Great Wisconsin Quilt Show!

 The new fall season has 2 wonderful kick offs for me.

First, my husband and I have for the last 10 years taken a long weekend to Sister Bay in Door County.  It is always Marina Fest as well. We love, love, love, the wonderful Marina and walking up and down the different docks, watching the boats, the sunsets and this year mostly the choppy waves.  But it is so nice to get away just the two of us away from home. The weather was cool this year, so unlike the normal summer vibes.

  

                                                        The Packer Gnome and me

But the 2nd event is themost wonderful quit show here in Madison, Wisconsin only an hour away.   This is the first in 3 years following Covid.  This year, there was a new name and Nancy Zieman's company no longer runs it.  But it is quilts, and fabric and speakers and..........so much. 

I should have known it would be crowded when it took me 45 minutes from the ramp on the highway to get to the Alliant Energy Center . I could have walked there in 10 minutes or less.  Hmmm. staffing issues caused lots of the delays. 

But it did not dampen my spirits.  So much to see, so much to explore.  

Of course, I bought things.  ( I had already purchased the panel and pattern from Primitive Gatherings the previous week.)  And I am so excited to get a wooden walnut clapper at a terrific price. But I did not go overboard and refrained from purchasing too much as I need to finish the projects I already have. 

But the show quilts blew me away.  Truly.  Design, color, technique, miniscule quilting. Each quilt more gorgeous than the next.  There were 10 categories. 

There were entrants from across the United States from Florida to California, from all over the Midwest, of course, but so many states farther away: Nevada, Missouri.  This is in Wisconsin ; can you believe it?   And famous quilters:  Holis Chatelain, Karen Kay Buckley, Barbara Clem and Gail Stepanek to name a few. So here are some inspirational quilts. 

So there were Covid quilts:, of course, which I had to include. There were so fitting for the show.

But here were the show stoppers from the wonderful talents these national quilt winners:

Gail Stepanek and Jan Hutchinson

Unknown.

Best of Show

Barbara Clem:   beautiful applique and embroidery

Holis Chatelain:  so real and all in blues. 

This was a small quilt and the threadwork is what made it colorful.

Karen Kay Buckley

It was just so wonderful to see such great works with incredible workmanship.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg for all the quilts in 10 categories.