Last weekend, the Silver Thread Quilt Guild had their annual quilt show in Creede. The guild and the show are pretty unique - many of the members are summer visitors to the area, and most of them make their quilts in their RVs when they're not at home. Also, the show takes place underground. Yes, underground. Creede is an old mining town, and just north of the town is a huge complex under a mountain. There's a mining museum - very authentic since it's underground; there's a community center with meeting rooms for various events and organizations, and there's storage area/garage for fire department emergency vehicles. The quilt show was set up in the community center and part of the museum, and the vendors were in the garage.
Underneath this mountain is the huge museum and community center complex.
The vendor mall was in here, where emergency vehicles are normally parked.
Don and I went to the show on the first day - Friday. We were quite impressed with the organization, the wonderful volunteers, and the lovely quilts. I took photos of my favorites - some were award winners and some weren't. Everyone's tastes are indeed different! I've included the descriptive information from the attached cards.
"Pyramids Have Value too!" is the name of this quilt. Made and quilted by Sharon Woodard. "I'm going to remember this one as one of my biggest personal challenges. There are 1,198 pieces (with only three green triangles repeated) to achieve the value color changes. That means 2,396 bias edges! Never again (but I'm glad I did it)!
Creede el 8852 (el=elevation) Made and quilted by Tricia MacDonald. "This is our cabin in Creede on Bluebird Lane. I used leftover scraps from the quilts I made for the cabin. This quilt makes me happy!"
"Illusions in Purple." Made and quilted by Vi Koch. "This fun pattern is from a vendor at our 2010 quilt show. I had a little help from a creative granddaughter. It is a gift for my son Paul."
"Tatanka" Made and quilted by Sharon Woodard. "I was in South Dakota last fall during the yearly Buffalo Roundup and was so impressed by these magnificent animals that are truly American!"
"Fireworks" Made by Julie Dunn, quilted by Diane Singer. "A similar quilt to this was on display at my quilt store in Tomball, TX. I could not resist it. My first experience with paper piecing, but certainly not my last."
"Swan Silhouette" Made and quilted by Bea Mansanarez. "Over 65 fabrics were used to create the swan and its shadow. Machine appliquéd and quilted using many different-colored threads."
"Creede Hotel 1892" Made and quilted by Mary Robbins. "I made this for the Creed Repertory Theater art poster contest for the 2012 season."
"Watermelon Summer" Made by Julie Dunn, quilted by Ida Anderson. "The Round Robin quilts were so much fun. What a wonderful surprise when your little 12" square finds its way back home."
"All About Fish" Made and quilted by Sharon Reznik. "Machine appliquéd pattern by Lunch Box Quils. This quilt is for all those fish that got away."
"Patchwork Sampler" Made by Fran Switzer and quilted by Diane Singer. "This quilt was quite a challenge to make - piecing as well as color choice. Leftover fabrics were used for the backing."
"Scrap Happy Hearts" Made and quilted by Diane Singer. "This is the first paper piecing quilt I've ever completed and it may be the last. Paper piecing is very accurate but removing all the paper is not my favorite thing!"
"Turquoise Trail II" Made by Pat Miller and quilted by Diane Singer. "An adaptation of a Debbie Caffrey design. My family likes turquoise and the Southwest."
"Floral Romance" Made by Carolyn Flood and quilted by Diane Singer. "The challenge on this quilt was to choose each flower individually and cut from a fabric of wild flowers."
"My Mourning Star" Made and quilted by Kathy Jennings. "This was the first quilt I made after I lost my husband. It was very challenging and therapeutic. It took five weeks to do the trapunto and quilting. I worked on this quilt for two years."
By far, this was my favorite quilt - mostly because of the story behind it. The white glove volunteer said that the husband died of a brain tumor; he was much too young. I teared up (and am tearing up now) over this - so sad to lose your husband. There was an odd mixture of fabrics - polka dots, batiks, Civil War, pastels - all that added to the beauty of this quilt.
"Dresden Plate" (large quilt) made by Jan Wolfe and quilted by Diane Singer. "In the year 2000 a group of my quilting friends decided to exchange 2000 5" squares. We exchanged about 1200. This quilt is the result of that exchange."
"My First Miniature" Made and quilted by Kathy Jennings. "This quilt proved to be quite a challenge. It was made of 1,579 small pieces of fabric."
"Dresden Plate" (miniature quilt) Made by Judy Christensen and quilted by Diane Singer. "I used old buttons for the center of each plate. Red is my favorite color and I always wanted to make a Dresden pattern."
This was the raffle quilt - representative of Creede and the surrounding area. It has fish, 3-D columbines, mountains, rivers, pine trees - just a lovely, lovely quilt. And darn it, I didn't win.
