Doll Dress Exchange

Yesterday I had the wonderful experience of visiting with a quilt guild in Scottsdale, Arizona.
It's always so fun to see what other guilds are doing.
The Delightful Quilters is a chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild
Comprised of about 40 members, I found them to be very Delightful, just like their name!

From the moment I drove up in the parking lot I was welcomed, introduced, and had a chair saved for me by new acquaintances.

Quilters are just the nicest of people!

For their April Block Exchange each participant made a Doll Dress. Two lucky winners had their name drawn from a jar and took home 12 outfits.

Isn't this a great idea for a monthly exchange?

I love these outfits. Makes me want to play dress-ups.

Chain Gang and The Rocks Speak

There were around 200 quilts hung at the Gems of The Desert Quilt Show.
It was tempting to take pictures of them all. I'll share with you some of my favorites.


Chain Gang pieced and quilted by Cathie Purdy
I always love every quilt that Cathie makes. The black background really sets off the bright fabrics.

Pattern design by Sue Garman, Chain Gang is offered as a Saturday Sampler Series with Quakertown Quilts.
If you are interested in the pattern, I've provided a link HERE.

Fun details in the quilting.

Another favorite that caught my eye was The Rock Speaks by Ruth McIntire.

This quilt brought to mind the amazing Santa Clara Petroglyphs close to our home in St. George.

Original design by Ruth McIntire.

Ruth went to the library and found examples of Indian Rock Art, enlarged the the pictures and created this quilt.

Hand appliqued and hand quilted.

I love the subtle back ground colors Ruth chose allowing the petroglyphs to stand out. And a lovely option to create Petroglyphs in blue, rather than the traditional Earth tones.

Marilyn Badger's Bali Hai

One of the treats of being part of the Dixie Quilt Guild is being surrounded by outstanding talent.
We are fortunate to have Master Quilter Marilyn Badger as a member and great supporter of our local guild.
Marilyn served as a judge for Gems of The Desert Quilt Show, and graciously hung one of her award winning quilts for us to see.

Bali Hai is the kind of quilt that usually can only been seen at National Quilt Shows.
It's always a privilege to see Marilyn's work up close.
Bali Hai was both pieced and quilted by Marilyn. Taken from a Claudia Clark Meyers design, this spectacular quilt won First Place, Traditional Category, at the 2010 Mid Atlantic APQS Quilt Fest along with other numerous awards in 2009.

Marilyn said that she used 10,000 yards of metalic thread in a style she calls "overlay quilting".

Blocks were paper pieced using silks and cottons.

The center and all 4 corners were pieced together then appliqued to the background fabric.

Marilyn wrote "The stitching provides another separate dimension to the quilt sot hat the quilting stands on it's own."

Thank you Marilyn for sharing with us!

From APQS:

MASTER QUILTER - Marilyn Badger
One longarm quilting award after another. That's what Marilyn Badger has received since 1991.
She has won accolades at numerous shows over the years held everywhere from California to Virginia and from Minnesota to Texas.
You may have seen her on television.
She has demonstrated her quilting techniques on over 50 PBS quilting shows with Fons and Porter and Kay Wood, as well as Quilt Central with Donna Wilder and Janie Donaldson, and HGTV's Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson.

Gems of The Desert Quilt Show

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.
We couldn't get Internet for a few days, but things are back on board now.

This last weekend I attended Gems of The Desert Quilt Show in St. George, Utah. I went with my friend Sherri McConnell (A Quilting Life)
(both of us were getting by without much sleep, so not the most flattering of pictures we've had taken together...hmmm maybe I should have pulled one out of the archives.)
Sherri has been putting in extra duty sewing multiple projects for Quilt Market next month.

We were just happy to be able to take a few hours and visit the wonderful quilt show put on every two years by the Dixie Quilt Guild.

One exhibit featured the works of award winning quilter Marva Dalebout, or as we in the guild liked to call her "Marvalous Marva".

Marva recently passed away at the age of 82, and is greatly missed.
She received numerous National and International awards, including the Silver Thimble Award 2002 for Most Outstanding Contribution to Quilting in Utah.
She has also been the featured artist at many museums.

We are grateful to Marva's family for sharing part of her collection with us.

Before Marva became a quilter, she was first an artist. She would paint a picture and then create the same image on cloth.

Each quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted.

Many come from the beloved settings of Southern Utah.

Marva even worked a few commercial patterns, showing her love of bright and happy fabrics.

The quilt show hung over 200 quilts. I'll show you some of my favorites in the next few posts.

Sunny Days Are Here Again

I received Sunny Days back from the quilter several months ago, but just now finished the binding.

Designed by Joyce Weeks of Geoff's Mom's Patterns

A good way to showcase fun fabrics.

Machine quilted by Quilted Works in St. George, Utah

I chose an all over design that made me think of the the rays of the sun.

A bright, happy quilt just in time for summer.

Lark Rise To Candleford

I've always been a big fan of searching out the local libraries in my area. So much to see and read.

