Vermont Quilt Festival 2009

Detail, traditional Hunter's Star quilt.

Theme room signage at a hotel linked to a culinary arts school.





My husband and I visited the 2009 Vermont Quilt Festival, staying at the Inn at Essex, a resort affiliated with the New England Culinary Institute, and a five-minute drive from the show locale.

Since I had a quilt entered in the show, we were able to attend the champagne and chocolate reception on Thursday evening, open only to class registrants and entrants. I'm glad that we had the limited admission opportunity, as the show was just packed with quilt viewers the next day.

Two cavernous halls filled with contest quilts, special exhibits, vendors and visitors from all over.

Montreal is only two hours away by car.

My overall impression is of very well-presented show, with a partiality towards traditional use of color and technique, with machine quilting now part of that tradition. Most designs were based on classic piecing and applique patterns, and used commercial fabrics. Hand-dyes, embellishments, and surface design were less in evidence than at other shows I've attended. Below are just a few of the quilts I found interesting.

A sashiko sampler; the squares were produced individually in a quilt-as-you go manner.

















Easy-to-piece, but effective, pattern.

Detail of a luminous pineapple quilt by teacher Jane Hall.
One reason I like it is the use of black.

A poor photo of a very well-done quilt. You've heard of fan art and fan fiction? This is a fan quilt, based on a Manga (Japanese graphic novel) cat character called Loki.

Another easy-to-piece design that packs a punch of color.
As the maker noted, this quilt is from a pattern featured in a Hancock's of Paducah catalog, but is easy to adapt.

The fairgrounds sign.

It's definitely a good idea to allow two days, at least, to see all the antique quilts and other special exhibits, as well as the contest quilts, and to check out the many vendors.











A fun side trip is the Shelburne Museum, www.shelburnemuseum.org.