Still more Long Beach IQF; 200th post giveaway

**It is 3 PM Pacific time and Comments are now closed for the giveaway.  Thanks for entering and check back for the winner!.

Last of the astounding quilts I got pics of at the 2010 International Quilt Festival in Long Beach.  Many, many more I simply admired and adored, especially the antiques!  All quilt photos that follow were taken at the Festival.

This approximately twin sized quilt was amazing in its Celtic applique.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of star quilts!  The red and green caught my eye of course.

Another red and green antique was charming in its slightly off balance arrangement.

Funny birds and decidedly not perfect berries--so quirky!

This cheddar quilt was all perfection and symmetry, in contrast!

Stunning applique and quilting everywhere.

This iris was done by the same quilter as the Dahlia in my previous post.  It was a huge flower and startling in its accuracy.  I do not know how the shading was done so magnificently!

Closeup of the quilting that followed the probably hand-painted background fabric.  Loved it!

Finally, this large quilt was made of African fabric, I believe only two different prints.  Look how skillfully the quilter manipulated the motifs and made amazing use of the colors.

I did not realize this was a bird until I zoomed in for a closeup! 

And now for my little giveaway.  There is something wrought, something bought, something to make and a mystery item or two that I won't reveal here.   

I was happy to use the Moda Boutique charm pack given by Kim to make this pinwheel quiltlet with yo-yo center.  The dot is Love U by Deb Strain for Moda.  The pineapples pattern is a symbol of welcome and the yo-yo maker a fun tool for embellishment.

I had a lot of fun making this!  It is quilted with rayon thread for a bit of shine.  To enter my giveaway, leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite color is and why.  My favorite color is green and I love it because it is at once lively and soothing because of its connection to nature.  There is only one shade of green I dislike--pastel mint! 

The giveaway is open until Friday, August 6th.  I will select a winner at approximately 6 pm Pacific time.  Please make sure there is a way for me to get in touch with you either by your profile or leaving your email in the comment.  Anonymous comments are unfortunately disabled on my blog for various reasons.  You can email me privately at vtaannieo(at) gmail (dot) com if you do not have a blog or do not wish to leave a public comment (I understand spelling out the email address discourages spammers).  Thanks for spending time here with me in blogland!

More Long Beach International Quilt Festival; No Reply

I've gotten a little traffic from the giveaway from Trends and Traditions.  I reply to all comments but there have been a bunch that have come up as "no reply" bloggers.  Acknowledging comments is something that means a lot to me so I'm sad when I can't, especially to first time visitors.  So, readers, please double check that your profile says "show email"--otherwise I can't say "Hey" back!

Here's some more eye candy from our fantastic Saturday.  All photos were taken at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival:

Fabulous piecing on this star.

Another wonderful antique.

It is hard to see, maybe impossible, but the quilter repeated the applique leaf's shape in the quilting.  This was hand quilted. 

Amazing realistic wallhanging of fairly large size.  Love the kitty!

This was one of the quilts in the Hoffman Challenge fabric exhibit.  The fabric was paisley.  I loved the 1920's glam and styling in this portrait of "Margaret".

Large size quilt with astounding piecing and proportions.  I loved the red piping emphasizing the scallop around the rays.

A closeup of the center medallion.  Fun fabrics!

One day I will make a Lone Star.  This was very vibrant and happy.  There are a few photos left to share, plus news about my giveaway for my 200th post.  Stay tuned!

Long Beach International Quilt Show

Our party at the Long Beach International Quilt Show was fun and oh so enjoyable!  The car ride down was smooth--we arrived nearly 45 minutes before the opening!  Parking was smooth, and entry to the show was smooth.  Immediately upon entering we headed to the extensive exhibits area.  Our first stop was the antique quilts show and there were some spectacular examples--the sad thing was that so many of them were "Unknown Maker".  Ladies, labels are a good thing!   All photos that follow were taken at the Long Beach International Quilt Show.

This was all silks with strips finished at about 1/2" for the logs.  It was exquisite!

A Nearly Insane quilt.  This feathered star finished at 6 inches.  Definitely insane!

This realistic looking Dahlia was about 4-5 feet wide and nearly as tall.  Stunning!

Closeup of the satin stitch outlining. 

Tanya, a blogfriend from Japan!  When we were coming back to the show from lunch, I recognized her son Takumi and his girlfriend from her blog and knew she was there and was so happy to get her phone call.  It was great to get the chance to meet this lovely lady. She graciously met my mom and our friend Dawn and gave us handkerchiefs as souvenirs.  My mom gave her a used tube of L'Occitane hand cream.  Oh, Mom!  We chatted and shared show loot.  I did not realize I was towering next to her until she posted a photo on her blog!  Later my sister Kathy joined us about 2:45 after arriving by plane and getting a ride to the show from our very agreeable dad.  Thanks Daddy!

These hexies were about 1" in size.

That's a kersquillion of those suckers!

So, so pretty wall hanging that had a woodblock effect.

Closeup of the unusual colors the quilter used.

It was hard to choose, but this was one of my very favorites.  It was about 4 feet by 5 feet and absolutely beautiful.  All pieces were appliqued on and it was photographic in quality.  Amazing work!  I took lots and lots of photos so will share more later.

We definitely shopped until the others dropped!  My friend Tanya and I were ready to stay and close the show but finally dragged ourselves away at about 5:30 from the vendor mall.  Going on Saturday was definitely better than rushing through the shorter hours of the show on Sunday.  We had plenty of time to meet in a group several times as well as have a relaxed lunch at a restaurant across the street, and see all the quilts and vendors we wanted. 

