The local quilters guild, the Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters, runs a quilt show every September. This years started yesterday and ends today, running from 10 AM to 4 PM with their silent small quilt auction ending at two and a raffle quilt being given away at 3:30.
And if you like quilts, you should go.
The quilt show is divided into three sections. Along the right wall as you come in were a number of tables and displays set up showing off some of the things members of the ALCQ do — calendar quilts, quilts to match specific teddy bears, group projects, and the like.
One woman was also giving a demonstration of how to make ruched flowers, like the one shown below. [Edit: Once upon a time all the pictures in this post linked to my Picasa web albums… which I deleted. I can’t find the picture that’s supposed to go here, so here’s a video showing how to make them instead.]
This flower was part of a quilt in the second section, which was devoted to the work of their featured quilter, Mary Lee. This woman has mad skills. I spent half an hour in front of one of her quilts, admiring the details. It’s one of my favorite quilts at the show, from the Alaska Railroad train near the top to the itty bitty hand-embroidered bees by the beehive near the bottom.
Her others, which appeal to my sense of aesthetics to varying degrees, all display skill I can only hope to match some day.
The third section of the show, which takes up almost the entire left hand side as you walk in and wraps around the edge of the balcony on the second floor, displays quilts from the rest of the guild. The range of size, color, and type is great. Some of the quilts displayed were in evidence at the state fair in Palmer, also, including the grand prize winner.
One of the largest quilts was also my absolute favorite at the fair. The woman who made it, Holly, was on hand to talk about it, too. I don’t remember the exact number of hours it took her to complete, but it was over 2,700. The finished product is 11’x13′ in size.
My favorite part is how she did the fletching on the arrows. The shaft and head of each arrow is done in colored quilt blocks, but the fletching has gray quilt blocks with colored embellishments added — flowers for the arrows pointing inward from the right and paisleys for the arrows pointing inward from the left.
The last thing the quilt show has to offer are a number of small quilts for auction. The small quilt auction is a fund raiser for the guild to sponsor the events and classes they hold over the year for their members.
I have more pictures uploaded to my Flickr web albums, linked below.