Come and Create With Us!
The Quilt Faire is over for this year. All Viewer’s Choice Awards were awarded, and the results are posted on Qur Quilt Faire page.
A storm will be coming in this afternoon, and snow is expected here in Arnold (1,000 feet above Murphys). It’s November 1st, and winter is rearing its cold & ugly head early this year. A lot of us don’t feel ready for this, but it is here just the same.
Take Care & Be Safe!
Today the show entries were delivered and put in their proper places. The entire morning seemed strange to all quilt faire veterans because there weren’t any lines of people waiting to check-in. It was as if someone was secretly directing traffic.
All entries are works of art, and seeing them in person (instead of in photos) is the best part. For that reason, you will not see any of the show posted here.
ONLY one sneak peek of one entry to whet your appetite. And you know how lousy a photographer I am, so you’ll have to factor that in as well.
This year’s peek is wonderfully unique. I usually choose a more traditional quilt – there are many this year I fell in love with, but this one caught my eye. I decided to choose it as a “teaser” because it would appeal to both young and not-so-young alike…
I would be cheating you if I did not give you a look into our boutique now that it is no longer empty…
Our Show Opens Tomorrow, Friday, October 21st, at 10:00 am.
See You This Weekend!
Many of us have been busy making things ready for our annual Quilt Faire (QF) for months. [Please forgive my use of acronyms, but I tire of typing out ‘Quilt Faire’ so many times.] This week we will be doing physical labor at Ironstone Vineyards, putting everything in place for QF. We have four days to do this before the QF opens on Friday, the 21st. Piece of Cake, right?
Two trucks get loaded up Sunday, one with all the equipment, parts, and tools to build the “sets” needed to display entries. The other truck is loaded with bins and bins full of handmade items to be sold in our Boutique. Trucks and workers will descend upon Ironstone on Monday morning and get to work unloading.
Monday is busy with building frames to hang quilts on, decorating, and displaying in the boutique. There are people ironing the curtains and skirts that hang around the quilts. I will be roaming around taking photos – nothing about exhibits will be posted until after the opening day. Maybe one “sneak peek.”
Tuesday is possibly a day of rest, depending on how many volunteers are working on Monday.
Wednesday is the day entrants check in their items for display, and the quilts and wall hangings are hung. Big fun to see items in person! Once the quilts are hung and “approved,” the pinning of the curtains begins. This is done to hide the pipes that are used for the frames.
Wednesday afternoon, the hostesses are trained and get familiar with the show’s layout. Last-minute futzing is done.
Thursday, our wonderful vendors move in and set up.
Friday, the show opens and continues through Sunday.
We hope to see you there!
I sure hope everyone who wanted to go did.
The weather was gorgeously autumn. Sunny and crisp, with a slight breeze that ruffled the leaves yet did not blow them off and around. The grounds at Ironstone were pristine, of course! Decorated with brilliant reds, yellows, and browns, as if fall had saved up its Ta-Da finale – just for the Faire.
The Boutique had oodles of fine handmade items and fun stuff. The Country Store was closed this year, and we hope to open it next year, COVID permitting. Our vendors had wonderful things to offer, and we (and I speak for me, actually) spent a bunch on essential things I needed. Yes, I needed that gorgeous “jelly-roll” for a class I was signed up for!
If you did not have the chance to follow the fancy shoes up to view the quilt show, I almost feel sorry for you. Let me show you a smidgen of what you missed. Of course, the photography is lousy, and the quilts look one thousand times more incredible in person. But then, you weren’t there to see them, so I am telling you this.
Maybe we will see you next year…
The 44th Annual Mountain Heirloom Quilt Faire will be held: October 28th, 29th, and 30th, 2022
Disclaimer: The quality of photos depends on what the photographers send to the webmistress.
Well, it sounds more fun than “Let’s Get to Work!” It IS a lot of work putting on a quality quilt show, but we do have fun in spite of that. Many parts make the whole event and most of those go together like well oiled gears. Members have streamlined the processes and tweaked this and that to make it even smoother for the next year. This year will be tougher than most. We did not have our faire last year, so our newer members need training, and we lost quite a few members in 2020 & 2021. Some moved away from the mountains, and we lost some in death. The most challenging part will be keeping up with the shifting rules and current mandates that COVID causes.
This year our Quilt Faire ‘Queen’ is Dana Osterlund. This means that she is in charge of everything involving the Quilt Faire. Quilt Faire committees (35 of them), report to her on their status.
Entered quilts and exhibits are analyzed, arranged and rearranged. All applications are sorted (by size, color and theme) during a Planning meeting. The final show layout is decided at this meeting and the results are distributed to the frame builders and the check-in and return crews.
Now, all the behind the scenes work gets serious. We have only 18 days or so to prepare for our invasion of Ironstone Vineyards and what we call “Quilt Faire Week”
See you there!
Independence Hall Quilters 