Of Quilts, County Fairs, and Hippy Wanna-Be's

I have never exhibited a quilt (or anything else) at a county fair.
But I always wanted to.

This summer I began thinking that it was time to have a go.
I mean, if not now, when?

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So tomorrow, I am bringing two quilts to the Rochester County Fair which runs from September 12 until September 21. One is the quilt above called, Churn Dash with an Attitude. Each element was hand-drawn and hand-pieced; it is bed-sized. And was machine quilted.

There is a nice story behind this quilt, I think. A number of years ago I took a week-end quilt class with Diane Hire. It was a technique class, learning to draft and hand-piece. I was intriqued as I had only done machine-piecing until then. Diane learned these old techniques from her Kentucky grandmother with whom she stayed one summer.

The class was to make one Churn Dash block. I loved the slow, patient drawing, cutting and sewing and so I just kept on making blocks. Every where I went, I carried these little plastic baggies with parts of blocks in them. This quilt took several years and was worked on in quite a few states, on business trips, on family vacations, in cars and on planes.

I am also taking the wallhanging above which is based on a children's book called the Egg Lady about a ditsy, hippy-wanna-be woman named Mrs. Penntwort whose chickens lay eggs that look like everything the chicken looks at: the sun, the clouds, a Picasso and lots more. Obviously, Mrs. Pennywort and her colorful chickens become the hit of the town.

And that is the beginning of the story.

And this is Mrs. Pennywort.

You can see that I have taken broad artistic license with the poultry!

I'll keep you posted!