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Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Too Much Fun in a Nutshell


The NSQBQ girls,
Linda, Sheila, Lesley, and myself,
gave a quilt show at
the 10th Annual Fibre Arts Festival 
in Amherst, NS
this past weekend.


Our venue was the town hall lobby, 
so space was at a premium,
but we made the best of it!



A special thank you to the Town Hall personnel
for tolerating us on such short notice.
We didn't make it easy!
Can you just imagine the four of us buzzing around
trying to set this up right under their noses?
It was quite the flurry of activity.
~
In the meantime,
I've been doing some secret sewing,
and now I can show and tell!

Linda has a very significant birthday coming up,
so I invited some friends and her modern quilt guild
to, as Lesley so aptly phrased it,
"give her a birthday hug by making a block"
for a special birthday signature quilt.

The other Karen, from Sugarfree Quilts, drove down to Amherst
to see our show, and, as prearranged, 
lured Linda away for a little while.

I pinned her quilt over another quilt, 
so it would be the first thing she saw when she came back in.


Upon reentering Town Hall,
she spotted this quilt right away and said,
"What's that quilt?  Where's my wedding quilt?"

"Oh," said Sheila, "we sold that and put this one up in it's place."

Half believing her, Linda approached the quilt with trepidation,


and started looking it all over


.

and then the light dawned


at which point I lost it,
started to cry,
rushed in for a hug,
and missed any more photo opportunities.

Linda did email a photo of the wonderful back,
the paper pieced panel contributed by Karen Chase.


I added the right hand column
which consisted of the label and a special block signed by Karen
before I brought it up to size.

That was our weekend in a nut shell!
I'm sure when you visit the other NSQBQ members,
you'll learn more about it.
I know we all agree 
that too much fun equals exhaustion!

Hope you had a wonderful, funderful weekend, too,
and are looking forward to a great week!

XO,
karen


39 comments:

Julie Cefalu said...

Oh my gosh, what a fun story! And a beautiful quilt that you all made for your friend. You caught "the light dawning" in pictures so well and I could feel like I was there! Lovely quilts in your show, too.

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

The quilts look lovely, it must have been a fun show. Oh you are a tease, what a wonderful gift, she must have been speechless. I Dolores how you did the back too, very effective, love it.

Sheila said...

You did a perfect post of our wonderful fun filled weekend and the secret reveal sure was icing on the cake . You did such an amazing job putting those blocks all together and Karen did a great job of the back , a two for one quilt , doesn't get any better. Awesome friends and an awesome time 💖

Chookyblue...... said...

What a lovely special quilt.......

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

sounds like you had a blast!

Sondra said...

I know everyone who came through the town hall enjoyed those beautiful quilts! What a great birthday surprise! She will treasure that one forever.

Fiona said...

How special... I teared up reading about it... you girls did a wonderful job of the quilt show and of course the amazing special quilt.... well done for keeping it such a surprise too...
Hugz

kiwikid said...

What a beautiful collection of quilts you had on show. And want a wonderful birthday surprise for your friend!!! Great to surprise her like that. Well done!!

Julia D @ Jada's Quilting Adventures said...

Lovely collection of quilted beauties! Glad you all had a great time :) Someday I'll make it out to that festival. Maybe next year ;)

Lesley said...

What a special time we had! Love the way you summarized the weekend, and especially love the recap of Linda's birthday quilt. You captured all the right moments! You did a fabulous job of putting the blocks together and making this quilt so very special. The way you pieced that special back panel from Karen with the blocks adds even more pizazz to this special quilt. Congrats on the finish...so glad I was a little part of this and was there for the presentation!

Adrienne said...

You did such an amazing job pulling the whole quilt together for Linda. Thank you so much for leading such an amazing project for our girl!

Carol Swift said...

Looks like a fun quilt show with amazing ladies...lucky you! I loved the story about giving Linda her quilt. So sweet!

Janice Holton said...

Best gift ever! Great photography of that special moment. But hugs do take priority. :)

Louise said...

So much fun! I would have cried, too :)

FlourishingPalms said...

What a lovely surprise for your friend Linda! You all are such sweet friends. I remembered your show was coming up, and I'm glad it happened, in spite of limited space. It's always good to share quilts with non-quilters, and it looks like you had an audience. I'm curious to know... did you make that green and purple "Wibble Wobble" quilt? You know I really like that pattern! :-)

Debbie said...

Wow, seems like the best fun ever! The quilts are fabulous!

Ioleen said...

What a lovely surprise and a beautiful quilt. She looks so happy with her amazing gift. You ladies are amazing.

Sugar Free Quilts said...

This was the most fun secret to keep!! Happy Birthday Linda!!

Linda said...

I still haven't recovered from the shock of the surprise! I really did think something had happened to the wedding quilt for a few secs. It is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen! Seriously, I am in love. The colours, the blocks, the quilting, the pieced backing, the label, the signatures, the love and friendship, all in one quilt! And it's mine! Our quilt show weekend was fantastic. So great to spend quality time and do all things quilty. hugs

Heather J said...

Great post on your quilty adventures and fabulous surprise!

Lin said...

What a wonderful surprise for Linda. Beautiful quilt. Your exhibition looked amazing too. xx

Allie-oops Designs said...

Oh how fun!!!!!!! You made me tear up just reading about that quilt - it's gorgeous and I love the back. Looks like a really fun show, too!

Raewyn said...

Gosh, first of all, amazing little quilt show you ladies put on - it must have been so exciting seeing all the quilts (etc) hung for everyone to see. And fabulous surprise quilt!!! Love that you got all the photos of the penny dropping! Lovely post!

Karen said...

The quilt is beautiful, but the story even more so. You really made it special for Linda. Glad I got to see it in person, the four of you had an amazing show. Hope you come back next year :)
xx Karen

Mia said...

What a great gift! I am your friend loved it!!!!! Kisses!!!!!!

Judy said...

Oh, how awesome to have a show, to make such an outstanding quilt for a special birthday, and to share it all with some really nice quilting friends!!

Sandra :) said...

Oh my goodness, that made me cry!! The happy kind of crying, lol!

Julie said...

What a great story! I love surprises (when they happen to other people), and this one was beautiful. I am sending happy birthday thoughts from Ohio, too!

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

It sounded like you ladies had a great weekend. So glad Linda liked her quilt. Thanks for doing that for her.

Preeti said...

What a deliciously evil plan? Sold her Wedding Quilt? Oh my goodness, I am glad that Linda did not throw a punch (or a fit) at that instant. I love the granny square blocks but all those added details make it the most special quilt. Wish I was closer so that I could be a partner in crime.
Hugs,
Preeti.

Nann said...

How fun to have a pop-up show! And the birthday quilt is just wonderful.

Abby and Stephanie said...

What a gorgeous quilt and a special surprise. Absolutely love the colors and the back is special!!

Sandi said...

Great show and wonderful surprise. What fun!

Vickie said...

What a wonderful surprise gift for your friend ! And a great quilt show idea ! Lots of talent between the 4 of you !

Barb said...

What an amazing quilt and wonderful thing to do. The Quilt show looked fantastic. What fun!

hetty said...

A beautiful quilt and a wonderful story to go with it.

Cheryl said...

The quilts look great, what a fun show!!

Sandra Walker said...

Fabulous fabulous surprise birthday gift! Wow. Love the final shot too. And oh yeah, I can just imagine and hear you rushing around setting up!

Pamela said...

What a beautiful show!