On the Road: Long Island Quilters Society Show

It's show season; over the next few weeks I'll be on the road quite often visiting as many wonderful shows as I can get to.  The second show of the season was a trip to Garden City for the Long Island Quilter's Society Show.  It was a wonderful weekend for a quilt show in the NY area, as the weather was in full spring mode; warm and sunny, a great relief after last weekend's nor'easter.

The quilt with the lanterns is the 2010 Opportunity Quilt, Asian Lanterns.  She is a beauty, and the show's theme, Asian Inspired was visible throughout the show.  One of the things I enjoyed about the show was seeing different versions of the same pattern.  In this way, the viewer is inspired to be adventurous in selecting different colors, different patterns, or perhaps just different values when making a quilt.  As a side note, I had an interesting email exchange with Carol Miller of Quilt University on this very subject, but that's another post.  

Back to the quilt show:  I loved an area that they had created in tribute to their late members.  It was lovingly assembled, tasteful without being morbid.  I saw some of the usual suspects in the vendor market, but quite a few that I had not encountered before.  One of the members directed me to Deb Tucker's booth, and I hope to lure her to NJ for a summer retreat. 

The white glove volunteers were friendly, and perceptive; they were consistently able to point out special features of the quilts in their area.  
I'm active in several area guilds, and I normally run into other members when I'm at a show.  This show was no different, and I wanted to share photos of some of the members I met with their work, and the stories they shared with me about their quilts.

My friend Karen and I had been admiring this quilt for some time when I heard my name called.  My name isn't common, so I know it's always someone who knows me for somewhere, but I didn't recognize the woman calling me.  I made sure she was calling me by pointing to myself and then headed over to her table, where she introduced herself as Joyce, the guild President.  I also met another Empire Quilter member, Arlaine (she is the one who identified me to the others) and Pat, whose quilt I was just admiring.  Before I decided to take photos with each quilter standing in front of their quilt, I photographed Joyce (left), Pat (center) and Arlaine (right) in front of Pat's quilt, Hi-Lily Hi-Lily Hi-Low.  The tiger lily fabric reminded Pat, and her daughter, of flowers used in Pat's wedding bouquet.  Pat is also celebrating an impressive anniversary this year, and this quilt ties into that celebration.  Take it from me, this quilt yells HAPPY!  It certainly made me smile.

 Joyce, the guild president, showed me her Forever Double Wedding Ring.  A double wedding ring quilt pattern is challenging enough, but the icing on the cake is that Joyce hand quilted this piece.  I took a close-up shot of the quilting, too.  A link to the entire album of photos from the show appears at the end of this post.   Joyce told me it took her ten years to finish it.  To her, I offer the analogy:  do you know what they call the person at the very bottom of his class in med school?  Doctor.  Your quilt is finished, and that's the most beautiful word of all to any quilter.

Arlaine's piece, Kaleidoscope Stars, has the things I love about kaleidoscope patterns; they move and flow effortlessly,  guiding your eyes seamlessly over the entire quilt, as if they were one interlocking block.  These quilts are challenging to piece, and while your color  and pattern selection may be forgiven on other projects, they are crucial to the effect of kaleidoscopes. The stars do shine in this quilt;  my photo does not do it justice.


I'd like to thank these three women for taking the time to say hello, letting me drag them over to their quilts for a photo,  and congratulations on a wonderful show.  To see my album from the show, click here.