My friend Claire and I decided to take a road trip to Burlington, Vermont, starting in Portland, Maine, to end up at the Vermont Quilt Festival near Burlington. Our plan was to spend time with Wendy Reed and we were pleasantly surprised that Barb Vedder was able to come up for the day as well.
I'll start with the latest pictures. The show was fabulous. There is an entire collection of antique quilts grouped separately from other quilts that is truly amazing. Sharon Waddell shared her quilts and also had a very educational talk about the quilts. The variety of quilts in the entire show ranged from very basic, traditional to very modern creations.
First things first: the 3 blogging friends got to spend time together! Three Muskateers? Three peas in a pod? Three ring circus? Three of a kind? Three stooges? Three wise [wo]men? Three in one? Three sheets to the wind? {not at all}
I've met Wendy twice before and first met Barb at the show. We three had a fabulous time going through the quilts and just laughing and being silly. They are both exceptional women with great experience and knowledge about quilts (and other important life issues as well!). Just hanging out with them was worth the trip, honestly.
But the quilts? OH MY...
Barb has posted pictures of a bunch of the antique quilts so I'll show others before filling in ones she didn't post pictures of.
Let me first show you Wendy Reed's blue ribbon winning beauty. It's all hand-pieced and hand quilted (Wendy's potholder method once again shows beautifully). We got Wendy to pose in front of it!
Wendy's quilting skills (in terms of design, applique, piecing and quilting) are extraordinary. She reproduced the same quilt in a smaller version, which Claire and I saw at Wendy's house earlier in the week. Here you can compare:
I'll post more about Wendy's show n tell on another day. I hope you won't miss some of Wendy's beautifully folded stash along the right of the picture. This is just a fraction of her "holdings"!!
This quilt was mostly made using DiFord fabrics and the quilter did a fabulous job dividing up the pillar print on the border. Simple block with gorgeous fabrics!
Fabulous fussy cutting on this hexie quilt using a bright red background! This is just one example of the amazing cutting.
Each section of flying geese was done with the colors increasing. I loved the idea.
Nice Gypsy Wife; the border is one fabric; loved the use of grays for the backgrounds to not compete with the blocks.
This is one of my favorites! I'm thinking I will replicate one of the pineapples for my donation to the Hawaiian auction later this year! Such a happy quilt!
I loved the use of the traditional piecing with the applique all in very bright red/white/black colors!
Winner of the best wool appliqué ribbon. There was another one I liked as well using a Primitive Gatherings pattern. Will try for a picture tomorrow.
All the bases of these baskets are the same; the flowers are all different. LOVE it!
Another extraordinary hexie quilt. This one was made a little differently than the red one above; this one's connecting pieces were hand-sewn onto the hexies. The quilter is a friend of Wendy's so we got to ask her directly!
This is another of my favorites. The quilter was there so I got her picture and also was able to ask her lots of questions about her quilt (which is two sided and both sides are AMAZING). Here's just one close-up:
Two things not to miss in this area:
Today we are off to the Shelburne Museum and plan to meet up with Wendy again. Sorry to say bye to Barb who needed to head back to her house early this morning. Claire and I plan to make great use of our last day in Vermont! Also plan a quick trip back to the vendors at the show in the morning!! vbg Forgot to pick up something that looked very appealing to me (more on that later!). xxxxx
Life is good!
Such a fun show! What a variety of quilts!!
ReplyDeletesuch beautiful quilts--my fave is those pineapples--thank you for sharing hugs, Julierose
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these beautiful quilts. The boats was my favorite, and Wendy's quilts are so gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWhat a blast it appears you are having. Love the photo of you three gals together.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the peek at some of the quilts. Amazing stuff--especially Wendy's work!
Are you making it to Ben and Jerry's home base? We had a fun visit there several years ago.
Awesome quilts, but loved the pic of you girls together. Too much fun. Wendy's quilt is beautiful both big and small.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the quilt show Randy. Wow, such amazing work in the quilts.
ReplyDeleteThe lobster!!! Mmmmmm you lucky gals. Nice to meet up with friends.
OMG!!! Lobster and Ben & Jerry's AND quilts AND friends?!?!?!?!? A slice of heaven for sure! :-) Love the yellow & basket quilt....and also the blue, grey and orange pieced and appliqued quilt! (12th pic) Looking forward to your next update!
ReplyDeletegorgeous photos....and yes wendy IS an extraordinary and experienced quilter....thanks for the lobster preview...25 days to maine vaca!
ReplyDeleteLucky you to get to go to the quilt show and also to spend time with quilting blog friends. Wendy's prize winning quilt is wonderful! She is a master at the potholder method.
ReplyDeleteLove reading about your trip and the great photos. I can imagine how much fun you had with Barb and Wendy.
ReplyDeleteWow! These quilts are too stunning for words!!
ReplyDeletewhat a great post of the festival~~ it was such a great time with you and Claire! I'm so glad I came this year. I'll make my report soon and link this report.
ReplyDeleteI loved your description of the 3 stooges...3 sheets to the wind? maybe next time! lol
xo