Going the wrong direction, going to Graduation, and going to HMQS.

I am supposed to be reducing my pile of little tops. That was my goal as this year began, and I had been doing quite well. But the past couple of weeks has seen me add 4 more flimsies to the pile. You've seen the first three in recent posts. This is number four.

This quilt was assembled with gifts from friends. Most of the HSTs (which finish at 1") were from a bag of leftover small quilt parts that a friend gave me, and the border fabric was a gift from a blog friend, after I had admired it on her blog.

I love how it worked out. I think this fabric is the perfect border for the little HSTs. My thanks to Kim (no blog) for the HSTs, and Pat (Amity Quilter blog) for the border fabric. Now to decide how to quilt it!

It was a busy weekend. Friday DH and I were in attendance when our oldest son (child #3) received his Master's Degree.

It was just after I began this blog five years ago that he received his Bachelor's Degree. Since then his hair is longer, mine is greyer, and DH's hasn't changed. He never ages.

DH and I spent Saturday in the Salt Lake City area, about 90 minutes south of home. He dropped me off at the South Town Expo Center and I attended the Home Machine Quilting Show, while he did some test driving of cars.

The place was humming with activity. I didn't take any classes this year, but it was very fun to meet up with wonderful quilters, see beautiful quilts in the show, and shop some great vendors!

The Doans, of Missouri Star Quilt Company. Such genuine, down-to-earth people. A real treat to visit with them.

Visited Sandra Starley (Textile Time Travels blog), quilt appraiser, who always has a booth of yummy vintage goodies to peruse. I enjoyed studying the red fabrics in that signature quilt on the back wall.

Someday I would love to see Sandra's entire collection of quilts, but I don't know if that is even possible. Every time I see her there are "new" vintage quilts in her possession.

  
Irena Bluhm had a few of her beautifully painted quilts on display in her booth. She was very sweet to pose for me.

Jenny Pedigo, of Quick Curve Ruler fame, standing by her most popular quilt design. She is a very gracious lady, and an amazing quilter. Even though I am not a modern quilter, I have learned many quilting tips and been inspired by her beautiful designs on her blogs (Sew Kind Of Wonderful and Jenny's Doodling Needle).

This was the first time Primitive Gatherings has been to this show. I was excited. My friend, Jami, happened to have dropped by to shop when Jake agreed to a photo for my blog. This was my first stop in the morning and my last stop before I went out to catch my ride home. They received the bulk of my HMQS budget.
Jake and Amy were very helpful and patient with me. Thanks for coming to Utah!

I saw this sweet machine being used to demonstrate a product in a booth, and I wished I could bring it home with me. There seemed to be a purple glow coming from the booth that I couldn't resist.



After spending the bulk of my time in the vendor mall with my list of items to find, I took a quick trip through the quilt show. 

This was the top award winning quilt.

Read the description and then click on some of the small photos below to get a feel for it. The background appeared to be printed or painted. The buildings seemed to be printed on fabric and attached to the quilt. The people and animals were pretty incredible.

This quilt caught my eye. Love the colors and design. It was very well made.

Here we have  the entire selection of minis entered in the show.

These are the same quilts from the other end of the row. You can see the blue ribbon hanging from the top prize winner in this category.

I was a bit surprised by the selection, but I must admit that the quilting lines were so straight, and evenly spaced, and the use of color play in the threads was a nice visual addition.

It was a long day and I was happy to spend a few minutes relaxing at home that evening with my newest long-term project. This is a quilt I posted about years ago. I designed it for my youngest son as a memory quilt from his time as an LDS missionary in Brazil. Everything has meaning to his experiences there. He has been home almost 7 years, so it is about time I got this going.

I finally had a longarm friend baste it for me last month so I could get started on the hand quilting. Expect this to be with me for a year or two. I am not the fastest hand quilter on the block and my back doesn't allow me to spend too much time on it at once. 

Had a busy, full Mother's Day with family gathered for dinner, and Skyping with those too far away. I'm exhausted, but fulfilled after a jam-packed weekend, and ready to tackle another week. 

BTW, my 5 year blog anniversary is coming up very soon. Stay tuned. : )

Until next time, 

Janet O.