More Quilts

Well, here are the final pictures from the York Quilt Show. Again, I am amazed at the artistry of these beauties. For what it is worth, I will add my comments about each quilt as well. Please keep in mind that the comments reflect only the thoughts of the writer and no one else. I am no expert, but somethings I like while others I don’t

So. let’s start with this one. Although I can tell that lots of work has gone into this, I am not a big fan of the yellow background fort the flowers.

Although I do like this one, I think it could use some pops of color.

For all you bird watchers out there, this one is for you. Notice who is doing the watching in the center block.

Any of these vases of flowers would look good in our house.

Hope your are not “blue” after seeing this one.

A bit busy for my taste. No place to rest the eyes.

I like scrap quilts, but this is a bit much for me.

I like the illusion of this one. I feel like I am being sucked into it.

I like how the border detail gives this an octagonal look.

I have mentioned in other quilt posts that I am a fan of Baltimore Album quilts.

This I just fine pleasing to look at.

A simple flower pattern, makes a beautiful quilt.

Appliqued flowers and quilted flowers come together in this quilt.

Stained glass quilts are always so striking.

Looks like someone just threw a bunch of flowers in the air and let them fall wherever. I like this one.

To finish, a walk through Grandmother’s Flower Garden is always a treat.

Thanks for joining me at the York Quilt Show.

Of Quilts and Flowers

I wasn’t going to, but here I go again with more quilt pictures. On Frida, Kathy and I drove to York to their local guild’s quilt show. Because of Covid, it has been three years since their held their last show. The York Garden Club partnered with the guild this year so for a single admission price we got to see both shows. Keep in mind that this was a local show not a national show. The quilts were made by local quilters and not celebrities of the quilt world. I think the quilts these ladies made could easily stand up to any quilt in a national show. Here is a view of the room and the quilts.

Now, let’s go down onto the floor and get a close-up look at some of the quilts. Interspersed with the quilts I will also add some photos from the flower show.

Let’s start with the Best of Show. Most of the BOS quilts I have seen in other shows are intricate patterns. Here it was a pictorial quilt taking that honor.

Years ago Sunbonnet Sue. was a popular pattern at shows. I have seen much of her in recent years. However, she made a appearance at this show.

For a break, let’s look at a flower. I didn’t know what to expect at the flower show. Part of it offered what I would consider unique displays. Here is one.

If you ever wanted to try your hand at quilting but were a little “chicken” to give it a go maybe this quilt might be one to try.

All these buildings going around a circle had my eyes spinning.

I do like lilies and have some planted in our yard.

It seems appropriate to follow flowers with a flower quilt.

I like the log cabin block. This always seems like a serviceable quilt pattern.

I am a fan of the allium. I like how the small individual flowers make up the big flower.

All the pieces and colors in this one! I bet the quilter was glad she had three years to work on it.

Another interesting flower arrangement.

I do like colorful quilts. This one fits the bill.

To end this post you knew there had to be a cat quilt picture somewhere. OK, so this just happens to be a big cat.

I have some quilt and flower pictures that I will post next wee,

Snippets

Last week after I finished my weekly lawn mowing I was sitting down at the table cooling off a bit before getting myself cleaned up. The door bell rang. We weren’t expecting anyone so I couldn’t imagine who it could be.

Our neighbor’s daughter and a boy I didn’t recognize were standing there. She introduced him as her cousin. He told me that he cuts his uncle’s grass every week and if I were interested he would cut ours as well. He would used his uncle’s riding mower and weed whacker for the trim. Cost would be $15.00. For some time I had been thinking about looking for someone to cut our grass. It’s not that I mind doing it, it just takes me a bit of time to get it done. Not getting any younger. The price was right so I now have someone who will cut the grass weekly for me. I can concentrate on the weeding.

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On Sunday we visited with our nephew and his wife. This is the couple we drove cross country for to attend their wedding three years ago. They live in Arizona and came East to pack up his father’s , my brother, house. My brother and sister-in-law sold their house and moved to AZ to be closer to their children. Plus, both of his children are expecting their own children this year. One is due in August and one in October. We spent a nice afternoon with our nephew and niece.

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Just found out yesterday from Kathy that York County Quilter’s Guild is holding their local quilt show Friday and Saturday. Guess where we will be going on Friday. I promise, though, that after the recent four weeks in a row posts about Kathy’s trip to Paducah, I will not bore you with more quilt pictures.

