Last weekend I went to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA.  I couldn't believe the number of hand-quilted pieces in the show!  It's a small show, very juried, so each quilt is quite wonderful.  I spent an afternoon looking at the quilts and then went back for a few hours two days later to see them all again.

This mini (12"x12") won a blue ribbon.  Even standing in front of it, I couldn't get my head around the size of the work.  I left a little piece of the sign in the picture to give some size perspective.

My favorite quilt there was this gorgeous flower medallion - all hand appliqued and hand quilted.  There was some dimensional work on it, and I especially loved the lily of the valley.  I know that I will use this technique someday.

I took two classes: one called Happy Villages with Karen Eckmeier.  It was very freeing.  She is a clear teacher who also allows tremendous freedom.  Here are all of the things that I NEVER do that I'm doing in this quilt - not planning ahead, gluing, adding whimsical touches, using tulle, having raw edges.  Fun!  You can see that it is just halfway finished, but it will have to sit on the pile for a while, since I have work to do for the show in October.

The other class was in longarm quilting.  It was way over my head.  There were few students, and they were all quite experienced.  For a while, I tried to fake it, but then I decided to see what I could learn on my actual level.  It was a class on filling small spaces, and the two simple techniques I improved were echoing and making the same design to the right and left.  It turned out to be very useful.

Can you believe that I agreed to teach a little workshop at a local library in November?  It will be a two-hour Saturday program as part of their Homemade Holiday Gifts series.  I'm working on some samples that can be made by beginners, by hand, in two hours.  Don't know if this is possible.  I'll post my samples next time.