Midwest Machine Quilters Show - Machine Quilting Today

Wow! It feels like I have been gone forever since I left in July and returned home in August. A week ago yesterday (July 29th) is when I headed down to Minneapolis to stay with my youngest daughter, Brenda, overnight. On Tuesday, July 30, my friends and I headed over to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, for the Machine Quilting Today Quilt Show  (http://www.mqtoday.com/index.html). It is a small show but the teachers were awesome. I had classes with Dusty Farrell, Cathy Franks, Sue Patten, and others.

Cathy Franks class was on Kaleidoscope Quilting. She looks at old cut glass plates for design ideas. They would be great fill for round spaces. Below is one of her samples.

Cathy Franks Sample

I also took "Edge to Edge Elegance" with Dusty Farrell. His designs are nice and relaxed and can cover a lot of space in a hurry. He also offered design ideas for "guy" quilts. 

Dusty drawing his flame design.

Best of Show & Viewers Choice quilt was "America, Let It Shine" by Sherry Reynolds. It is an absolutely stunning quilt, but what is even better is the story behind the quilt. It is a tribute to our county and was in answer to questions by her children regarding what this country stands for. The words to the Pledge of Allegiance, the Bill of Rights, and other documents are embroidered in the quilt. Sherry is such a nice and humble person and it is wonderful the recognition this quilt has been collecting. 

An interview with Sherry is available at this site: http://www.quiltviews.com/sherry-reynolds-america-let-it-shine

 (For more pictures - http://godutchbaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/america-let-it-shine-quilt-by-sherry.html ).

While at the show we attended an auction to raise money for QOV quilts. Twelve Quilts of Valor were presented during the auction. Over $3000 was raised. Two of our group went home with items from the auction. One of the items was a pillow quilted by Sue Patten.

We all had a fun and informative time at the show and it was nice to get home on Saturday.

  

Beth