Galesburg, IL Quilt Show

I can't tell you know much I enjoyed this quilt show.  There were quilts by National Award Winner Jean Lohmar.  They were so beautiful.  And, I must admit, not perfect, which was such a salve to my tortured quilter's eyes.  I've been plagued by the notion that my quilting is just awful, and after looking all through this show, I felt a little better.  It seems that most quiltmakers are plagued by the same fears, because the vast majority of the quilts were quilted by someone else.  And those "professional" quilters did not do perfect work either, so I was much reassured!  There were more than 200 quilts, some part of the Hoffman Challenge.  It was such a beautiful sight after three hours of this...

This first quilt was done my a nine-year-old boy - I was very impressed.

This next quilt may have been my favorite, made by Mary McCormick, hand appliqued

This one has panels of singing children's faces (so cute!) with sashing and borders made from overall musical note patterns.  Made by Melissa Ruehmer.

This was made to look like a medieval banner.  The photo doesn't do justice to its beauty.  Made by Peggy Magnuson.

This beautiful woman was created by Bonnie Jennings, who showed a number of pieces of hand coloring work.  This quilt looks as great up close as it does far away.  I'm not usually a fan of portrait quilts, but this one was truly outstanding.

This is the first of a pair of photos. This shows the overall quilt, the next is the reveal of the original fabric, used as backing. This is really a pattern or color study, as each square is just a different cut/layout/placement from the same original fabric. Penny Gold did a fabulous job!

As always, I am most drawn to the appliqued quilts. One of these days I will break down and make one, but until then... This sampler was made by Dee Starr.