Shell Knob Quilt Show 2015

Well I finally got to do another fun quilting activity on Saturday.  I went to the Shell Knob Quilt show with my mom, my aunt, Roberta and Connie.  I just love piling into a mini van and heading to a quilt store, quilt show, retreat, class any excuse to get a bunch of us together.  Lunch with the ladies is a pleasure but doing something quilty is so much more fun.

We started with lunch at this great place called Nonna's Nummies.  What a wonderful little treasure.  Shell Knob is so lucky to have a great place like this.  They had a delicious vegetarian sort of flat bread "sandwich" with avocado, cheese, tomato, cucumber, and onions all heated up.  Very tasty.  They had all kinds of choices for salads, sandwiches and a great selection of desserts.  We were all wishing Kimberling City had a wonderful little restaurant like it.

One fun thing about going to a quilt show in a small town is I ran into 3 or 4 women I recognized from quilting things around the area.   I'm terrible with names and was disappointed in myself that 2 women I ran into at Nonnie's called me by name and I didn't know their names.  Heck I had trouble remembering where I knew them from but I think it must have been from Sew in Heaven's Quilt Club.  I knew their faces and that they were really good quilters but I couldn't remember their names and they knew mine.  I guess I'm just mouthy enough to be a bit memorable.  I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

At the high school the quilt show was in full swing and right away I saw friends at the front table. The best of show quilt was hanging on the top floor in the place of honor.  Have to say the story of the quilt was touching but I really didn't think it was nearly as lovely as some of the others at the show.

I gave my viewers choice ribbon to Joyce River's four seasons quilt with it's amazing detail.  The outlines on many of the pieces really set it off and the hand applique was exquisite.  The detail was phenomenal and the children were adorable with the cutest hair.  I was informed this quilt won the Viewers Choice Award and rightfully so

I was also enamored with the quilt that won 1st Place in the theme category.  The flowers were mostly 3 dimensional and the quilting detail was astounding.  She had woven fabric for one of the sunflower centers, and there was a windmill quilted on one of the blocks.  Many of the blocks had theme related quilting and none of them were the same.  It must have taken her forever.  How talented is this lady to have done both the piecing and the quilting on this masterpiece.

My friend Gana Honn was there and we chatted a bit.  She had three or four gorgeous quilts in the show.  I've been drooling over her guitar quilt for a while and I thought her rose quilt was lovely as well.  Plus she too did the quilting on both of these quilts.  I loved the music themed quilting on the guitar quilt.  So creative.

Shell Knob Quilt Guild brought in the phenomenal Last Supper Quilt by Dr. Donald Locke which was breath taking.  It was made up of over 51,000 1/2 inch squares that were sewn together on a Singer Featherweight. WHAT?????    It was Dr. Locke's second quilt and it took him over 2 years to make.  What a amazing and gorgeous project.

My friend Karen Malnar was at the show so we talked for a few minutes before she headed off for her work shift.  Her quilts did very well in the show with good reason.  She is such a talented quilter.  She won the miniature quilt division and the micro stippling on it was mind boggling.

 I want to figure out how to do that.  She had another large quilt that got a third place ribbon which was lovely.  Plus her challenge quilt was my favorite even before I knew it was hers. 

Shell Knob always has interesting challenge quilts for their show.  This year each participant had two crayons and they had to use those two colors in their small quilts.  Karen had black and a dark blue, she was not very happy with her colors but gosh she rose to the challenge with this beautiful little hexie quilt.

I had a very great chat with the vendor from Miami OK, Cotton Pickin Quilts.  She was so
informative and nice.  I will definitely have to stop by her shop the next time I'm in the area.

I am constantly blown away by the quality of quilters in southwest Missouri.  There are so many top notch talents in the area and I'm lucky to call some of them my friends.   Later this week I'm headed to the Table Rock Quilt Guild retreat at the Kimberling Area Library so watch this blog for a write up or two on the shenanigans those ladies get up to.