Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild's First Ever SHOWCASE!

Our Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild is so excited to have presented our first ever showcase. We called it a "showcase" instead of a "show" because it wasn't juried and there were no prizes or categories, etc. It was just guild members showing what we've been up to. People outside our guild were invited to show their "modern style quilts", too, but nobody but members submitted. We also had some great vendors, a concession, and members sold some of their handiwork, contributing all profits to the guild.

So much planning and preparation went into the event with some particular members really taking on a heavy load. I'm so grateful to them for taking charge and for organizing the rest of us. We only had 2 hours to get the showcase ready for the public but, much to our surprise, we had it all up and ready in 1.5 hours! Everything went so well. No snafus at all! Most importantly, I think we at least covered our costs and we acquired some more new members!

Here are some photos from the event.

Here are our fearless leaders, Jaclyn and Carly, with a van full of quilts organized and ready to hang. We're gathered in the parking lot waiting to get into the building. Jaclyn even has her daughter, Little Miss Tim Bit, strapped on her back. What a trooper! 

Most of us were on hand for a group photo before the doors opened. Some people came later and some weren't able to come at all due to prior commitments. Thanks to those who made our banner! This is the first time we've used it. I think Lisa finished stitching it the night before the show. We all contributed blocks to it and various members did the brunt of the work. Nicole, in the front sitting on the floor, is our guild's event planner and she did so much work to make this happen!

Tarra was in charge of our concession. We all brought baking.

I think over 250 people came! This table has lots of so nice handmade things on it for sale.

I hung 3 large quilts of mine – Counting Stars, Linked, and the Plus Quilt I made for Luke. Considering Luke's is 3 years old, it's held up rather well, I think.

I noticed a woman at the show wearing a blouse made from fabric I have in my stash and then it occurred to me that it's the same fabric I used in Luke's quilt. Fabric spotting!

Sheila and three of hers. I especially love churn dashes (the one on the left).

Patti with her giant plus quilt and and her half-square-rectangle quilt. Patti makes so many inspiring quilts. She had several beautiful minis on display, too. Watch for the beautiful paper-pieced lion at the bottom of this blog post.

Tarra with her raspberry kisses quilt. The back with the stars and the kids catching fireflies is beautiful, too.

Kathryn and her first ever quilt! Quite an undertaking for a first project, I think!

One of Sonya's. The back of it is gorgeous ... much in the same vein as Tarra's.

One of Jaclyn's. She had several in the show. I especially love this one that she made as a wedding gift.

One of Kelly's ... Kevin liked this one in particular.

 Bev had many quilts in the show but was unable to be here herself.

A coupe of Lisa's many beauties. The first one is a Modern Alphabet using Tula Pink fabrics and the 2nd is flying geese made with Anna Maria Horner fabrics with lots of negative space for her to practice her longarm quilting techniques on.

Carly ... the master of improv. She has a whole different approach to quilts than me, which I greatly admire. I love all her quilts. There is so much story to them. Her spider web quilt is one of my very favourites. Do you recognize the representation of Star Trek uniforms in the 2nd one? The 3rd one below is a Punisher quilt especially for a brother-in-law.

I also love the blue and orange improv quilt made by Carly. Beside it is a colourful one made by Jaclyn.

We have a lot of nerds in our guild. I say that most affectionately. Star Trek and Star Wars are  represented in the two quilts below. Come to think of it, everyone in our guild is probably a bit nerdy!

The bargello quilt at the far left in the photo below was made by Nicole.

You can see my two circle baby quilts at the bottom of the photo below.

Jaclyn made the quilts at the top left and bottom right of the photo below. The rest were made by Bev (I think).

And look at all the mini quilts in the 3 photos below. Why mini quilts, some of you may wonder? I used to ask myself the same question ... until I set up my quilt studio in Luke's vacated bedroom. What better way to decorate the walls of a quilt studio?! Plus it's a nice way to test a pattern or technique or to make something that requires much more work than you are prepared to put into a large quilt. We've had two mini quilt swaps amongst our guild members and these are a lot of those. It's really special to look at your wall and find a beautiful little piece of quilted art made by a guild friend.

One of the minis below might even be meant for me. We'll find out at our next meeting when we do our swap! 

The two I made are both in this top photo. The 2nd from the left at the top is "raspberry kisses" and the one below it and to the right is is "prismatic medallion". FYI, see the mini at the bottom with the blue and white background and the hexagons? The hexagons form the chemical symbols for chocolate and wine. Brilliantly imagined and constructed by Sheila.

The lion by Patti and those piano keys (at least that's what they look like to me) are by her, too.  I love it! The "clean and dirty underwear" are by Kim. She made those for her husband to set his precision tools on in his shop.Hilarious!

So many pretty minis. I wonder ... I wonder ... I wonder ... which of these beauties is for me? Or is mine one that's missing? I have to wait another week to find out.

We had several vendor booths. I hope they did well. They looked busy!

I hope you enjoyed a peek at the show! Thanks to those of you who came in person!