Karen Kay Buckley

Quilt Odyssey, held in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and only 45 minutes from my house, is one of my favorite quilt seminars and shows.  One of the reasons I love this show is because of the show’s organizer, Missy Molino.  Missy is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  And she takes great care of her teachers.  From the luxurious hotel rooms, to the large, well lit classrooms, to the help provided by her and her staff and the unending supply of Hershey’s chocolate…..it all makes for a great experience for the teachers and the students.  One of the highlights of this show is “Show and Tell” on Saturday evening.  I am fortunate to be able to travel and attend a lot of fabulous seminars but I think the Saturday night event at Quilt Odyssey is the most highly attended “Show and Tell” of all.  One of the reasons it is so highly attended is because of the hostesses/M.C.s, Mimi Deitrich and Norma Campbell.  They are so entertaining.  There are lots of door prizes and Mimi and Norma keep everyone laughing.  This year Norma brought a few photos of her new grandchild for everyone to see.

Below you can see some of my favorite quilts exhibited in the show.  The first quilt is called “Pennsylvania Palette” and was made by Wendy Caton Reed from Bath, Maine.  It really did remind me of the antique Pennsylvania quilts and the circles were “perfect!”

This pictorial piece is called “Pass it On”.  The maker is Kathy McNeil from Washington.  The quilt you see on the bottom right warps around from the back. (The entire back of this pictorial project is this quilt design. Awesome idea!!!)  The depth perspective on this quilt is wonderful and it had many fun details. This quilt won the Best Pictorial by Machine award.

This next quilt, Heron Happiness, was also made by  Kathy McNeil.   Great fabric choices on this quilt and the workmanship was wonderful.  Maybe that is why it won 1st place in the Appliqued Wall Quilt category.

The background quilting on this wall quilt was incredible.

This quilt just made me smile.  It is called “Marblemania” and was made by Linda French from Centerville, Ohio.

All of the marbles had cute little faces.

This wall quilt was awarded my judges choice award.  The name of this quilt is “Aunt Hettie’s Doily” and the maker is Becky Weiland from King of Prussia, PA.   I loved the fabric choices and the designs.  Nicely done Becky.

If you are looking for a great seminar to attend next summer check out Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA.  While you are looking at amazing quilts, taking classes and shopping in the vendors mall your family can see the sites in Hershey.  Hershey Park can keep the kids occupied for days!  For more information about next year’s show go to www.quiltodyssey.com

My most recent adventure took me to the Laguna Beach and Huntingdon Beach areas in California.  When I arrived at the Orange County airport Pam picked me up and took me on a wonderful tour of the Laguna Beach area.  After lunch we stopped at the Sawdust Festival.  www.sawdustartfestival.org This was my second time to walk through this festival.  I was lucky enough to go to this art festival last year when I taught in Long Beach.  It is a large show that features only local artists.  If you live in or visit this part of the world, the Sawdust Festival is definitely worth a stop.   We then proceeded to the coast.  We stopped at the Montage hotel and walked through their fantastic gardens.  Here are some of the things I saw on my walk.

The flora in California is very different from that which I see in Pennsylvania.

This is an amazingly intricate metal gate designed by a local artist.  It is so beautiful and located in the rear grounds of the Montage hotel.  You can see more amazing photos of the Montage at www.montagelagunabeach.com

And of course another thing you cannot see in Pennsylvania is the ocean and  I love the ocean.  I once had a lady ask me when I was in North Carolina at the beach why I did not go to the beach in Pennsylvania.  I guess she did not know her geography!

The two guilds I visited were the Flying Geese Quilters in Irvine www.flyinggeese.net and the Orange Grove Quilters Guild located in Garden Grove, California www.orangegrovequiltersguild.com

At my first workshop with the Flying Geese Quilters one of the students, Kathy Tamosaitis, came up to me and asked if she could show me a project she completed in a workshop she took with me when she lived in Delaware.  Of course I could hardly wait to see it.  We don’t need to mention how long ago because Kathy and I are not that old!  Thanks for sharing Kathy.  Very well done.

My visit with both guilds was wonderful.  I have not received so many fantastic compliments on the workshops and lectures ever.

