Saturday, September 18, 2010

A busy day at the quilt show

I spent the morning at the Pennsylvania Quilt Extravangza in Oaks, PA, outside Philadelphia.  It's an easy drive from my home.  This is the second year the show has been in this location and I think the show has improved from last year.  It was quite busy today with several traffic jams in the aisles--people and wheeled shopping bags.  Though mostly geared to new quilt making, there are a couple dealers of antique wares.  I found a few pieces of antique fabrics to add to my stash.  The green/aqua is an unusual color to find.  I have never had a piece this color, though I have seen it in antique quilts.  I picked out several neutrals to compliment the brights that I already have.


I also found this really cool piece of chintz in Material Pleasure's booth.  Check out their website http://www.materialpleasures.com/.  At some point in its life, the fabric was made into a little pillow cover.  There is a very slight glaze left on the fabric.  I'll have to study up on this to establish the date of this fabric.

I also found two great books to add to the Quilt Lab library.  World War II Quilts by Sue Reich is really interesting and beautifully illustrated with lots of color photos.  It just came out this year.  I saw Sue's  presentation on WW II quilts at a Mid Atlantic Quilt Study day in NJ 2 years ago. 


The other book is called Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms.  It is not a brand new book, published in 2008, but this the first time I had seen it.  The authors love small scale blocks (me too) but they make large quilts with them.  The quilts in the book are lovely, lots of antique influence.



6 comments:

  1. I love that small quilts stunning blocks book. I have to confess that is was left in the "break room" in my house for about a month.

    I've seen that aqua, too. Odd color, but I would love to be fortunate enough to find some yardage myself. Lucky you getting to the quilt show. I came back on the train from NYC yesterday and was tempted to hope off in Philadephia for a few hours. But, I was too lazy to look up the logistics for the show to see if it was feasible.

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  2. Great new additions to the library. That first book looks really interesting. I have the one on small quilts, I love to pull it out and just look at all the great quilts.

    Love the aqua... will we see it in a quilt soon?

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  3. Stunning Quilts is a great book. I went on Thursday and loved going on a Thursday. That was my first time and so worth it. Glad you found a few finds for your stash. I had a few pieces in my hand but put them back. I still can’t seem to purchase and cut up the older stuff.

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  4. I went to this show a few years ago when I was in Philadelphia visiting at just the right time. I had a great time and did come home with some vintage goodies.

    Thanks for the info on Sue Reich's book.

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  5. Both books look very interesting, and those fabrics will be made into something special I'm sure. Just want to say thanks to you for teaching me so much about quilt histories through your blog; I really appreciate and enjoy reading each post. ---"Love"

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  6. The small quilts are really pretty. Yes, I've seen that aqua/mint green before too. It's a great accent color. All your antique fabrics are so beautiful. Nothing like the real thing, but I'm afraid to use them!

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