AQS Quilt Show In Grand Rapids

I went to Grand Rapids to see my dad last weekend and managed to do a few fun things as well. 

 I arrived on Thursday afternoon and did a lot of cleaning! 

 Then a blog friend and I met for dinner. 

 Brenda from Ladybug Dreams.  

We had the nicest time and our poor server didn't quite know what to do with the 2 of us!!  

Thanks for a wonderful night, Brenda. 

 I am looking forward to seeing you again real soon.

Friday morning I went to the lawyer and dropped off some papers and

 then headed out to the AQS quilt show.  

There were several exhibits within the larger show. 

 There were guild challenges, and the Altzheimer's quilts and an Japanese exhibit but

 the two I was the most excited about 

were some of the works of Gwen Marston and the Egyptian tent makers quilts.  

It was the first time the tent makers had shown their quilts in the US.  

Their quilts are actually the inside of the tents and they are

FABULOUS!!!

I have almost 100 pics from the show so I am just going to show a few from the show in this post. 

 If you want to see them all please go to my Flickr and view them.  

I think you will enjoy the virtual show! 

 Ok so here goes

Two of my favorites from the Tent Maker exhibit

All the bird quilts were stunning!!

Although the tile looking ones were impressive too!  

All 4 of these quilts were HUGE!

One of the artists was there working away.  

Notice his tools, and the backing cloth.

There were some beautiful Japanese quilts but these two were my favorites. 

 Check out the quilting on the dragon quilt.

Then there was the Gwen Marston exhibit.  

Some of the quilts were made by her and some inspired by her.

The quilt called the Loading Dock was there and it was stunning!!!

I loved these robins

I could not even believe how many pieces were in this quilt! Fantastic!

I thought this one was so original and FUN!!!

It's funny but as I have been doing a lot driving lately I saw a scene very similar to this one and thought how it would have made a great quilt.  

I guess she beat me to it!

This flag quilt gave me goosebumps!  

So amazing!!

You know how I feel about Halloween, this quilt was hysterical!!

Another very impressive quilt was this street scene, almost like a photo.

I bet you want to know if I bought anything right?  

There were a TON of vendors there.  

I did buy a few things.  

On the trip to GR I stopped at Keans in Mason and guess what they had in the clearance bin?  

You are seeing that correctly, just over 2 yards of this print!!!  

I was sooooo excited!

I picked up a copy of these 2 books at a very good price! 

 I have taken couple of classes with Suzanne Marshall and her applique technique is so good!  

She was a wonderful teacher too.  

This is a great book.  

I aspire to take a class from Gwen someday too.  

See that little tool in the bottom left?  

My friend Brenda told me about that.

  It is a seam ripper with an eraser type end that works to get the loose threads off your fabric after you break the threads with the seam ripper. 

 I am hoping it works!!

I HATE picking out those threads, don't you?

Of course I can't resist black cats and Halloween but I did try not to go overboard.  

Love these both!!  

Just look at that cheeky grin!

That wraps up the virtual quilt show.  

I have a LOT more photos on Flickr so hop on over there and take a look.  

I have to share my Saturday too as I was at a work day with Amanda Jean and 

some other amazing women!! 

 I promise to share that soon.  

~XOP~