A Happy Surprise at the Fair :)

My blog has been idle for quite some time, after getting busy with the day to day running of a quilt shop ~ and I have some repairs to make to the blog as well (You might notice that the header isn't working so well, but we'll get that fixed again).  But I've missed the blogging, and have been wanting to get it going again, so this seemed like a good post to start sharing with...

This year, for the first time, I decided to enter a quilt in the Howard County Fair...and much to my surprise, these goodies were hanging on it when the girls and I went to the fair mid-week to check it out ~ I was hoping it might get a ribbon, but did not even imagine that it'd get a collection of ribbons!

You might recognize this quilt from it hanging in our shop.  It was my version of the Quilts Around the Bay Shop Hop quilt this year for the Bay Life theme that I made for Spring Water Designs.  I thought this one would be the perfect quilt for a Summer Fair Adventure (and a good kick of for the travels this quilt may take)

I designed the Terrapin and Loon blocks (the top two on the right column), and I designed the setting for the quilt.  The other blocks were designed by shops participating in the shop hop.  I did all the machine applique and machine quilted this quilt with a combination of Free Motion Quilting on the blocks, ruler work on the sashings, and computerized quilting on the borders on a Handi Quilter Avante. 

Here is a closer look at some of the blocks.  The Horseshoe Crab was from Delaware Sewing Center in Dover DE.

 The Star Fish was designed by Prints Charming Quilt Shop in Fulton, MD.

The Flying Geese block was from Blue Hen Quilt Shop in Newark DE, the school of fish from Serendipity in Dagsboro DE, and the Blue Crab from Quilt Vine in Trappe MD on the Eastern Shore.

...The Loon block with the Bay Bridge was the Bonus block designed by me for Spring Water Designs. 

 The Heron was from Tomorrow's Treasures in Crofton MD

 The Monarch Butterfly from Hoppin Bobbin in Aberdeen MD

...and our Diamondback Terrapin block I designed as our official Shop Hop Block from SWD. 

The first Quilts Around the Bay Shop Hop was last March, and it was truly a blast.  We are in the planning stages for the next Quilts Around the Bay Hop that is scheduled for March 2 - 11, 2018, and the theme for next year is Stars Above the Bay! Keep an eye out for more details, and a special joint shop collaborative event September 22 - October 1, 2017 :)  You can follow the Quilts Around the Bay Facebook Page to keep up on all the information, and we'll be keeping you posted in our newsletters and a link on our website homepage as well.  We're so happy to take part in this Shop Hop with such a wonderful group of shops and amazing business owners.  I'm learning so much from them and enjoying getting to know them on a personal level...and that makes this quilt all the more special to me :)

I'm also proud to say that another quilt that I had a small part in won a ribbon in the Howard County Fair this year too ~ Margaret Frederick's amazing Wool Folk Art quilt won a Blue Ribbon!  You can see photos of Margaret's amazing quilt and handwork details in This Post on my blog.

I'll be posting more regularly here on the blog...I promise, so keep checking back or follow through your blog reader. 

Enjoy the Day!

~ Dawn