Cooking 101

I have written a few times about how the church where we hold our monthly school retirees meeting serves a senior lunch on the days of our meetings. For years, Debbie has been in charge of organizing the meals and I have been bringing a dessert of some kind to share with the group.

Well, Debbie has retired and passed the meal planning on to Marge. I still make a dessert. Marge, unlike Debbie, likes to plan theme meals. So for the last one before summer break, no meals are served July or August, Marge planned a picnic themed lunch.

The meal consisted of BBQ, and pork BBQ, as well as salads. She also said that she would like strawberry desserts to go with the meal. I don’t really have any strawberry desserts so I went looking and found one that sounded good to me.

I wanted something cool, light, and that had a feel of summer. I found a dessert called “Strawberry Delight”.

As always, the first thing I like to do is gather all my ingredients, tools, and pan.

First order of business was to make the crust. This consisted of one pack, of a three pack box, of graham crackers crushed and mixed with 1/2 cup of melted butter. I pressed the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch pan and placed in the refrigerator to cool.

After draining a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, I mixed it with a can of strawberry pie filling.

From the bag of mini marshmallows I measured out 4 cups and added them to the mixture making sure all the marshmallows were coated.

Next came the whipped topping. I added a 16 oz. container to the bowl and folded it in until everything was a pink color.

The last thing I needed to add was a bag of partially thawed frozen strawberries, roughly chopped. Like I said, I needed a strawberry dessert and this fit the bill for me.

Everything was mixed and ready to be poured onto the crust.

Now. pop it into the refrigerator overnight and it will be ready to take to lunch.

In case you are wondering, yes, I did sample it before I poured it onto the crust and it was pretty good if I must say so myself.

Here is the recipe:

Paducah, Day 3, Part 2

As I promised last week, this will be the final post about Kathy’s trip to Paducah. I know, it’s about time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these last few pictures Kathy took of the show.

Let’s start off with some flowers. They always are so bright and cheerful.

I think Kathy took this picture to highlight the quilting.

Hey, it’s a cat. Why wouldn’t she take a picture?

Now, if you can imagine the previous two pictures as part of the same quilt this is what you would come up with.

Animals have their protectors, too.

I didn’t check with Kathy, but to me it looks like the flowers, leaves, and rabbits are padded since they seem to stand out.

They just look so cute.

It took a bit of planning to make sure these different sized blocks all fit together.

I just think that this one is striking, and it is only a third place winner.

This looks like the linoleum in our bathroom when we bought our house 30+ years ago.

This is bright and cheerful.

It isn’t often that you see a whole cloth quilt in a show, but looking at the quilting on this I can see why it is on display.

Looks more like a painting than a quilt.

All those tiny squares and triangles!

So, which pattern did you first see on this quilt?

To end the show we have a different kind of Baltimore album with a black background.

That will do it for quilt posts for a while. I think the next big show is in September at Oaks. That one I get to go to as well.

Paducah, Day 3, Part 1

Well, we have reached the third and final day at the Paducah quit show. Either there were a lot more quilts to see on this day or Kathy took more pictures than she did on the previous two days. In fact, that there are too many to put into this post. So, unfortunately, I will have to drag this show out for one more week. I will post half of the pictures today and the rest next Tuesday. Here goes.

I am the type of person that likes order and organization. This appeals to me because I like the3 structure.

I really like how the point of one star strikes the center of the stars surrounding it.

I think the appliqued border makes this quilt.

This I find interesting. Looks almost metallic.

These guys look like they are enjoying themselves.

This rose really stands out.

Pictorial quilts fascinate me.

How about a stained glass window?

These flowers are ready for their close up.

I bet these two are wondering why all of those people are staring at them.

The work that went into making this one!

I like the colors in this one and just look at the quilting.

This one is bright and catches the eye.

They just look so calming.

Something to brighten up the day.

Well, that does it for today. The final set of pictures will be posted next week. I promise.

Paducah, Day 2

Day two at the quilt show brought a variety of different types of quilts to see. Some were definitely modern and artistic while others had a note of tradition to them even though they were not your traditional types of quilts. See what you think as you view these pictures.

Let’s start with one that looks like it could be a row-by-row quilt, at least to me. I like the diffrerent blocks that make up this quilt.

Here is one that is bold in its colors. The electric colors stand out against the black background.

These are all traditionsl patterns, but the colors give them a different twist.

Although I appreciate all of the work put into this quilt, it is too busy for me. No place for the eye to rest.

This I like. Even in this picture you can see the quilting designs.

To me, this has an optical illusion effect to it. It looks like the design is floating over the background.

Birds and flowers, two of my favorite things.

