Not since the mid 1990's

have I been really enthused about a quilt shows.  Not since the mid 90's have I gone out of my way to  attend one either.  To be supportive of the quilt guild I decided to join shortly after I moved here, I decided I would help in whatever way I could  with the quilt show the guild held last January.  It was a good way to get to know some quilters in the area.  Then I  decided to fill the guild's trip coordinator  slot when it was vacated this year.   This volunterism resulted in me on  Saturday having my behind plopped down on the front seat of a coach bus  and on a road trip to Jacksonville, FL to attend the Florida QuiltFest.  Funny.... after not attending any shows in the last 15 years, here I am in  2011, attending three. The third one is in November.  I will be aboard another bus  riding along with the group attending the Mancuso's World Quilt Show Florida III show in West palm Beach.

Just so you know where my mind and motivation is right now.   I've been out of the quilt guild world for many years and ventured back into the competition part of that world a year ago.  But to get back into the "helping out" side of a local quilt guild after all that time ( more than 15 years ) was something I gave a great deal of thought to and let me just say I stepped back into it with a great deal of  hesitancy.
But once in I shrugged and thought "in for a dime, in for a dollar."  So I helped with planning the quilt show floor layout; worked with the committee on quilt take in day, helped put up the poles and oversaw the hanging the quilt, the take down and return.  Now I am adding my vision and hands to making the guilds  raffle quilt.  I am hand appliquing 3" diameter circles to the center of 38 blocks.  Now I am the bus trip coordinator and serving on the nominating committee that selects the slate of officers for next year.  No one so far is bubbling with joy and enthusiam to be elected to the top position, that of being President of the guild.  "Would someone please volunteer."  So I can move on to something else.

For those who do not put in the time or the labor to get a show with hundreds of quilts in place in time to open the door for those who come to view them  have no idea of how much effort it take by so many.  The Jacksonville Quiltfest  shows was well done and  worth seeing and to the organizers; I for one know and appreciate all the behind the scene effort it takes from inception until the last quilt is taken down, folded and returned to the owner. So a pat on the back is in order for the seven quilt guilds in the Jacksonville, Fl area who come together to produce this annual show.
 
At this show, hand quilting seemed  to be making a come back. The best of show was accomplished all by hand including the quilting.  While there were several quilts that were obviously influenced by the style employed by national teachers the overwhelming amount of them were based on traditional block and patterns in the public domain and quilt block, done with  tradional settings using the fabric of choice these days, which is batiks. Good use was made of those  popular happy 30's colors and print of that era in known for too.

 The dominate color of fabrics for sale at the show was overwhelmingly iof an Autumn palette.  Knowing how much of a saturated pure color late spring/summer color palette person I am, there was nothing that insisted it come home with me.
I promised to made a quilt for my daughter Rene's to hang in her apartment in Louisville.  Her color choices speaks of Autumn.  I did not buy any fabric for her project either.  I forgot to take with me the two pieces of cloth she picked out when she was here over Labor Day weekend. They in all likelyhood will not be in the finished quilt.  My thinking was to  use them as a guide  to either dye some cloth or buy other pieces with colors she decided she could live with.  Then too I thought, it does not make sense to buy willy nilly when I  has not firmed up in my head what the compostion will look like or the size.  So I  just looked and touched and hummmed and kept my cash in my pocket.   I did buy a thimble like the one I have misplaced somewhere  here in Apartment 434. Drat!!!  Don't you just hate forgetting where you put something.  What would you bet that I will find it now that I have replaced it?   I also picked up a couple of packs of hand sewing needles; ones I like to use and am running short of.  Double Drat.... would you believe I lost one of the packs of needles somewhere between buying them and unpacking my back pack this morning.

As a point of interest, the convention center where the show was held is housed in a renovated train station. 

The aisles were quite generous and while there was a good crowd on Saturday, you never felt like you were being squished.

This is the best of show, a collage of it follows with detail shots and credit to the maker.

I have several things on my adgenda for today, blogging was just one of them.   Now I am on to clearing the assortment of stuff that clutters  all the flat raised surfaces in my space.  Cleaning up so to speak before I begin my next things.  I have progressed to the point where the coffee table has only one book resting on it that I plan to finish reading and the desk top where I am current sitting, blogging.  It is neat and organized no longer strunned with  empty envelops the contents of which have been discarded or dealth with, like bills,  junk mail and scrap paper with quickly jotted notes that are no long relevant, .