One of my favorite stories is about some of the ladies from the Orange Grove guild.  When I was teaching last July for the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach five ladies from the guild took one of my workshops.  When these ladies came in to the classroom they moved one chair in the row of 4 seats so all 5 of them could sit together.  I did not realize they all knew each other and told them they did not need to squish together as there was plenty of room for just 2 people per table.  But they told me they all knew each other and wanted to sit together.  At the end of the class they came up to me and said we voted during class today.  And I said, “About what?’  They told me they were all on the board of the Orange Grove Quilters Guild and they voted to have me come to their guild!  Since I was already scheduled to teach and lecture for the Flying Geese Guild in Irvine they asked if I would also come to their guild. They told me the guild did not normally meet in July, but if I would agree to come they’d happily make an exception.  That made me feel really good.  It was a pleasure to work with everyone involved in this adventure.  I am already dreaming about my next trip to their little piece of heaven.

The other day I received this amazing email from Teresa Wong.

“I’ve attached a photo of my friend and I (Amy Gurghigian-pictured on the left) with 2 quilt tops we recently finished.  I thought you’d like to know that we NEVER would have attempted such a complicated applique as this had we not taken your class.  We started these tops in December-just a few weeks after taking your October Houston class and we both had so much fun doing this.  A whole new world of quilts are now open to us since we know how to applique.  Thank you!”

I wrote to Amy and asked her if I could include this great photo of  “Quilt Buddies” in my blog.  Aren’t quilting friends just the best?  Teresa told me that Amy had been quilting for some time before she taught Amy to quilt about 15 years ago.  They had done a little applique but were not happy with their results.  They have been attending the International Quilt Festival, www.quilts.com, for about ten years but had never taken any classes.  Last year they decided to take an applique class with me and as Teresa says “we both loved it.“  Shortly after the class the girls found a Kaffe Fasset book and were amazed by this quilt.  They bought the book and “a ton of Kaffe Fasset fabrics–and went to work“.  The pattern is called “Hearts and Flowers”.

Teresa said “We would never have attempted an applique pattern this intricate if we hadn’t taken your class.  Your methods produce great edges and it is so doable.  Plus we both have a set of your Perfect Circles too, which are great, because you can see there are tons of circles on this pattern!  We’re hooked.”

Amy and Teresa,  thanks so much for sharing.

This is why I love to teach.

This is the third time I have taught for the Vermont Quilt Festival www.vqf.org The show organizers have changed over the years but, no matter, they are always good.  They seem to listen to the feedback from the teachers and students and keep making the show better and better.  I think the quilts this year were beyond incredible.  If you entered this show and won a ribbon you were lucky.  The competition was fierce. The quilt below was the Best of Show quilt.  It was made by Judith Thompson from Wenonah, NJ.  Excellent fabric choices and very well done.

This amazing quilt won a first place ribbon.  It was made by Kathryn Tennyson from Chestertown, NY.  Fantastic workmanship.  Loved the edge finish.  This border took my breath away.

“Liberty Sisters” won two awards.  It won 2nd place and a Judge’s Choice award.  It was made by Carolyn Hudson from Nova Scotia.  As I walked around the quilt show I did take notice that Canada was well represented.  Good job neighbors to the north.  I loved this combination of piecing and applique.  If you’ve read previous blogs you know this pieced block is one I teach and the combination with the applique works very, very well.

“To Everything There Is A Season” was made by Pat Delany of Abington, MA.  The border on this quilt works really well.  It adds a wonderful balance to the center part of the quilt by pulling the colors onto the border.  Funny, but as I walk through a show I tend to look at the quilts but not what prizes they won.  This quilt won two ribbons….1st place and it won an award for the Best Border!  Nice to know I think the same as the judges.  At least this time!

Here are some of my students hard at work.  My first two days at VQF were a two day workshop on my wall quilt called “Around the Garden”.  Even after working them to death at the end of the second day they were still smiling.

If you are looking for a really nice, intimate, loads of great vendors show to attend in the summer.  This is the show for you.  It is close to Burlington, Vermont.  I really like Burlington.  I think I could live there…but, I’ve never been there in the winter so I might need to rethink this!  Beautiful surrounding and a great show.  If you’ve not been there you should add this to your bucket list.