Jimmy Crack Corn and a Quilt Show

Saturday I picked up my mom to accompany me on some quilty outings.  On the way I was making up my own lyrics regarding my outfit, to the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn..."My legs are white and I don't care, my legs are white and I don't care, my legs are white and I don't caaarre, I'm wearing a skirt anyway!"  Seriously, wear your sunglasses.  Sorry, due to surface glare, no pics are possible.  

We went first to a charity quilt show/sale and silent auction fundraiser for a maternity home, with Amish style quilts by an acquaintance of my mom's.  Ardelle, who must be in her 80's, told us she went to an Amish exhibit in San Francisco several years ago and was inspired.  She has made over 400 table topper sized quilts since then--all hand pieced and hand quilted.  There were close to 200 quilts displayed around the church hall, all for sale for $25 or less.  I was stunned and wished I'd brought my checkbook, but did immediately plunk down my $20 bill for this lovely one:

My photography assistant, Mini, helped immensely of course.

The colors are not exactly coming through in these shots but she used a dulled down green, warm purple, and of course that orangey-red, and quilted it with purple thread.

Prior to discovering Amish quilts Ardelle used a lot of plaids and thrifted or donated fabrics.  I own a little square quilt of hers that I cover my sewing machine with.  Here's one of her "before the Amish" log cabin quilts, in a typical size (pic from several yrs ago). 

I hope Ardelle's quilts sold like hotcakes and a lot of money was raised.  At those prices for that kind of work, who could pass it up?

We then went downtown to the County Museum where a juried quilt show has been hanging for months--this was the last weekend so we barely made it.  Very interesting art quilts, most of them small but incredibly detailed.  I loved this one the most:

It was probably the most traditional of all the quilts displayed.  The thread work for the leaves was amazing.

This pic below does not convey the intense colors of the quilt, which was probably 24-30 inches square and just gorgeous.

It was fascinating to read the "process" stories of the quilts.

A nearly bed-sized quilt was on display but this closeup shows the "quilting".

It is a quilt of paper advertisements, attached to a paper backing and quilted with brads.  Very clever.  I hope you can read the description below.  The pic should be somewhat clickable.

After the quilty fun, Mom and I had lunch at a little outdoor cafe and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  I visited with my dad too and admired the work they've been doing on their yard, with the help of my nephew.  Late that night I finally got to some sewing and stayed up until 1 AM to finish all of the Mystery Quilt Clue #3.  The little four patches are now a chain.  

I have no idea where Judy is going with this, but with geese, pinwheels, chains and bars, it is going to be one dynamic quilt!  Tomorrow Clue #4 is posted and I'll find out what to do with the last of the unsewn building blocks. Very exciting!