Join us on a Virtual Visit to ...

Quilt '97

presented by the Greater Hartford Quilt Guild

Held at The Colonnade, Glastonbury, Connecticut on April 5 &6, 1997

Theme of the Show : Pieces of the Past

On Saturday, April 5, 1997, my girlfriend, Darlene, and I joined two of Darlene's friends, Debbie and Cathy, and paid a visit to Quilt '97 presented by the Greater Hartford Quilt Guild. We'd like to invite you to join us on our trip to the show.

When we arrived at the show about 11:00 AM, we found there was already a good size crowd. We joked about the husbands roaming though the large parking lot enjoying the beautiful Spring day. Once inside, our first stop was at the lovely Ohio Star variation raffle quilt done in shades of blue. While we all took a chance, none of us won the quilt, drat!



One of the first quilts we saw truly fit the theme, Pieces of the Past. The lovely victorian style velvet and satin dresses were appliqued on to old handkerchiefs and were embellished with old laces. Here Darlene gets a picture of me stansing next to the quilt. (Yes, I am still working on taking off all the "baby weight".)




Here's Darlene in front of an eyecatching Amish variable star.




A lovely example of workmanship was found in this appliqued eagle.




This appliqued and pieced quilt was attracting a large crowd. I wish I could have gotten the entire quilt, but the crowd was too large. It was a wonderful combination of piecing and applique. The appliqued borders represented the four seasons.




A close up of the appliqued border representing Spring.





An interesting bargello quilt.





A beautiful wall-hanging.




One of the highlights of Quilt '97 was the wearables on display. Here Cathy stand next to her favorite. She was especially taken with the flowered hat. My apologies to Cathy for cutting off the top of her head in this picture





A close up of the beautiful silk ribbon embroidery on the jacket.





Here's my favorite from the wearables. I love the sophistication of this piece.




Along with traditional quilts, more modern techniques were well represented. Here's a beautiful watercolor quilt.





I thoroughly enjoyed this pictorial quilt.




The detailing was truly wonderful.




Here's Debbie in front of an abstract pictorial wall hanging. There was a large number of beautiful wall hangings at the show. Too bad I ran out of space in the camera so quickly. Next time, I'll bring my camcorder.




Here's Darlene again posing in front of her favorite of all the quilts at the show. This skillfully created appliqued quilt depicts the twelve days of Christmas. We were lucky enough to speak to the lady who created this masterpiece. The entire quilt is done by hand and took over three years to create.

 After lunch at a local restaurant and a quick trip to Close to Home fabric and sewing machine store, we got back to The Colonnade in time for a lecture by Pat Margaret and Donna Slusser, the "Watercolor Quilt" ladies. What an entertaining afternoon we had at their lecture describing they're quilting journey. After the lecture, we had a chance to see Pat and Donna's quilts up close. Believe me, the pictures in books don't to justice to their breath-taking quilts. Here Darlene gets a picture of myself with Pat on the left and Donna on the right. While I had spoken to Pat and Donna via e-mail, it was wonderful to meet them in person. Watch for Pat &Donna's new web page coming later in May.

What a great day we all had. We will certainly plan on attending the GHQG's show next year. We hope you have enjoyed your virtual trip to the show with us and hope to bring you on other virtual trips in the future.

A few notes on the pictures. This was my first experience taking photos of quilts at a show. Next time, I will use a video camera rather than my digital camera due to the limited number of photos I could take with the digital camera. The show was also very crowded and the lighting not condusive to the quality of photos that I wish I could have taken. But, this page was done just for fun.

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