Nebraska State Fair–Quilts

I just love attending, exhibiting and white gloving at the Nebraska State Fair each year.  There were 467 quilts entered from 195 exhibitors and they were fantastic!  Sandi McMillan won the grand champion award with this quilt.  Her machine quilting is amazing and she does it all on a domestic machine too.
Here are a couple of detail photos of her quilting – isn’t it beautiful?  Sandi has won the grand champion award numerous years and they are well deserved honors.  Click on the photos to enlarge them to take in all the detail.

 

Reserve Champion honors went to the Nebraska State Quilt Guild’s raffle quilt.  It too is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!  You can see other photos of it on this blog post on August 3, 2011.

I entered two small quilts and was lucky to win two ribbons.  My miniature “Sweet Remembrance” won a second place ribbon.  You can read more about it here on a blog post on March 31, 2011.

The quilt I made for our guild challenge received a first place ribbon.  I was surprised and pleased of course but was thinking of not even entering it.  I didn't know if it had enough pizazz or something but glad I did.  I did do more quilting on one of the borders before I took it though.  There were a lot of entries in this class too so that makes it even a nicer win.  (Notice how the large and med. quilts are hung...skirt hangers with hooks over the pipes.  Really works slick.)The funny part of this win was the prize.  I read on the online results page that it got a special award and couldn’t figure out what that was.   I didn’t realize the class was divided into two sections and thought I got a second place as my name was second on the list.  I didn’t see the placing numbers for several days and was still not sure what the award was.  The prize I won was a $25 gift certificate to Quilter’s Delight quilt shop in Holdrege, NE…owned and operated by my long time friend.  She gives the prize for this category each year and this year I just happened to win it. 

When the State Fair moved from Lincoln to Grand Island last year the state fair board decided it wanted to have a large block made for every county in the state and have them framed and hung outside the large room where the quilt display is held.  I was asked to make a block for my county and write about it in this blog post from September 17, 2010.  This was a photo I took of the block before I sent it off  and is now framed.

Here is a view of one of the walls where the blocks were hung.  All the county blocks got finished but 3 counties so there were 90 of the 93 Nebraska counties represented.  Hopefully the last 3 will get done to be hung with the rest by next year.  As you can see they are high up on the wall and were a little difficult to get photos of individually as the glare off the glass reflected the lights overhead. 

The Grand Island newspaper had a nice article about the quilt display and these county blocks here.  The fair board hosted a reception for all the makers of the blocks during the fair at the VIP lounge.  The lounge is a large glassed in area on the second floor overlooking the air conditioned show arena.  Now that would be the way to watch a livestock show!  What fun it was to see so many people I knew and a lot I didn’t know.  I think most of the makers of the blocks attended that reception so they came from all parts of the state.

I have been so busy every day lately and have not taken time to post … maybe things will slow down a bit now and I can catch up.  I do have some photos and ideas for posts but just need to get them written up.

Until Later,

Lynn

Threads Across Nebraska

I spent three days in Grand Island helping at Threads Across Nebraska this last weekend. My good friend was chairman again this year and I agreed to be her helper. She could have me fill in where ever she needed help so got to sell raffle tickets, sit with one of the premiere quilters quilts while she had a break to shop and study the rest of the quilts on exhibit. I also got to work at the front desk but high finances are not my thing! I took photos of all the quilts, details of a few plus overviews of the display area from above.

The event is held at a indoor stadium so it is great to take photos of the whole show from above. There were 30 something vendors situated in the center and quilts were displayed around the outside and one display hanging on the pipe and drapes behind the vendors booths. This photo was taken right before the show opened.

The featured quilters this year had such wonderful quilts to look at. This first one is Carol J.Falk from Nebraska City, NE. She does wonderful piecing, hand and machine quilting. I would say that most of her quilts are original designs or her own variations of traditional patterns. Carol has won numerous awards on her quilts. She is pictured with her quilt "Ocean Drift".

This is a detail photo of another of her quilts "Prairie Sky Diamonds".

The next quilter is Molly Anderson from Minden, Nebraska. Her quilts are wonderful pieces of art. She constructs the base of her quilts of hexagons then appliques, does embroidery, hand quilts and beads them. The quilts are all hand done, exquisite! She has started matting and framing some of her quilts now too. Molly is standing in front of "Pink Roses" and "Kitty on a Rug". Look for Molly's quilts in gallery showings around the country as she has done many and will probably be invited to have many more showings.

This is a detail photo of her "Pea Fowl" quilt.

Sharon Flueckinger of Kearney, Nebraska showed her wonderful hand applique and hand quilted quilts at Threads. Her work is so nicely done and very beautiful. She is standing in front of her quilt called "Circle of Flowers"

Detail of the applique on another of her quilts "2000 Millennium Grapes".

Another outstanding quilter featured this year was Sandi McMillan from Albion, NE. Sandy is a winner of many State Fair Champion ribbons as well as winning awards in national contests. She is a great teacher and has taught once at our guild but we need to have her come back again sometime. She hand and machine appliques and does the most wonderful machine quilting on a domestic machine. Quilts pictured here with Sandy are "Webster Garden" (the blue one) and "Sandhills Pride" that is a quilt that features cattle brands from her family and others.

Detail of "Folkart Sundae"

Paulette Peters of Elkhorn, Nebraska is next in line here. A lot of the quilts she exhibited at this show were pieced wallhangings - all her original designs. Paulette does wonderful applique and hand quilting as well as pieced and machine quilted quilts. She also has won numerous ribbons at the State Fair and has exhibited nationally. On the left in the photo is her quilt "Colorado Aspens" and on the right is "North Window".

The detail is of Paulette's quilt "White Poinsettias"

Another featured quilter this year was Stella Schaffert of Marquette, Nebraska. Stella does a variety of styles and types of quilts. She wins awards at the fairs and has taught quilting classes around the state. On the left is Stella's quilt "Country Memories" and on the right is "Starry Path".

Detail of thread painting in Stella's quilt "Nebraska the Good Life: Wild Flowers, Wild Life and Goldenrod".

Mary Sue Suit of Sydney, Nebraska was unable to attend the show but we are so glad her quilts made it. She does a variety of quilts and has hand and machine quilted them. She has won awards on her quilts many times. The one pictured below is "Star Bright".

This is a detail of Mary's quilt "Lazy Daisy".

Since it is a rainy day today we are not harvesting so John is playing catch up with other things and I get to spend the day in my sewing room. YeeHa!

Lynn