My loot consisted of some shot cottons, some one yard cuts that were $5 apiece on sale, a bunch of fat quarters that were $1 each, a redwork pattern, some Texture Magic that I wanted, pincushion filler, and the big item, the stack of Bonnie Blue Cotton Basics.  I looked for but did not find any Frolic yardage, or Monica's Santa Gnomes.  I'm sure they were there, but with over 300 vendors it was impossible to see it all in one day!  But what a day we had, just terrific! 

OMG!!!!

In this case those initials stand for One More Giveaway.  Unbelievably, I am the so, so fortunate winner of a fat quarter pack of Sanibel by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures.  Excitement reigns here at Casa de Orts!  Now I really DO have to buy a lottery ticket I think...

California Gold

Today I picked up my sister's friend Dawn from the airport and showed her some California Gold, namely the gorgeous city of Santa Barbara.  After strolling the sidewalks of downtown State Street and getting some lunch in an outdoor cafe, we walked over to the next block to see the beautiful Santa Barbara County Courthouse (look for it in the background of a scene in "It's Complicated"--Meryl Streep running across the street after a Farmer's Market visit).

Uh oh, scaffolding on the clock tower.  Maybe it's closed!  We checked with the information desk and luckily it was still open so we could get these vistas:

Looking southeast towards the ocean and home.  The coastal marine layer is seen hanging over some of the hills in the distance.  It played nice and stayed offshore while we were in Santa Barbara.

Looking northwest towards a future sunset.

Hey, there are quilts down there on the lawn!

Dawn officially loved Santa Barbara!

A group of tourists heading through the beautiful huge archway to the front of the building. The beams in the ceiling are all hand painted.

You know I had to get a closeup of that quilt!  There must have been plans for a concert later in the sunken garden as these picnic spots were all unattended.  We took our leave of Santa Barbara and drove down the coast to Ventura, where I dropped off Dawn at my parents'  house.  When I got home there were two packages waiting for me on the porch.  One was my Moda Greenpiece BOM (I'm now 6 months behind!) and the other was the giveaway prize I won from Kim.  I thought I was getting this:

Which I did.  But included in the stuffed package was a lot of unexpected gold...

Wow, definitely hit the Mother Lode here.  Kim sent one of her own patterns, Cherry Delight, along with another Kate Spain charm pack and a matching panel, the two other patterns shown and the charm pack of Boutique.  Very very generous and totally a surprise.  Thank you so much Kim!  Now, off to bed as it will be an early morning meeting to caravan to the Long Beach show, and a full day of quilty goodness!   

Pictureless Wednesday

I have seen lots of blogfolk doing the Wordless Wednesday, but mine will be the other way round this time! 

Thank you to all the folks who made such nice comments about my bowtie quilt design.  And I have more followers, which is so lovely!  I am happy to have visitors and love comments, so welcome all of you to stop by often!

On Monday I received the IHAN giveaway winnings of the special ruler and patterns from the Diamond Diva but haven't had a great deal of time to check them out (Thank you Kelly and Kim!) Monday night my friend Tanya and her friend Debbie came over for the first meeting of our quilt circle.   They are both relative newbies to quilting so we talked about basics and Debbie showed the quilt, a top, and some blocks she has made, having taken a beginning quilt class at the LQS.  We decided to start at square one and all make some 9 patch blocks with two colors, and put them together in a mini quilt.  I said that we need a name for our quilt circle and Debbie suggested "The Orts", after getting an explanation of what that word meant from my blog title. Too funny!  I am thrilled to finally be able to form a quilting group, even if it is only three of us right now!

Monday and Tuesday I was covering the front desk for our receptionist and was totally beat at the end of the day.  Covering 4 phone lines, 2 docs, and many patients plus rescheduling an entire afternoon's patients and prepping for the next day was just exhausting.  I've always said it's one of the hardest jobs in the office!  So last night I crashed and after a nearly 2 hour nap, had no energy for more than dinner, a little blog reading and email.  Though I went into my sewing room, it was a mess and I didn't feel like cleaning up so I crawled back in bed to read.  Tired again today, but perked up by several email exchanges.  One from Tanya, who is here in California for a month and may be coming to the Long Beach International Quilt Festival on Saturday too.  I've given her my cellphone number and we hope to meet and chat for at least a few minutes.  This will be my first meeting of a blog friend so I am excited!!   Also I exchanged emails with my sister's friend, who will be flying in earlier than Kathy on Friday.  I've arranged to pick her up and show her some sights in Santa Barbara.  She's never been to California before so it will be all new to her.  Our quilty weekend is shaping up nicely and I can't wait for Friday.  I'm taking a few days off from the office to relax and have fun.  Yay for vacation!     

Design Wall Monday

On my design wall today are some bow tie blocks in the layout that I am using for my brother's quilt

Today I bought a few more reds and some surprise fabrics for the bow ties. I will be mixing in new scraps for the double four patch blocks so that is why they are not yet complete.  Doesn't look like much yet, does it!  The trip to my not-so-local quilt shop 25 miles away was just lovely.  I had the sunroof open and was enjoying the warm summer air as I drove through the backroads and farmland.  It helped that I was driving Grant's car, which has better seats and way better suspension than my poor 17 year old car (which had to be towed to the auto shop for a new ignition switch).  The Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Shop was pre-selling entry tickets to the International Quilt Festival and that was my main reason for going there.