A Weekend Visit to Marshall, Illinois

The Bunco Club Series brought me three hours south of my Chicagoland home this past weekend when I had two events scheduled in Marshall, Illinois. Marshall is mid-state and just west of Terre Haute, Indiana. It was the perfect spring day for a road trip!

On Saturday I presented a book talk at the Marshall Public Library. Marshall reminded me of my hometown when I was young...before it was swallowed up by the ever-growing suburbs of Chicago.

The Marshall Public Library was wonderful inside an out!

With Sue Guillemette in front of the library. Sue spent a lot of time and had a lot of faith in me when she set up the events of the weekend!

With Edie, library personnel extraordinaire, who saw that everything ran smoothly on Saturday.

Signing and chatting with some of the attendees at the library talk.

Sunday afternoon The National Road Quilters Guild of Marshall hosted me for a guild talk and trunk show of my quilts. I've got a lot of pictures, so I'll just get started.....

The Guild had a "blue jean challenge" and the women brought anything they had made from old blue jeans. I think I loved each item displayed on the tables--but I'll limit the pics to these two pieces.

This tote is unbelievable! The body was made from woven jean strips. Not sure if the quilter made this up or if there is an actual pattern, but I would LOVE to know the name of the pattern if there is one.

Jeans pocket potholder!! (back)

Jeans pocket potholder!! (front)

I didn't get a picture of this, but someone even took a long side seam from a pair of jeans, rolled it up tight, and made a trivet! There are Clever Clever Quilters in Marshall =)

All set up and wetting my whistle before the talk begins.

Telling the guild about my creative journey .... Look at that pile of quilts!

The Trunk Show Begins ... 26 Quilts in All

Fat Quarter Fun

The Thread That Binds -- named after and featured in the one person show of my artwork and quilts at the Christopher Art Gallery.

Feedsack Patches

Thimbleberries, Lazy Crazy Quilt. The one on the left is a friend's quilt that started on fire when a candle in a glass holder exploded (kind of hard to see in this pic). Even though my book is completely made up, I added this little tidbit as a warning to quilters to be careful with candles around their quilts.

Orange Peel Quilt

Bear Down Chicago Bears

Kitchen Tiles

Garden Gate, by Edyta Sitar

Daybreak by Edyta Sitar.

Roman Stripes

Bull's Eye

Grandma's Scrap Bag

Grandmother's Flower Garden

Wind Farm

Lessons from Mama

Monterrey Medallions

Pinwheels and Ribbons

Dutch Treat

Egg Money Quilt, by Eleanor Burns

OMG Quilt

Gathering Basket

60's Quilt (shown sideways because it's so darn long)

Aunt Grace Circle of Friends

I feel I am just about the luckiest person in the world to be able to spend so much time with so many quilters. I just doesn't get any better!

Thank you Sue Guillemette and the National Road Quilters Guild of Marshall, Illinois, for inviting me to share my story with you. It was a memorable experience and I am blessed to have met you.