Port Gamble quilt show and Sujata Shah talk

View from my lunch table at the General Store!

The Port Gamble Fiber and Fabric Show is where I spent Saturday, and the weather cooperated with sparkling sun and beautiful views of the water.

After browsing through the quilts at the show, I headed over to The Quilted Strait, in the photo above in an old stable, for a lecture and trunk show by Indian-American quilter Sujata Shah. It was great!

Sujata grew up in India, surrounded by glorious colors. (When she moved to the San Francisco area at age 22 she said she struggled with the grey.) 

Her talk focused on the influence of these colors and patterns on her current art. She loves the beauty of the imperfection of hand work, so her quilt blocks are purposely not perfect, with points that are cut off and curved lines instead of straight. This creates a wonderful sense of movement lacking in many perfectly geometrical quilts.

Here are a few of the quilts she showed during the talk.

I bought a copy of her book, "Cultural Fusion Quilts," and eagerly devoured it while I waited for my almond-crusted French toast at the General Store restaurant.

Next, I wandered through the vendors scattered throughout the little town. I hit the jackpot for wool because Darlene Sabo of Olympic Wool Works in Port Angeles was there with stacks and stacks of luscious wool that she hand dyed. She sells on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/OlympicWoolWorks.

I couldn't decide between her spring and tropical bundles, above, so I bought both! I also bought a fat quarter of marbled wool, below, which I'd never seen before. It was really hard to pick out just one color, but I use orange a lot so I went with that.

At The Quilted Strait, I had a $25 credit to use so I bought a selection of hand-dyed perle cotton embroidery thread by Weeks Dye Works www.weeksdyeworks.com. I use that for embellishing my wool appliqué.

From a local vendor whose business card I lost (she was really nice, so I feel bad about that), I bought   a length of hand-dyed silk ribbon, also to use in embellishing quilts.

Another vendor was selling little pieces of wool for 45 cents, so I selected a few. But the biggest thrill of the day was being given my very own pink pussy hat at the Artful Ewe II. The woman said she was giving them for free to anyone who would wear one, so I put mine on and didn't get a second glance (as far as I know) as I walked back to the car with it on. She's given out more than 300 so far.

p.s.  Here's my quilt, "Just for Fun," which was in the show. I heavily embellished it with hand embroidery and beading, "just for fun."

And here is a view looking out from inside the quilt show. It's a popular wedding site in the summer.

Have a colorful day