I’ve been to many zoos and wildlife preserves but never saw animals in these colors. I like them.

This is just pleasing to my eye. It acts like a bit of calm amid the other quilts.

Back to some abstract colorful quilts. Some tiny circles on this one.

This just looks time consuming.

I just think these two are cute.

The solid colors really show off the quilting.

Baltimore albums are always a hit at quilt shows.

Not really wild about this one, but I can’t say why.

Again, no place for the eye to rest. Too busy for my taste.

When I saw this, it reminded me of the bobbins of floss Kathy has for her cross stitch projects.

I am always fascinated by these kinds of 3-D effects.

Anyone for popping some bubbles?

To me, this just seems out of place with the other quilts in this collection. Maybe there is some explanation I am missing.

Baskets of flowers are pleasing to look at.

Well, that does it for this week’s tour of the quilt show. Kathy spent one more day at the show and next week we will look at pictures from her third and final day at Paducah. Until then, here’s looking at ya!

Paducah, Day 1

Last week I wrote about Kathy going to a major quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. She and her friends came home Sunday. They had a really good trip and a great time at the show. They spent three days at the show and since the building was a three story building they devoted one day to each floor.

Although there was really nothing that Kathy needed to buy, she did find some fabric, patterns, and thimbles. She also took some pictures that I could share on this blog.

This might be a lazy way of doing things, but I thought I would devote one day and the pictures from that day in three separate posts. This gives me topics I don’t need to think much about for the next three weeks. So, here are some pictures from day 1, Wednesday.

Kathy said that many of the quilts were artsy and not the traditional patterns we both tend to gravitate to. Here are day 1 pictures with my comments.

I remember seeing this one or one similar to it before. I like how the dark background makes the animals stand out.

I know the picture isn’t blurry, but the background sure plays tricks with my old eyes.

I just think it is fun to try and spot the different animals in this quilt.

A different take on a wedding ring pattern.

Not particularly wild about the yellow background on this one.

I like this because it is simple and clean looking.

I think the quilting on this is striking.

A bit too busy for my taste.

There is something to be said for a two color quilt.

How can you not love cute giraffes?

You knew there had to be at least one cat quilt.

Next week we will look at day two photos.

Road Trip

Email arrived. “Call me.” The message was not for me but for Kathy from one of her quilting friends. The call was made. Her face lit up as she talked to her friend. Conversation ended she turned to me and filled me in.

One item on Kathy’s friend’s Bucket list was to go to Paducah to the quilt show there. She and two of her friends were going this year but one had to back out because of her husband’s pending heart surgery. Would Kathy be interested in taking her place on the trip? I think you know the answer without me saying it.

So, Kathy is on her way to Paducah and I am house sitting and taking care of the cats. In case you are wondering, I was all for her going. This will be her second time at this show, one of the largest in the country.

They will be leaving at 7:30 this morning and getting back some time next Sunday.

It has been my goal to write a poem every Tuesday during April, so here is my deep thought provoking attempt for this last Tuesday of the month.

Road Trip

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
She said "Yes" without hesitation.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
Paducah, Kentucky their destination.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
To one of the biggest quilt shows in the land.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
Although you may think it, I wasn't banned.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
A good time they'll have I do not doubt it.

A road trip planned, 
but not for me.
So I'll stay home and three cats I will sit.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
I wish for them lots of fun and excitement.

A road trip planned,
but not for me.
I know she'll have fun; I'm so glad that she went.

Sunshine

Ten Things To Love About Springtime.

1, The days are longer. No more eating dinner in the dark.

2. The days get warmer.

3. We can shed our winter clothes.

4. Birds are transitioning, as observed by who is visiting our feeder.

5. Spring flowers bloom and grass turns green adding color to gardens and yards.

6. Basketball players gather at the hoop in the park, a hoop that saw no activity during the winter months.

7. The sound of lawnmowers cutting the grass replaces the sound of plows making roads passable.

8. People on the street stop to talk rather than give a quick wave on their way to warmer surroundings.

9. Music can be heard from passing cars whose windows are open letting in the warm spring air.

10. The sunshine is bright and welcoming.

Just because, let’s add one more thing you gotta love about springtime.

11. April snow.

In keeping with my goal to write a poem every Tuesday during the month of April here is my offering for this week. I thought I would go with a sijo.

Sunshine

Looking out the window I am greeted by bright yellow sunshine
The sight of it warms my heart and brings a big smile to my face.
Wait, it’s not the sun but the blooming forsythia in the yard.