Just got back from The Camarillo Quilt Show at the fairgrounds in Ventura. A weekend that was filled with inspriation, delightful quilts, and wonderful vendors and people.
I volunteered many, many hours to help prepare for, and set up the show. One of my jobs was to be in charge of "white glove" volunteers. Those are the ladies that walk around, literally, wearing white gloves to lift the corners of quilts so the backs can be seen by viewers.
No fair touching a quilt without gloves on - fingers (especially hundreds of them) have oils that leave a residue on quilts. So, to protect the quilts, you should not touch. Pointing, and oohing is allowed though.
I'll be sharing some of the pictures I took as I walked around helping people. Here are two similar quilts that I thought were interesting - they show a distinct difference in stitch design.
This was a quilt made by Nancy Kimery called "Unterwaschockstellungs", which was hand pieced and machine quilted. I count nearly 400 separate pieces on the front.
As you can see by this closeup, there are curved pieces to fit together - but they all have the same shape - either placed vertically or horizontally. The pattern is traditionally called an "apple core quilt", but the name on this one is really fun - German for underwear crotch, because that's what the shapes resemble!
Now, here's another "apple core" quilt, which was made by Camilla Picard, called "Memories".
Again, hand pieced because it is easier to do all the curves that way. But, the reason I noticed this one is because the hand quilting is done about 1/4" inside each shape.
So, I like this one too - because the shapes are emphasized by the stitching.
Either way, that's a monumental amount of hand piecing. But a great way to use up scraps!
As a volunteer, I spent a lot more time than usual looking at the quilts. Instead of a quick hour, I saw the same quilts, over and over - front and back. That's when I really began to appreciate not just the quilts that were "show stoppers", but the "simple" ones too.
Amazing to me how each quilter interprets a pattern that has been done for decades, by their own use of fabrics, stitching and title.
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