Ah, homeward bound! We loved meeting all these wonderful quilters over the last three and a half weeks, but I was ready to be home. I was actually missing our lightly steamed veggie and fresh fruit diet. Who knew?
So, after another night’s rest, and we headed north a short distance to go to Jukebox Quilts. I knew it as an online store which sold Tsukineko inks. I didn’t realize it was in Grand Junction, and that it was now mainly the authorized dealer for Gammill Quilting Systems in five states. We had a nice time meeting Kelly and her husband. Kelly also curated “Thread Tails and Vapor Trails,” a quilting contest honors the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation. For the last year or so, my “Flight of Fancy” quilt traveled as part of this exhibit.
We were heading out of Fort Collins by late morning. Our destination for the day: Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. The museum had an exhibit of mosaic quilts called “An Elegant Geometry: American and British Mosaic Patchwork.” (If you love antique quilts, be sure to follow that link!) Many of these were constructed using the English paper piecing technique for piecing hexagons, and you can still see the 200-year-old paper on the reverse side. I particularly enjoyed seeing these quilts since I hand pieced and hand quilted two, 2000-piece, Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts myself.
The quilt above with the red border was made between 1860 and 1880. I found it particularly interesting since it is machine quilted with double rows of stitching!
The museum also has two little booths where you can record your own quilt story, so I brought in “Blue Dave,” “Sheer Whim,” and “Windblown” on my iPad. I fumbled through a short recording of my own, but now I wonder if there was a way to focus it better. At least you can hear me! The first recording I did was on “mute.” Well, aren’t we all technologically challenged in some way?
The rest of our trip home was wonderfully uneventful. We made one stop at The Quilted Kitty on the way out of Lincoln, but sadly, sweet hubby stayed focused on our final destination from there on out. After ten different beds in 23 days, sinking into my own bed once we finally returned home was heavenly!