OHIO OUTDOOR QUILT FESTIVAL 2013

I recently attended the annual Ohio Outdoor Quilt Festival held in Wellington, Ohio on August 10th. It is held at the Bonnie Brae Elk Farm.  They hold this once a year dating back to 2005 and showcase over 400 quilts by hanging them on century old buildings.  They also have them inside the buildings as well.

An excerpt from their brochure:  "The Ohio Outdoor Quilt Festival is not a juried show.  The show has a vitality that can only come from displaying the vibrant colors or a 10 year old's first quilt beside the sophisticated artistry of a quilter whose work has toured nationally.  Some of the quilts are purely traditional while some are clearly experimental.  Many quilts are newly completed and some have been retired after years of dedicated service.  Not limited to admiring the craftsmanship of experts, the Ohio Outdoor Quilt Festival also strives to celebrate the love of quilting in all its myriad forms." 

I live approximately 35 miles away, and wonder why in the world I never was aware of this show before the last couple of years!!!! A Big Duh!!

I didn't take pictures of all the quilts, but I tried to get most of them:)  Following are some of the pictures that I snapped.

FRONT

BACK

Here I am pointing to my quilt that took me over a year to finish, right up to the day before I turned it in for the show.  The Church needed a steeple and the bird house needed a perch.  Which you can't see either anyway!

This antique quilt was in one of the barns, so light wasn't that great!  I never took the time to appreciate the old quilts until the last few years.  Maybe because I have been making quilts for awhile now and hope some of them will have a good long life and be enjoyed by generations down the road?

Imagine, over a hundred years old!

You can only hope that your quilts will have longevity too!!

A beautiful cross stitched quilt.

If I remember correctly, this was all hand quilted.

BEAUTIFUL WORKMANSHIP

Many many years ago, my husband's mother bought his 2 sisters and me a queen size cross stitch quilt top to make.  Mine were in these colors as above.......... She also bought all the floss that was needed for all 3 quilts.  Somewhere along the line of raising 4 children and working part time, I forgot about the lovely quilt top that I was cross stitching.  We decided to downsize our house after 3 of our children married and moved out.  So, I hadn't worked on the quilt for many years and put it in a garage sale.  Oh the things you do and regret in life.  Seeing these beautiful cross stitched quilts made me sad that I had done such a stupid thing!!!

Hope you enjoyed the tour......... now back to getting my signature blocks finished:)

Sharon