and pieced and the detail is incredible.

The next quilt won BEST ORIGINAL DESIGN.

It was quilted on a home sewing machine.

There seemed to be a lot of Mariner's Compass quilts at this show.

The next quilt won Best of Show.  It was quilted on a long arm machine.

 
The next one won Best Use of Color.

This won Best Long Arm Machine Workmanship.

This won Best Wall Quilt.

This won Best Home Machine Workmanship.

I love these New York Beauty variation quilts...

This won First Place in the Hand Quilting category.

This won Second Place in the same category.

I LOVED this blue and white quilt!

LOVED this one, too!

This won Third Place in the Wall Quilt: Long Arm Machine Quilted category.

I have always loved this quilt design (it is on my bucket list...).

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all things quirky and Halloween...

This won Honorable Mention in the Large Quilts: Machine Quilted category.  (I'm glad to see that AQS has improved the quality of the H.M. ribbon since I won a flat one a few years ago...LOL!)

There was a special exhibit of barn quilts associated with Julie Sefton's "See Rock City" quilt.  Her quilt was first exhibited at the AQS Chattanooga show in 2014, the same year my "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" quilt won Viewer's Choice.  I got to briefly meet Julie at that show after being a follower of her blog for a while.  She - and her work - are DELIGHTFUL!  

She published a book this year called "Build-a-Barn" (an AQS title) and she has quite a following of friends (the Secret Society of Barn Builders) who built barns of their own!  It was such a large, spread out exhibit that I could not get a picture of the whole thing, but here are Julie's quilt and the barns that were inspired by this fabulous quilter/artist.

My friend, Kathy French (formerly of Michigan, now a barn lover in Maine) produced the following lovely.

Now, go forth and be inspired!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

Last block for "Contentment" quilt...

Yippee!  The final 10-inch block for my "Contentment" Anniversary quilt is done!

We both love books, but I have to admit that I would rather quilt than read so I either listen to books on CD/devices or Steve reads out loud to me, which is something he likes to do.  I know, I am totally spoiled!

I didn't want to make the block "embroidery heavy," so I used a very fine Pigma pen to indicate book pages.

Now, I really need to solve my design crisis about the inner and outer borders of this quilt!  As the smaller blocks will finish 10-inches and the center medallion will finish 16-inches, right now the overall project will measure 40-inches, without final outer borders. I have trimmed the smaller blocks to size, but have not trimmed the medallion yet.

I keep moving things around, trying to determine the final arrangement of the blocks.  

Next, I will work on the 2-inch inner border between the medallion center block and the dozen blocks that surround.

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

More finished "Afternoon Delight" blocks...

I have a few more "Afternoon Delight" (Sue Garman) hand applique blocks finished.  They are portable, so I mostly sew on them when I am away from home, waiting on some thing or another.

These will finish 6-3/4 inches.  There are 40 appliqued blocks in this quilt.

I hope to get a lot of the double nine patch and other pieced blocks for this quilt done on my retreat at the end of September.

These are just delightful and fun to do!  It is interesting and satisfying to experience my collection of shirting and repro fabrics as I sew.  When I hand stitch, I can really study what went into the design of each fabric and enjoy each one.  I think I used a different background for every block.

These one-piece designs may not be the most interesting, but they were certainly fun to stitch...just one thread choice per block for them!

I hope to prep the last block for the "Contentment" quilt today. I'm getting more and more excited about finishing that quilt.  I have an idea for the inner border and lots of ideas for the outer border. Hopefully it will come together quickly.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)