Asheville Quilt Show 2010

Each year I really look forward to the Asheville Quilt Show because it is held at the North Carolina Arboretum--which over the years has increased in beauty and maturity.  This year it was hot--like so many other places--so some of the flowers passed their prime before the usual time, but it was still beautiful there and a wonderful setting for a wonderful quilt show.
The unwonderful thing was that most of my pictures didn't turn out too well.  I seem to have been struck with the "shakey camera syndrome."  Of course, it may have been that I didn't have my glasses on and didn't notice that I didn't have my anti-shake setting enabled.  Who knows.

Anyway, I did get a decent picture of the 75th anniversary quilt that guild members made to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Those of us who volunteered to make a block were given the exact dimensions of the finished block and the sky fabric.  Some of you have seen on this blog the block that I made--the one in the center bottom with the fox and the owl.  Each person decided what to include in her own block--as long as the coordinator didn't say that it was already chosen for another block.  And then, we turned them in--to take their next step towards completion.  I was truly amazed at how wonderful the finished quilt looks and am honored to have been able to participate in this kind of project.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is there for all of us to travel on and enjoy--an opportunity to slow down and appreciate to wonder of the mountains and the life they contain.

I did get a picture of my favorite quilt at the show.  This is about the aftermath of the disaster in Haiti.  I thought that the colors were so dynamic and the pregnant woman was so appealing.  It is almost as if she's holding her swollen belly as a form of prayer and protection for her unborn child.  One of the members of my art group said that when she looks at a quilt it should tell a story.  I think that each of us can come away from this quilt with a powerful story.

One of the things that these recent times has brought in to many of our lives is change--some welcome and some not-so-welcome.  One of the results of change in my daughter-in-law's life is that she has gotten rid of almost all of her quilting life and, as a result, I was the recipient of quite a bit of her fabric.  It was a very sad time for me as I looked through and touched each piece of it because it represented so much more than the fabric itself.  One thing she didn't get rid of were some of the quilt kits that she had purchased and never gotten around to making.  So what I did as a thank you was to put together the Christmas block-of-the-month that she--and I--had gotten about 8 years ago.  I finished and quilted mine at that time with needleturn applique and this one for her I did with the fusible applique method (I DID want to finish it BEFORE Christmas!).  So, this is my thank you to her and I will get it quilted in time for the holidays--a season in which I hope we will all have much to be thankful for and will be looking forward to new beginnings in the new year.