Happy International Quilting Weekend!

Did you know that this Saturday, March 19th is the 25th anniversary of National Quilt Day? To celebrate I will be attending a lecture  given by quilter and author Sarah Fielke and hosted by the newly formed Lancaster Modern Quilt Guild, (Yay! We finally have one!) 

(And for the record, I had nothing to do with helping to form it... way too easily overwhelmed and scattered to ever even attempt such a feet. Kudos to those that rose to the occasion!) 

I've also gotten an early start to celebrating by being the guest lecturer for the Spring City, PA Loose Threads Quilt Guild's 25th anniversary, and gave a trunk show at their annual tea. 

I shared 26 of my quilts up close and in person while discussing their inspiration and encourage everyone to look for their own personal inspiration sources. 

It was a great day! 

Below are some of the little Moo business cards I had printed up for the occasion. Some show my quilt work while others show my local photography of the old barns,  

which of course give me constant inspiration!

And, I also attended the Lancaster AQS Quilt Show which is still going on through the 19th, 

so if you are in the area, you may want to check it out. 

Now, of course with all of these quilt celebrations going on, I've got some new work to share, 

(sneak peek in that top photo). 

But first I've got this little fun announcement...

In honor of it being International Quilting Weekend, the renown hosts of The Quilt Show, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims have asked me to join with them and other quilt bloggers, to let all of you know that they are opening their doors to all quilters this weekend, giving free access to The Quilt Show, where you can watch their quilt shows this weekend non-stop! (And that's over 200 shows!!)

Along with that they are also having a CONTEST with over $11,000 worth of prizes, including the grand prize of a Bernina 570QE! Just click on that contest link above to enter!

(But first check out my new quilts below!)

Okay, and now for the new quilts...

This may look familiar as it's a quilt top that I pieced way back in 2012, but never quilted. It's very rare for me to not finish a quilt before moving onto the next. (I gather that's a little unusual in the quilt world, yes?) My intention at the time of piecing was to machine and hand quilt it just like it's sister quilt, "9 Patch Quilt in Red and White" seen below.

But I just didn't have it in me at the time to commit to all of that hand quilting, due to the hand pain which was just starting to be a real problem around the time this was made. 

And while I can now once again hand quilt on a small scale, (yay!) I don't think I am quite yet ready to tackle anything past the small size. 

So, I finally made up my mind to pull her out of storage and quilt her up. I was tired of letting her languish, waiting for me to hand quilt her when all she really wanted was to be quilted.

I decided to just go with texture and did a large all over stipple. 

And hey! Sister and brother Modern Quilters, listen up please... stop disparaging the stipple! 

Yes, it was over done, but at this point so is matchstick quilting. 

However, both are worthy of doing if that is what the quilt calls for and you enjoy doing it!

So happy to have "9 Patch Cross Quilt in Green" finally done!! It was inspired by the greens in the  farm fields. The one red strip was added because I like a little happy and unexpected something and it reminds me of the low, long barn that belongs to the farm behind my house.

Here she is with the golden morning sun shining on her... love that texture!

Last but not least, here is the newest quilt that I've made...

This one is called "Off-Kilter". In a previous blog post I talked about gathering quilt inspiration from the sad dismantling of barnes... when all that is left are the beams, (which I call the bones.) This quilt takes similar inspiration, but at an earlier stage... where just one wall is missing, (and there is still time to save the barn!) At this stage, I can peak in and see all the off-kilter odd angles of the barn's interior along with it's contents, 

(which more often then not is a compilation of rusty old farm machinery.)

This quilt is pieced from various shot cottons, cross weaves and chambrays, 

and quilted with improvised meandering waves, 

reminiscent of the rolling hills and newly plowed fields.

So there you have it... all in celebration of National Quilt Day and International Quilting Weekend!

Don't forget to enter The Quilt Show's contest 

and enjoy watching those 200 + free quilt shows this weekend!

Happy Quilting!