Bulloch Hall 32nd Quilt Show - second floor

This is a continuation of my post from last week on the quilt show at historic Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia.  Last week I covered the ground floor.  Today it will be the basement and second floor.  I intended to only write one post about this show, but the quilts are so extraordinarily beautiful that I could not stop at just a few.  After slowing admiring all the quilts on the ground floor, we descended into the basement.  At the top of the stairs was quilt no. 59 by Mary Ruth McDonald called "Windows to the Past."

Exhibited in the basement were bags made in Hellenne Vermillion's workshop.  These are Sashiko Tote Bags.  Hellenne was born in Tokyo, Japan, and is an artist using oil painting, fiber art and silk dye painting.  She conducts Sashiko workshops in Atlanta.  (Click on collages twice to enlarge.)

Truthfully, I had never heard of "Sashiko" before so I researched it.  Sashiko  刺し子, literally "little stabs" or "little pieces" is an ancient fabric art form from Northern Japan.  There is no date for the start of sashiko but it could have had its beginning during the Edo era of Japan (1615-1868.)  It was originally used to reinforce points of wear or to repair worn or torn areas in fabric.  The designs usually came from nature, such as water, clouds, birds and flowers.  Designs could also have geometric form, such as squares, triangles, circles, straight and curves lines, etc.  From being a repairing technique on worn clothing it has evolved into a decorative technique.  As with traditional quilts, the variety of sashiko designs is endless.

 White cotton thread on indigo cloth is traditional, but other colors can be used in modern sashiko designs.  Sashiko can be made into quilts, pin cushions, pillows, table runners, tote bags and more.

There are several books on sashiko and even some YouTube videos explaining the technique on the Internet.  I have many pairs of old jeans and chambray shirts that I was going to give away or throw away.  Now I can cut the best parts of the fabric and start working on some sashiko of my own.  I like that you can even sashiko stitch on the fabric with the sewing machine.

As we came back upstairs to the ground floor a colorful quilt was hanging on the door - no. 58 "Give the Dog a Bone" by Ben Hollingsworth.  The brochure states that "This 'quilt' is a tongue-in-cheek green quilt made from mylar doggie treat bags sewn together.  The back is the mylar used in floral arrangements.  The batting is made from plastic grocery bags that are sandwiched between layers of mesh vegetable bags."  Pretty campy!  

There were quilts hanging on the walls as we went to the second floor.  I liked no. 94 "Josh's Wolves" by Jackie Collopy.  She says that her grandson Josh loves wolves.  He is her 5th grandson and this is his high school graduation quilt.  I took a close picture of the wolf.

Another original quilt hanging in the staircase was quilt no. 92 "Tinseltown Meets Chattahoochee" by Maxine Moore.  It was a guild challenge - making 15 stars using 15 different fabrics.  Maxine says that she interpreted this to include her love of movies and Hollywood.

When I saw this quilt I straight away thought about my friend Naomi in Hollywood of the blog Here in the Hills.  Naomi has been in theater art and show business for decades and regales us with reminiscences and stories on her blog.  Lately she was a judge on Oscar's movies and predicted the top movie winners with 100% accuracy - go to her blog if you do not know it yet.

There were some Christmas themed quilts in one of the bedrooms.

On the wall quilt no. 111 "Winter Socks" by Barbara Means is quite cheerful.

Quilt no. 112 "Christmas Cabins Table runner" by Helga Diggelmann would be a great addition to a lovely dinner table at Christmas time - I like its smooth design.

Upon entering Mittie's Bedroom I was drawn to the chimney where an impressionist style quilt was hanging - no. 129 by Jan Antranikian called "Seasonal Snippets."

On the walls were more lovely quilts.  Little spot lights near the quilts were a bit close and bringing too much light for my picture taking as you can see in the two quilts at the bottom below.  Holly Anderson in quilt no. 133 "Heritage Baskets" in the lower left side, used 3 basket sizes to create a ripple effect.  She says that colors were inspired by Amish and Mennonite quilts of Ohio.  The quilt is titled in honor of her paternal grandfather who was born on a Mennonite farm in Holmes County, Ohio.

A low chest under the window was covered with quilt no. 126 "Cross Roads" by Patricia Ann Simone who says "It's recycled - it's reused - and it's repurposed! Love Grama!" I took a close-up of it as I have been keeping all my husband's ties since the 1960s and, if ever I start a quilt, I could use his ties in this pattern.

There was a truly splendid quilt on the wall near the window but difficult to photograph.  I took a closer photo of the roses - please note all the fancy stitching.  On the door was hanging quilt no. 122 "After the Rain" by Joy Collins featuring luminous roses.  She says "Walking through my English Garden following a spring shower inspired this quilt.  The rain gave a mysterious shine to every flower and leaf.  Even the birds and butterflies capture the glow."  A beauty!

Returning into the hall, angels quilts welcomed us into the Sewing Room.

The Sewing Room is not very large but it had some spectacular quilts.  Quilt no. 146 "Cobblestones" by Katy King was covering a table, and with a bouquet of flowers on it, it made for a striking picture.  It is at the top of this post.  Behind it was quilt no. 143 "Delectable Mountains" by Alberta Irwin.  This was one of my husband's favorites - I guess because of its handsome non-nonsense good looks - no fussy frou-frou.

There were still some historic Bulloch Hall exhibits left in the Wing Room but some quilts were hanging there, too.

Quilt no. 152 by Helga Deggelmann is called "Detour."  She says "Patience is required for this one!"  With the myriad of multicolor squares, I am sure that patience and technique were involved.  Quilt no. 150 "Dreaming in Crimson" by Diane Knott required some patient attention as well.

When I returned to the hall I saw something that I longed for.  You can see it near the cabinet with the family pictures on the shelves ... yes - a chair!  certainly a nice place to sit in after all this standing.  While in this chair I looked at the quilt on top of the opposite piece of furniture, quilt no. 103 "Fire and Ice" by Barbara Rotondi.  Looking at it closely it seems that this quilt could be executed with yarn and knitting instead of quilting, don't you think so?  (click on collage to embiggen.)

Then I went to look at a beautiful quilt spread on top of a low chest, quilt no. 96 "Star and Stripes Forever" by Diane Berdis with a "Please do not sit" sign - but I was rested by then.  There were more quilts hanging from the walls.

There was a dazzling star quilt on the door leading to the attic.  Quilt no. 104 by Lisa Walker "Fireworks at the Capital."  She says "I made this little quilt for the bicentennial while living in Washington, D.C.  We have many happy memories of July 4th at the Capital."   I think it is a good way to end this visit to the second floor - with fireworks!

More quilts to come in my next and final post on the Bulloch Hall quilt show ...