A Quilt Show at Bulloch Hall - ground floor

It was starting to snow as we arrived near Nashville, Tennessee to vist our daughter and her family on Friday 1st March 2013.  It was the first snow we had seen in two years.  The next morning the snow was still there, but barely, and by day's end it had melted.  We never had a chance to play in the snow with our three grandsons.  We stayed for the week-end and on Monday we drove to Memphis, TN, to visit our other daughter.  Next time we drive to Nashville there will hopefully be a new grand-daughter as our daughter is expecting in the next couple of months.

During the rest of our stay in Tennessee the weather kept getting warmer.  By now many trees are in bloom in Tennessee and Georgia.  It has been a warm winter here - one of my annual plants from last year is blooming again - it did not get the message that winter had come.  As I was driving near the post office yesterday I saw a tree with lovely deep pink buds.  Luckily there was no one driving behind me so I took some pictures from my car.  One of my Georgia blogging friends told me that this lovely pink-mauve tree is a magnolia x soulangeana.

After we returned to Georgia last week I caught a bad cold which kept me weak, feeling miserable and away from the computer.  Last Saturday was warm and sunny and since I was much better we drove to Roswell, Georgia, to see the Quilt Show at Bulloch Hall.  It is called the Great American Cover-Up Quilt Show and this year is its 31st annual show.

I have written three posts on Bulloch Hall in the past, but they were around the Holidays.  The first one was "Bulloch Hall in the Festive Season" on 22 December 2010 - click here to read it.  The second was "Christmas at Bulloch Hall with US Presidents, part 1" on December 13, 2012 - click here for this one.  It was followed by Part II on December 20, 2012 - click here. This time it was much warmer in Roswell - 75 degrees F (25 C.)

 I had only been to one quilt show before and that was back in 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.  I wrote a post on it and showed some of the beautiful quilts exhibited there in "Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio" on July 18, 2009 - click here to see them.   The theme of the Bulloch Hall's quilt show this year was "My Favorite Things."  Close to 200 quilts were on display throughout Bulloch Hall.  I took many photos as usual and won't be able to show them on only one post.  Today I'll concentrate on quilts on the ground floor of this historic antebellum mansion.  As we entered we saw large quilts hanging on the walls.  (Click on collages to enlarge.)

Smaller quilts were shown at the end of the hall.

The brochure given to us contained information on each quilt and some biographical notes on Laura Davidson who is the Special Exhibitor at the show this year.  Laura Davidson is a Canadian award-winning quilter from Oakville, Ontario.  Her quilts were exhibited in the Parlor.  This beautiful room with antique furnishing was a wonderful setting for Laura's exquisite quilts.

The quilt below is called "Stars in my Garden" and is stunning in neutral tones.  I took a close-up picture to see its stitching.

Quilt #9 is Laura's "From Sea to Shining Sea."

Quilt #10 is Laura's "God Sheds His Grace on Me" to celebrate the Millennium.

Quilt #8 is called "Canadian Cottage."  It incorporates provincial flowers and the beauty and calm of a country cottage.  Quilt #12 is called "Mardi Gras."

Behind the piano was quilt #15 "Peacocks in Bloom" by Laura Davidson.  A stark quilt inspired by Amish quilts.

#14 is "In My Garden."

Quilt #13 is called "Canadian Quilt" by Laura to revisit Canada's history.

A Bonus Quilt called "Nature's Trail" was bright and colorful.

It was well worth a closer inspection to look at all the cute animals.

We saw more striking quilts in the dining-room made by local quilters -

Quilt #18 below is called "Happy Faces" by Teresa Utz of Acworth, GA, with fun pictures of fellow quilters.

 

So many gorgeous quilts ....

 

  Quilts on the outdoors -

Quilts with stars, triangles, squares and other lovely shapes -

Quilts with meaning, such as quilt #28 called "Ykes" by Jan Antranikian of Alpharetta, GA.  She says "Making this quilt helped me deal with the fear and darkness and brought a bit of hope in my life after the loss of my daughter."

and  some more attractive quilts to admire -

Below are some close-ups from several quilts.

More quilts were in the Warming Room -

Marie Wood of Alpharetta, GA, called her quilt, #77, "My Favorite Things" - same as the quilt theme for this year.  My favorite things are very similar - ships, the sea, lakes, mountains, trees and looking up at the sky.

There were more quilts on the ground floor of Bulloch Hall but I'll end with the lovely quilt below.  This is quilt #20 by Ellen Lott of Roswell, GA., called "Peace."

In my next post, we'll go upstairs to look at more quilts.