It is cloudy and rainy today so it was the perfect day to take a ride and visit the Northern Star Quilters Guild Show. Their website was so bad that we almost didn’t bother, but I am glad that we did. They had approximately 200 quilts, a vendor market with 30 or so vendors and a boutique with guild members selling some of their hand made items. Here is a look at some of the quilts that caught my eye.

 This is “Anne’s Wish” by Noreen Graham. She made it for her daughter who always wanted a red and white quilt. It is, as were most of the quilts in this show, much more traditional than what I gravitate toward, but I really appreciate the striking nature of this quilt. The precision of the work and the quilting were amazing. Congratulations to Noreen on her ribbons.

 This wall quilt is even more lovely in person. “Louvre Pyramid” by Diana Sharkey used a heavier weight for the background and she did a great job of adding visual interest with the color placement of her triangles. I liked the simplicity of the quilting too, and appreciated how it added to her design.

 Staying with triangles for a moment, this is “Dots Wasabi” by Karen Carlson. She won a Judges Choice Ribbon. I admire her courage for using such a strong color for the background. It really worked and was playful alongside the polka dots. It was one of the more modern quilts I saw and I really liked it a lot.
 “Bahamian Rhapsody” by Nancy Picco caught my eye due to the scrappy nature and bright palette. It is a happy quilt. I appreciated her craftsmanship as seen in the clean lines.  That isn’t easy to do with so many pieces.

From far away this quilt looks like a scrap quilt with improv piecing. Get closer though and it becomes clear that this was a really clever idea.

 “Label Obsession” by Mern Palmer-Smith is made up of over 1,000 labels. The creator owns a consignment shop and doesn’t accept anything without a label. It is such a great idea and looked terrific.  I loved the wonky nature of it.

 This quilt is so pretty and if Maddie were still a young girl I would have wanted to use this technique to create something for her. “Shades of Misty” by Renee Flauranges-Valdez was inspired by Misty Copeland, the first African-American principal ballerina for the American Ballet Theatre. Beautiful quilt, and beautiful inspiration.

 I really liked the simplicity of this small quilt, “Fractured VI” by Norma Schlager. The black and white is terrific, and I like random nature of the lines.

The quilts were very well done. There were more from patterns than I see in some shows, but the workmanship was very strong. It is quite an accomplishment for a guild to put on such a strong show.

 As you would expect, there was a vendor market as well.

 Seeing Fieldstone House was a nice surprise. They had the largest and best display and brought more fabric to the show than some small shops have in the store. It brought me back to close to 15 years ago when I first met Jen and others. Six of us had met online in a fabric swap forum and met at a central place to visit a bunch of shops. All these years later Jen is one of my best friends. I told the owner that story and she immediately started using me as a reference with customers, having me vouch for the fact that she really does have 22,000 bolts of fabric in her shop. She does. Go if you can!

I hope the show is a success for the guild, and now I am back to sewing!