The other day I came across a series of DVD's Lark Rise To Candleford.

If you love well done 19th Century BBC drama's like the original Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth) or the Elizabeth Gaskell Collection (my favorite), you are in for a treat.


Set in the small Oxfordshire hamlet of Lark Rise, and the wealthier nearby town of Candleford, the townspeople show depth of character mixed with twists of laugh out loud humor.

Each episode addresses a value such as trust or faith, with the townspeople seeing each other through the best and worst of times.

Well written, endearing characters, with images of stunning English countryside.

I know the series has been shown on T.V. but you can also find boxed sets HERE on Amazon.com

Lark Rise To Candleford has become lately, as Miss Lane would say "My one little weakness".

Scrappy Steps Afghan Finished

I've finished my Scrappy Steps afghan. Very addictive and fun little project. I just couldn't put this one down. It was kind of like working a jig saw puzzle. I kept thinking "just one more row". Size 45" X 45" A perfect lap or baby size. And a great way to use up scraps of yarn. If you are interested in more details or the pattern, see post 4/6/11

Bunny Egg Cozies

How cute are these!

Look at these darling Bunny Egg Cozies with a Free Tutorial by Cate Holst of Go Make Me.

I want to make these for my grandbabies for Easter.

If the truth be known.....

What I really want to do is crochet these little itty bitty scarves!

In Cate's tutorial, she knit the scarves, but the pattern could easily be adapted to crochet.

Cate is from Australia, and gave the measurements as 24 cm.

For U.S. terms= 1 inch =2.54

Divide 24/2.54 = 9.4 or around 9 1/2 inches long.

Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant

Thursday night we attended the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant, the largest outdoor Easter pageant in the world.

A very moving and impressive experience.

What began as an Easter sunrise service on top of a covered wagon in 1928, has grown to huge proportions.

With a 450 member cast, with an additional working crew of 400 (who are all volunteers), this production is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

A large 4 story high, 9,600 foot stage is erected each year on the Mesa Temple grounds.

Tickets are free, with open seating on a first come first serve basis.

This year they expect 150,000 to attend.

"Jesus the Christ follows the story of the Savior’s birth, ministry, death, and Resurrection through speech, music, dance, and drama. The text is taken directly from the King James Version of the Bible and is written and presented for all religions, cultures, and ages."

With an attendance from 4,000-12,000 a night, we decided to arrive early.

The weather is perfect in Arizona this time of year, with temperatures in the low 80's and a slight breeze.

It was delightful to see families gathering round, many bringing their dinners, or chatting while waiting for the 8pm start.

The production only lasts a little over an hour, making it feasible to take children.

Cast members mingle among the crowds, available to answer questions or to have a picture taken.

The Easter Pageant runs through April 23rd. If you don't have a chance to attend this year, it's a great event to schedule on your future calendars.

How To Read A Quilt/ Part 3

For Part 3 on How To Read A Quilt, I will share with you the last 5 quilts from Lenna DeMarco's lecture. All of these are from her personal collection. Broken Star C1900 80" X 81" By the 1900's women were using brighter colors. Beautiful, isn't it! We would use these colors today. Just another example of how what is old becomes new again. In reading Broken Star, you can tell a lot about the woman who made it. She was a very accomplished and skilled quilter. Because of the amount of time devoted, she probably came from a wealthy home, with leisure time on her hands. Turkey Foot or Wandering Foot The pinks and orange almost looks like it could have come from the Hippy generation of the 1960's rather than early 1900's. Lenna asked the questions "Why did she not finish the bottom? Did she run out of fabric? Was she tired of working on it?" By reading quilts we can often tell the person's status within her community. The black and pink Log Cabin probably came from a maker who did not have a lot of money, but certainly knew how to use her scraps well. Gray and black quilts were often mourning quilts. The red centers in Log Cabins represents the heart of the home. Notice one corner piece is a brown block. Another example of how women used what they had. You can read that this quilter had enough money to buy all the fabrics to make her quilt. Have you ever gotten to the end of making a quilt and needed just a tiny bit more to finish the last block or two? Of course the store no longer has any of the fabric left. By the 1900's women started using printed backs instead of plain muslin. C1930 The 1920's and 1930 brought the Colonial Revival, or a romanticized interest in anything Colonial. We began asking "What are our roots?" Palates became much softer, and women began making quilts inspired by desire and not just necessity.

Women had access to kits and published patterns.

Machine piecing became more common.

Thank you Lenna for a wonderful lecture!

I've had several people e-mail me with questions about specific quilts from Lenna's collection. I was just a mere audience member, gleaning from her fascinating lecture How To Read A Quilt. Lenna owns a business restoring antique quilts, and I'm guessing would be more than happy to answer e-mails questions. Lenna DeMarco Faded Glory Antique Quilt Restoration 10753 W. Saratoga Circle Sun City, AZ 85351 623/977-4227 demsing@msn.com Historically correct antique fabric used.