Quilt Show

I went to the Monahans Quilt Show on Saturday and had a wonderful time. My friend Nita Rice, pictured below was the feature quilter. I have known Nita for many years (even taught her granddaughter) and have really enjoyed her humor, love of scrap quilts and friendship. She moved to Andrews a few years ago and getting to see her and spend time with her are some
rare and precious times.

I took some pictures of a few of Nita's quilts and asked her if I could put her and her quilts on my blog. Thankfully she said yes so I could share them with all of you. She had about 25 quilts at the show, but I only took pics of three of them. The above quilt, if I remember correctly, is a Pam Bono design. Nita and fellow gypsy quilters Hazel and Patty all made their own versions of this quilt over at Hazel's house. They used to get together and sew on Friday and Saturdays and I would sometimes stop in on Saturdays to see what they were up to. This quilt was one of the things Nita was up to on one of those Saturdays. It turned out beautiful.

This quilt is one of Nita's famous scrappy quilts. It has lots and lots of different fabrics that she has pulled from her stash to create this beautiful work of art. Nita's stash and my stash could exist happily together for ever and ever. That is how long it would take one person to work their way through both of our stashes.

The above quilt is one of my favorites. This quilt pattern is called "Braced Bees". I first saw this pattern when it was used as the raffle quilt for the Midland Quilt Guild many years ago. That quilt was beautiful and I liked it, but didn't love it. It didn't have the same feel as this quilt and I figured out why. That raffle quilt and every Braced Bee quilt I have ever seen was made with 30's fabric. I like some of the 30's fabrics, but I am not a total 30's kind of gal. Nita's fabric choices (yes, it's another scrappy quilt) just seem to make this quilt sing. It's not a pastel quilt, but it's not bold and in your face with the color either. It's just a soothing blend of colors that make you feel calm and loved. That perfect feeling that a great quilt should convey when you are rapped up on a cold and rainy day like yesterday was. (okay, not exactly cold, but very rainy)