... And you all came too! I bet you didn't know it, but you had a great time! Every year there is a wonderful outdoor quilt show on the first Saturday of August in Eureka, Montana. Since 2008 a bunch of us get together for the trip and shop our way down to the border before we cross over and shop all the more. And this year was no exception in terms of great finds, fun times, and lots of fondling of fabric.
We departed on Thursday morning and headed straight for Kalispell, a city about 1.5hrs south of the border. We stayed in Kalispell to shop and visit with people until Saturday morning when we headed back North to take in the show. Thursday night we found a fabulous Italian restaurant and then relaxed in our downtown hotel room. Friday arrived bright and early and we started things off with a bang by meeting the area's renowned long arm quilter Vicki Ibison.
Vicki is a self taught - yes, you read that correctly - long arm quilter whose skills are coveted from far and wide. Currently she is the chief quilter of Judy Niemeyer. Judy is well know for her fabulous colourwork and intricate paper pieced designs. Every year she has something new to show off at Quilt Market and all of her projects are quilted by Vicki. Vicki owns a Gammill that has taken over her basement and doesn't have a stitch regulator... Yep, every feather, every curve, every intricate detail is all self guided. WOWSA!
A true master of the feather, Vicki's self-taught method is a blend of Sally Terry's "Hooked On Feathers", Karen McTavish's "The Art of McTavishing", and her own creative ability to see the project area in terms of design and feather concepts. She recently quilted a project that was a joint effort between Judy Niemeyer and Brian Dykhuizen - fabric dyer, quilt designer, family man, and quilter. The quilt is this year's Flathead Area Quilter's Guild raffle quilt (the crazy purple one above). YES! I bought tickets!!
One of our travel companions, Loa, dropped a quilt off with Vicki, so when the project is completed I'll be sure and give you an update. Vicki has a ton in line before Loa's, so it may be a while, but we can be patient for such fabulous work! Thanks again Vicki for the visit and happy quilting!
Until my next travel update...
Heather
9 comments:
Hello again, Heather. Just read your blog...you are a fantastic writer!! Your photos of the quilting did turn out beautiful also...your little camera did an amazing job. Glad you all a great trip down here to the beautiful Flathead Valley. I look forward to seeing you again. Take good care of yourself! Vicki ~~~
Sounds like so much fun!
Love the photos of some fabulous quilting. Sounds like a fun time.
She really does beautiful work. I wish I had a long arm, would love to do quilting like that. Well, at least try, lol.
Debbie
Oh what fun!
That would have been great fun... We are actually going down Tomorrow... Just missed the show...Maybe next year I will be there for this.
My goodness, such amazing creativity!!!! It's mindboggling all those tiny details!! Thanks for sharing your great trip!!
Just WOW!!!
greetings from Holland,
Ineke
Hi, Heather! Just wanted to share with you that Barb (the owner of the applique quilt you saw)picked up the finished project this a.m. She almost cried. Gratitude like that is such a wonderful reward in itself. I'm so grateful to be able to work from home & to have such beautiful quilts to do my quilting on. I never dreamed I'd ever be quilting for others...especially for Judy Niemeyer. Forgot to tell you that Judy was my very first teacher in 1992 when I pieced my first quilt top. That was back in the day when she was working at the Quilt Gallery part-time and hand quilting as her other part-time job. She is a beautiful hand quilter!
I gave Barb your blog site as I told her you have pics of her quilt on it. Love you Camas photos...it truly is a beautiful shop! Have a great weekend! Vicki
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