Roadtrip

 It has been a long blog silence from me.  The result of too much working and not enough down time.  I am rectifying that problem by a realignment of priorities.  I have been stitching and will share some projects soon.  This weekend, hubs and I headed to Hampton Virginia for the Mid Atlantic Quilt Fest.

I love a good road trip, heated seats, good driver, good music and hours of dedicated stitching time.  I am stitching hexies and trying to catch up on my temperature quilt.  Stuck in January, yikes!  We combined the trip to the quilt fest with a trek to the Outer Banks to celebrate hubs sixty-sixth birthday.

The Mid Atlantic Quilt Fest was definitely worth the drive.  Upon entering, I was overwhelmed by the number of quilts displayed and their quality.  I took pictures of the ones that touched me the most.  Had time and energy permitted, I could have spent hours admiring the colors and textures of the work of so many talented hands.

Lyric Montgomery Kinard had a solo show, and the work was amazing.  This is Progress.  One of a dozen or so quilts.  These quilts were all variations on circles and accompanied by the poetry of Maura High.  I loved how this show was hung and the artists' statements are always so interesting to me.

I love these stacked stones by Robin Hamill.  For someone just beginning to learn to machine quilt this echo quilting so effectively outlines these stones.

This one grabbed me as well.  I love the combination of blue and yellow and enjoyed reading Arlene Blackburn's description of Friday night football.  It had a really interesting construction with finished and frayed edges.

The Circles by Sandy Curran was another stunning quilt.  The circles are strip pieced with Sandy's husband ties.  This one just makes me happy, and I want to look at it again and again.

The Granddaughter's Flower Garden is a 36" by 36" quilt by Nikki Woolsey of Kansas.  I want to make a quilt of various sizes of hexies.  I haven't seen one before or a pattern for one either.  Nikki figured it out and masterfully arranged them to highlight the different sizes and color for maximum impact.

Not only were there stunning quilts on display but also of course a market with numerous vendors.  I tried to be measured in my purchasing but there were so many enticements.  I am focused on ensuring I have all the tools and resources I need to continue this quilting "road trip".