Rockbridge County Fair (part 1)

Last week I was on vacation at our cabin in the Shenenadoah Valley. Since I was going to be spending the week there, I decided to enter 3 of my quilts in the fair. Fun!

And guess what? I won a blue ribbon in the Domestic Machine Quilted category!

I also decided to join the Rockbridge Pieceworkers Quilt Guild in Lexington, VA while I was there, and was able to attend their Saturday morning meeting. We met in the space where the quilts were being displayed – what a great way to have a guild meeting. They are a friendly, welcoming bunch and I’m so glad I joined.

So without further ado, here are some of the beautiful quilts from the show.

A small quilt called Hopping All Over by Linda Puhle won Best in Show. The quilting on this small wonder is really a perfect compliment to the improv piecing that is visually exciting. Isn’t it great that an improv quilt can win Best in Show?! Lovely quilting, Linda.

Flowers Unleashed by Jan Gordon, another small quilt, was quite entrancing. I love the modern asymmetry combined with the traditional English-paper-pieced (EPP) flowers. What a great nod to the very traditional Grandma’s Flower Garden pattern. Though the quilting was all straight-line it radiated from the center and really played up the flowers. Well done, Jan!

The Quilt of Many Colors, by Gail Caldwell, was positioned right at the entrance next to the welcome table. It is a large, beautifully pieced scrap quilt with a very interesting braided pattern border with cut off corners. I couldn’t take my eyes off it all night; I’ve got a soft spot for well-done scrap quilts) Wish it had been for sale!

This small challenge quilt, The Scarlet Bomber by Susan LaRue, is just as charming as it can be. Sue made it for the guild’s challenge and it was inspired by the cardinals which attack her windows each winter. The challenge was to create a small quilt, using the quilter’s initials toss guidance: one initial for color, one for the technique, and one for the quilting. In Sue’s case, “S” is for scarlet, “A” for appliqué, and “L” for linear quilting. This was another quilt I kept coming back to inspect because the reds were so vivid and it was just a truly creative, stylized version of the cardinals we see so often in quilts.

Teri Brasz had Blue Radiance on her quilting bucket list for 35 years before she made it! I’m so envious – wish I had discovered quilting 35 years ago! Not only did this take a third place ribbon, it won in the show for Best Use of Color. I just love it to see intricate piecing, beautiful appliqué, and complimentary quilting in combination. Terri, it was worth the wait; you must be so pleased with this winner.

My Shenandoah Serenade quilt (saving the best for last) won a blue ribbon. It was so well-lit that the quilting just jumped off the surface no matter how far away you were standing. I couldn’t have been more pleased – or more surprised – to have won a blue ribbon in this show. Here’s hoping it’s the first of many more to come.

That’s all for this week. Check back next week for more quilts from the Quilt Show at the Rockbridge County Fair and updates on my red and white churn dash quilt.

Keep quilting!

~3G