Welcome to Treadlestitches! Thanks for stopping by!
This week in sewing, I've been drifting from one project to another and not completely finishing anything. Maybe I'm just distractible lately, or maybe I've just had some fun distractions like quilt shows. Anyway, I got this small top together as a donation quilt.The top is approx. 40 in. x 48 in., and I hope to quilt and bind it soon.
On Friday Sept. 6 I met a friend at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in Madison. She and I have a long-standing tradition of seeing this show together, even back when it was called Quilt Expo. In the last few years Covid and other health concerns got in our way, but we were back at it this year and loving it.
The sashing and border are dark blue--does that count as dark for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?
The black Stretched Stars definitely count. I don't usually use black prints in my donation quilts for kids, but I need to rethink that. There are so many cute fabrics. Just one more way the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has pushed me to think differently about color.
Now on to the Quilt Shows!
The quilts on display were, as always, amazing, and were made by quilters from all over. I took lots of photos for my own use, but I will restrain myself from including any here out of respect for the makers. Photos from the 2024 show are not yet up, but you can click HERE to see a gallery of the winning quilts from previous years.
Our fabric is sourced primarily through purchases from estate sales, estate auctions, and donations by friends who no longer sew.
Keeping fabric out of landfills is a major goal of our business.
I love this! They travel to quilt shows around the country. They also have plans to sell directly from the web site, as they have apparently done in the past. Click HERE to check them out.
Of course the quilt show was much much more than shopping. It's even more than just viewing the jaw-dropping quilts! We had time to talk and visit and participate in something we both love. What a wonderful day!
So that was ONE quilt show. Just yesterday (Friday), I went to the SECOND one. It was a smaller, local show held at the county fairgrounds. Two quilt shows in two weeks! I am so lucky.
The local show creates these patterns, that they call "Seed Packets", and they hand them out for FREE with admission every year. They are well written, and I have even made a quilt or two from them in past years.
The quilts themselves were amazing! Again, I can't publish the photos, but I took pictures to look at later and enjoy. All kinds of styles were present, from traditional to modern and back again.
This was something new:
This is what I ended up taking home. There are yards of cottons and flannels, a small unfinished quilt that I plan to finish and donate, and some lovely piles of scraps.
We are so lucky to have quilt shows to attend, from the big national/international ones to the local ones put on by guilds, who do all the hard work for free out of love for quilting. There are always new things to learn, too, from classes and from viewing inspiring work by fellow quilters. I would go even if there wasn't any fabric on sale!
I hope you have as much fun as my grandsons and I have had this week! Take care!
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with:
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap