As Seen at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

We always enjoy the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival — relatively close to home, and so many of our customers and guild members make the trip down. We received a lot of comments and compliments on my book Colorful Batik Panel Quilts and all the samples and products we had with us: thank you! While we love being busy in the booth (pictured above), of course we hope to have a few moments free to enjoy the quilts!

We were blown away by the hand appliqué work of Barbara G. Buchanan!

Above, Mary Down Under No. 2. Barbara’s entry read: “This is the second quilt of a triptych using four of 25 blocks from the original red and green Baltimore Album style Mary Mannakee quilt made in Montgomery County, MD, 1850-1851. The original is in the DAR Museum, Washington, DC. Australian Aboriginal designs are the focus fabrics. I designed the border using motifs from the original Mary's border. I also used batiks and other fabrics as needed. I used window templates to preview the fabrics to get just the right design element. This was crucial, as these fabrics are a challenge to use, but so rewarding when you realize that they will work. It just takes a little more effort.”

Above, Mary Down Under No. 3. We’ve never seen Australian Aboriginal fabric used in this way! Both quilts are 50 in. square and were expertly machine quilted by Maria O’Haver. In this detail photo you can see the care in which Barbara framed the fabrics’ pattern to enhance her applique pieces, as well as the lavish quilting by Maria to enhance it all. Barbara noted that she requested her triptych quilts be quilted“ as if they were cousins versus sisters.” She also noted that her husband Loren Buchanan provided design assistance!

We were pleased to see that we knew several winners, customers, students and teachers who are a part of our robust class program. Nancy Hershberger submitted Ghost Solder 1918, a 30 in. square wall quilt that was inspired by the poppy fields of Belgium — and it was awarded a blue ribbon for Best Sewing Machine Workmanship. Nancy is a big fan of our Artistic Artifacts Fluid Textile Paints, and used them in this quilt!

Cindy Grisdela won Best Use of Color for her quilt Confetti, pictured below, created in her trademark artful improv style.

Last year while at Mid-Atlantic we shared in this blog post how much we enjoyed the special exhibit We Are Somebody, and learning more about Roy Mitchell, Jr. (pictured here center; his students’ identities are protected) and his quilting students, young men incarcerated at The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice’s (DJJ) Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center. Please read it if you have not yet — their story is so inspirational! The DJJ quilting program is believed to be the only class of its type in a male juvenile corrections setting in the U.S. It teaches the skills involved — planning, design, measuring, geometry, sewing — and also critical life skills such as goal-setting, patience, frustration management, public speaking, and the value of precision.

This year they were again featured, with “All About Us” the theme of their special exhibit. We’re delighted to share our photographs of some of these quilts, known for their amazing uses of color and design, as well as stellar workmanship! Above, A Thyme to Slant.

Lotty Dotty.

Crescent Moon.

It’s a Batik Thang.

No Place Like Home.