Quiltfest 2018--Day 1

Hey y’all.  Is been quite a while since I’ve had time to update you on the progress of A Cruso Quilter. Things have been going really well for me just busy, busy, busy.  Right now I'm sitting at the LeConte  Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee as the time for A Mountain Quiltfest is here!  I just dropped my friend Jackie off for her first class this year.

I made it down here yesterday afternoon after some last minute work at the cburch.  I stopped at Holloway's Country Home on the way down yesterday. I got to meet Freida Haley, the new owner of Holloway's. Freida purchased Holloway's last December as Maria retired.

I'm off today to do some shopping and looking while Jackie is in class, then we're off to visit some area quilt shops.

You're probably wondering what I've been working on.  I have one quilt in the show this year. The theme category this year is baskets.  I wanted to venture from the traditional basket quilt blocks this year, so I created my own basket this year. I started with the Creative Grids Curvy Log Cabin tool by Jean Ann Wright to create my basket. I then used scraps to create a variety of tools, notions, and all the essentials that a quilter needs in their sewing basket. The furry quilt inspector got in the way and got tangled up in both a quilt block and the tape measure. We quilters also cannot get away without chocolate and coffee. I surrounded the center design with small, lemoyne stars using the Deb Tucker, Studio 180, Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler.
The amazing Lisa Mann of Lisa's Quilting Shed did the awesome, custom quilting to complete the basket.

Along the way, I decided to name this quilt in memory of a dear quilting friend, Juanita Metcalf. Three of the four main fabrics were from her stash. So, I give you, “Juanita’s Sewing Basket”.

This year, I've got a fairly laid back schedule. Jackie and I will be touring some of the historic churches of Sevier County tomorrow. I have a dinner lecture on Thursday and a class on Friday. This year is even more about fun and enjoying the show!  Of course there will be lots of fun with the rest of the quilting friends. 

Ill be taking lots of pictures this week and sharing them with you. If you're down here this week, hopefully we’ll get to see each other.  Right now, I'm off to do some shopping.

Until next time, quilt on!