Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show 2007

Here's some photographs from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show from Kathy Edwards and Rhonda. Thanks for sending them along!

Gyleen's Fitzgerald's Workshop and Lecture

February 27, 2007
A note from Rhonda:
Wow!! This has been quite a week if I do say so myself. First off, I’d like to say how fortunate a quilter is who has a good man behind her. Thanks to my honey, Scott, who continued to love me as I approached a near “state of craziness” over the weekend trying to predict what the wrath of Mother Nature would bestow upon us just a day before our much anticipated workshop and lecture with Gyleen Fitzgerald.

Born and raised in Michigan, he can scoop snow with the best of them and he made sure that no matter how much snow fell, or what the temperatures dropped to overnight, I was sure to have a clear egress from my parking spot on Monday morning (unlike the week before when the plows buried my car in it’s parking space with a three foot drift of solid packed ice.) And then he was on to sharing all the kind words needed to get me over the hump and the two and a half hours I worried about Gyleen traveling along the I-95 corridor to reach the hotel in the snow on Sunday afternoon. I felt like a Mother waiting on her children’s call to say they’ve arrived back at college…and I don’t even have children.

For those 22 members who took the workshop on Monday, I hope you were as thrilled as I was to have had the opportunity to share in Gyleen’s highly energetic and encouraging one on one approach to teaching and approach to color. The best part for me, after the morning of piecing diamond and pyramid units, was laying those units out and having the opportunity to eavesdrop on the ideas Gyleen shared with each of us to help pull our design process together.

The variety of chosen palettes was thrilling to see, and for those who were unable to attend the workshop, a thrill awaits you as the tops are finished and brought in for Show-N-Tell. It was so nice to see some our beginning quilters like Tammy Fletcher and Carol Kunkel jump right in and go for it--their enthusiasm unmeasured. When Carol finishes her quilt top she will have also completed her Crayola challenge…way to think outside the quilt block. And then there were those quilters like Ro Coller, Kathy Edwards, Cathy Z and Beth Smith, who probably finished their quilt when they got home that night. I can’t wait to see your tops!!

Just a thought, we should give consideration to submitting our finished quilts next February for a group display at the 2008 Quilters Unlimited Show. I'm merely thinking down the road of course, but allowing plenty of time to have them “quilt show ready.”

Joyce and I send a special thank you to all the members of the Mt Vernon Chapter for their support in this endeavor and for your hospitality in welcoming Gyleen into our quilting family.

The Workshop

The morning was spent piecing diamond and pyramid units, and these ladies got right down to the business at hand. For some, tossing their entire diamond collection into a bag and drawing them out at random in order to add that element of surprise Gyleen was going for, was a challenge but worth surrendering as the results were well worth it.

Dotty gets assistance from Gyleen with her layout and auditioning borders.

Kathy Edwards show off her mocha toned collection. Look at how the teal in the inner border adds the perfect zing.

Mary Kelleher's diamonds sparkle with the dark pyramids in a fabric given to her by a friend from her travels....check out Mary's pile of fabrics...now there's a woman's pile who is in an uninterrupted design state.

Ro Colle, the fastest piecer the other side of the Wilson Bridge, shows off her quilt on the design wall. The border she chose to use really makes these diamonds sparkle.

Helen Lineham goes with a beautifully planned look.

Anne Berard's collection popped with the burgandy pyramids...Wow!

Lynn Poulin's collection of soft pastels had lots of activity and movement that draws the eye in for a deeper look.

The Lecture

The Shape of Things to Come
February 27, 2007

Gyleen dazzled us this afternoon with seemingly endless energy during her lecture and trunk show, The Shape of Things to Come. Through her collection of quilts and incorporating charm or one patch quilts shared by the members of our guild, she demonstrated how effective a quilt design can be using diamonds, pyramids and hexagons. So do away with the traditional four patch, elongate those edges and start using this new technique to assemble stunning one patch quilts. For example, by starting with the traditional Grandmother’s Flower Garden you can grow “Twirls” just by changing the base shape to Pyramids, make Tumbling Blocks or Stars from either Diamonds or Pyramids and make two patch designs possible when you combine Hexagons with Pyramids or Diamonds with Pyramids. Try using this technique and have fun making your next stunning one patch quilt for “The Shape of Things to Come.”

Gyleen’s first quilt shows how effective a one-patch or charm quilt can be, in this case turning a simple four patch into a stunner allowing the eye to rest between patches in the negative space of the white background. (In all pictures, you can click to enlarge.)

Carol Kunkle brought in her hand made doll...doesn't she make the perfect assistant on stage during the display of quilts. Carol's doll is called the "French Bed Doll" and will be on display at our Quilt Show in June.

Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend”
This quilt shows how effective a one patch quilt can be just by changing a basic square four patch into a diamond four patch and adding pyramids.

“Seven Sisters”
Notice the different borders of black and white. She ran out of one and used another, but it reads as the same. A perfect example of how you can substitute one fabric for another and the eye reads it as one.

“Tumbling Blocks”
This is only one section of a large quilt Gyleen is working on. No two fabrics are the same in this charm quilt. It is being pieced in four sections and you can see that when she got bored with making tumbling blocks, she started to add the bottom filler blocks.

Pyramids in Color”
This quilt, even as small as it is has over 400 different fabrics in it. Take notice of how even though multiple fabrics are used in a single pyramid, they read as the same. Gyleen mirrored the pyramids by using a lighter pyramid of the same color, again making each unit with multiple fabrics, ie brown is mirrored with tan, dark green with light green, etc.

Grandmother's Flower Garden”
Gyleen declares this the quilt that made her famous. It is her most photographed quilt and is often seen on those subscription postcards that fall from our quilt magazines. It has a “tall tale” behind it, but she received the patches from a family member and finished the quilt. It still holds a dear place in her heart.

This antique quilt captured Gyleen’s attention on one of her “seek and find” trips. Notice how by adding pyramids to this simple one-patch hexagon changed its shape and created a stunning two patch quilt.

Another collection of hexagon blocks made up of pyramids. Gyleen chose to add the chalky gray from a current fabric line to complement the old blocks she assembled here. Look to early next year to see this quilt in Gyleen’s newest book currently in the works.

Ro Coller and Mary Kelleher show off their finished quilt tops from yesterdays's worksop. Gyleen was most impressed by these "over achievers."

Nearly everyone brought in at least their first row completed from the workshop with Gyleen to show the other members. Can't wait to see them finshed!

Kathy Edwards brought in one of her first quilts. She actaully had to purchase fabrics for this quilt to exchange with friends because "she had no stash." Ahhh, those were the days...NOT! What's a quilter with no stash?

Abby Dolinger, ,member of the QU chapter in Springfield brought in her quilt to share with us. She won the large 12" blocks and added the 6" blocks to compliment the setting. Abby is also a longarm quilter.

The blocks in this quilt were made for a block of the month quilt Gyleen designed for one of her guilds. He inspiratiation, her favorite tale as a child "The Wizard of Oz." Gyleen published her first childrens book "The Dream, A Magical Journey in Colourful Stitches" in conjunction with this quilt. It tells the story of a young girl named Hannah who dreams of being a great quilter and her journey in getting there. The book is beautifully illustrated and comes wtih instructions to make the blocks seen in the quilt. For more information or to purchase a copy of this book or any of Gyleen's patterns, please visit her website, www.colourful stitches.com.