Friday, September 26, 2008

Fargo Quilt Show

Last weekend my mom and I attended the Indian Summer Quilt Show and Conference held in Fargo. We had a great time taking classes from Ellen Anne Eddy and browsing all of the quilts and vendors. I entered two of my quilts. Bead Crazy won a first place ribbon in its category as well as a Speciality Art Quilt Award. I was blown away from the gift basket I received from Mill End Textiles of Fargo. 51 half yard cuts of fabric and a gift certificate. I believe my exact quote was "holy shit" when I went up to get my award.
I also entered my newest quilt, Vase of Sunflowers and although it did not place in its category, it did receive an instructors choice award from Wendy Butler Berns.

I had the extreme pleasure of taking two days of classes from Ellen Anne Eddy. She is a fantastic quilt artist using her machine to embellish and create the most whimsical wonderful quilts.

Here I am with Ellen, in front of one of her may quilts she brought to share. It is not often I meet someone shorter than me, I am only 5'3".

Ellen had so many great techniques and ideas to share. Every quilt she created seemed to present new ideas and challenges. I also found out she is a greyhound lover and currently has 3 rescued dogs. I have rescued 2 greyhounds and loved each of them dearly, such a gentle breed.

Here is just one example of the many quilts Ellen brought to share......

A little closer view of the fish.....
She does all of her work by machine, either top stitching or bobbin work. Everything on her quilts are so full of texture.

For my class project I was inspired by this rose of Ellen's
I think mine lacks a bit of drama, but I mostly wanted to get something together and try out the machine work. The shinny bit at the top is some angelina fibers.
Ellen introduced me to so many products I had never tried and a few I had never heard of it will be fun trying some of them in my own projects.

8 comments:

Terri Stegmiller said...

Woo hoo!!!! Congrats on the big win. That sounds like an awesome prize and I think my reaction would have been quite similar.

imquilternity said...

Your quilt is absolutely gorgeous!! Ellen Anne Eddy is great, isn't she? I've seen her (& her quilts) at my local guilds and her work is just incredible! Lucky you getting to take a class/workshop with her.

BYW, Fargo is a great place (shhhh...it's a well-kept secret) and I always visit Mill End Textiles when I'm there!

Darcie said...

Yippee!!! Congratulations on the honors! It all was very "deserving" of your reaction! ;-) Too funny. Were the mics on?!

I got to view some of EAE's quilts up close and personal a few years back...when I helped hang quilts in a show in Duluth. Many of her quilts are small...but oh-my-goodness are they ever heavy with all of the thread and fibery goodness!

Glad you had a terrific weekend! Thanks for sharing the pics, Amy!

Nellie's Needles said...

Happy Dancing going on for you! Woo Hoo!

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

Congratulations on your quilt awards. And how I would love to have been in that workshop with Ellen Anne Eddy. Your project looks great. Thanks for sharing.

allie aller said...

So glad you got a ribbon, Amy!

Ellen is a good friend and neighbor of Pat Winter's in Indiana...

http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/

It is a small world in our online textile universe...

Pat Winter Gatherings said...

Congratulations!!! I think your flower is beautiful! I visited Ellen today and her three greyhounds. They are so sweet. Ellen mentioned one of my blog reader's said Hi! So...Hi back :-)
Now you see why I can't stay away from Ellen's studio? Her work draws me in like a moth to the light. Not to mention Ellen's delightful personality.We made a flower together today and I can't wait to play with my machine soon!Ellen is so patient!
Pat

GraceBeading said...

Wow Amy... the quilts are breathtaking in photos, I can only imagine what they must be like in person. Congrats on your win, sounds like quite a treasure.

I really like your rose, I think it's beautiful, thanks for sharing!