Quilt Show at the Sanctuary

I had the opportunity to go to the quilt show at The Sanctuary in Zionsville, IN. From Tuesday, August 7 - Saturday, September 1, 2012, artist, Nancy Noel, welcomes quilters and collectors alike to the Premiere Quilt Show at her gallery, The Sanctuary, in the quaint historic village of Zionsville. Vintage and contemporary quilts, most available for purchase, will take their place alongside Nancy's art throughout the beautifully restored 150 year old Victorian church that is home to her largest and most complete collection. Quilts are a part of everyone's personal history and many of Nancy's images include or feature a quilt...such a natural pairing of art and textiles! There are hand quilting demonstrations and quilt history and discovery sessions about the quilts in your closet. Daily gallery tours are offered. If you are interested in seeing this exhibit, hurry...you only have a few more days. If you'd like more information, check this website--The Sanctuary.

I was lucky enough to visit on a day when a hand quilting demonstration was occurring. I am a hand quilter too, so I spent a little time talking to Esther Koble, the woman demonstrating her quilting expertise. (You can see one of Nancy's paintings in the background.)

Esther is from Flora, IN, and is 95 years young. She told me she has been quilting 40 years and didn't know what she would do if she didn't quilt. She must have quite a stash; she said it was about to take over her house! Hmmm, she sound like almost everyone I know. Here's a closeup of Esther and the scrap quilt she was working on.

I have just started working on a hexagon quilt. I wanted small hexagons, so I started using the 3/4" size. When I saw this Grandmother's Flower Garden (not the pattern I'm making) I decided I'm going to have to go with a smaller hexagon template. I like the smaller size so much better.

Here is a closeup.

I think these had to be 1/2" hexagons.

I thought this quilt was interesting because of its border. (It was folded so the border was just about all I could photograph.)

This is a traditional Irish Chain quilt, but the border is a nice surprise. It is nicely improvisational. I like it that the "triangles" in the border are not all even and most of the points are cut off. It really gives the quilt an unexpected quirkiness.

Last, I found one more quilt very interesting--definitely not my taste, but it had such an interesting story behind it. I don't know about you, but I LOVE to hear the story(ies) behind quilts.

This quilt was also folded, so I really couldn't get much more of it in a picture than this. Here is what I think the interesting part of the story is. According to the card attached to the quilt, it is called "Wreath of Leaves," and a pair of them was made. The Gossard Co. of Michigan had corset factories in Logansport and Huntington, Indiana, from the 1920s into the 1970s; the peach jacquard satins in this quilt were probably offcuts brought home by one of the women who worked in either of the factories. The fabrics give a soft shimmer to the surface of the design. If you are interested in more detail about this quilt read the rest of this paragraph; if not, skip this next part. "Seamless mint green cotton is used for the front--and back--of this quilt, which has an appliqued design reminiscent of kit quilt designs. This does not appear to be a kit, but rather an individual effort at a center medallion design. The center figure is a 40" wreath with 8 branching arms as follows: an open 10" center is framed by an interlocking series of half-circles formed of medium green bias tape; where each set of half-circles intersects there is a leaf of peach jacquard weave satin with iridescent floral motifs. Twenty-two of these leaves frame the outside of the center wreath, and 8 branching green bias arms with 6 leaves each curve gracefully from the wreath itself. Framing the center design field is an undulating vine of the green bias, with spaced pairs of leaves on each side, slightly off-set from each other. The applied binding matches the front and back. Beautifully appliqued, nicely hand quilted in outline and in 2" square lattice on the diagonal over the entire surface, in green thread. Unused and unwashed; will make a generous bedspread on a twin bed."

This is the third year for this quilt show at The Sanctuary. If you would like to go on a day when there is a hand quilting demo or an informative lecture on the quilts, you have missed that opportunity for this year. I imagine there will be another show next year. If you choose to wait till next summer, check the website for the dates for next year's show when it gets closer to the time. I would recommend going to the quilt lecture and/or the hand quilting demo; both are REALLY interesting. I got to hear the lecture one of the years I went, and this year I was just lucky to hit a day when Esther was hand quilting. Be sure to save time to eat lunch in Zionsville. There are lots of good places to have a nice lunch. Actually, there is a restaurant right in The Sanctuary called Ghyslain. You'll (at the very least) want to pick up a piece of candy or pastry there. If you plan on eating lunch there, you might want to give them a call and make reservations. Check out the info on the restaurant here--Ghyslain.