2020 Mountain Quiltfest

I wanted to go to Quiltcon this year but it just wasn't in the cards. There is always next year. I did get to go to Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge. It's in my own backyard so it doesn't make sense to not go. Unfortunately, I only got to go the last day. I was unable to make it to any of the special events or classes but I did enjoy seeing the show.

Mom and I got there a little after 1. That meant we had 4 hours and we had missed all the antique quilt bed turnings. We did get recognized by some of the ladies from our area shops that we visit. I am on a budget this year because I'm planning a trip to Florida in May, so I have a small haul. I got three mystery charm packs from Missouri Star and three fat quarters from Mountian Creek Quilt Shop.

One of the fun things was a lady brought her pet monkey. It was cute as can be. She said he was a baby and could not be left alone. I didn't try to pet him because he was very agitated by the crowds. Of course, the quilts are a major highlight. It's always fun to see what people have done. One year I'm going to submit one of my quilts. I just need to get the guts to do it.

I have more photos available to see on my google photos album. I took over 50 photos, so there is no way to include them all here.

I'm going to do a double tea today. Normally just one tea spotlight a day but since I didn't post much I've got a few extra photos. I have a holiday tea to share. It's the Harney & Sons 2020 Lunar New Year Tea. It's got a toasted rice and coconut flavor to it. I would say it's not something I want all the time but it was a nice specialty tea. I did buy it and the Birthday Party tea because they had a special of two for $15 going on. I also recently found a vintage storage jar at a thrift shop. I reorganized my tea area upstairs so that I would have more space and store things better.

Mountain Quiltfest Day 2 Antique Quilts

Friday was a good day for demos and visiting the bed turnings as they call them. They're about 30-minute shows where they go over several antique quilts. They give you the history that is known and who made the quilt. Of course, the sad part is lots of quilts are never labeled so we don't always know who made it.

They also have a display of crafts done at the time that use the same techniques and fabrics like a quilted vest and pillowcases made out of feed sackcloths. If you have antique quilts you can have them appraised at the show for a very reasonable rate.

The presentation was very informative and sparked a bit of interest in antique quilts. I have lots of the quilts shown in both presentations in my Mountain Quiltfest photo album.

Many of the quilts are made out of feed sackcloth and some are made out of scraps of different types of fabrics. The backs of some of the quilts are done from sackcloths.  The history of feed sackcloth in quilting is a very interesting and ingenious use of fabric that could have been thrown away at one time.

Mountain Quiltfest 2019 Pigeon Forge, TN

So this week was the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge TN. This is actually my third time coming to this convention. It's been several years and this is actually my first time going to it's the newer location. The convention has been held at this location for the last several years I just hadn't been able to go for one reason or another. I think the last time I went was 2013. It was in two hotels at that time and both hotels were at different ends of the main parkway.  The current location is a large event space called the Leconte Center. It shares a parking lot with a location called the Island which has restaurants, arcades, shops, and a huge Ferris wheel.

The Quilt show this year went for March 20th to March 23rd. They had lots of classes but several of
they filled up fast. Next year's show will be March 4th to the 7th. My original plan was to go one day to the show on Thursday and Friday we were going to Nashville for a concert. I had won tickets to through the local radio station. We left the show Thursday night and were heading home for some sleep and the station I got my tickets from no longer existed. It had been sold and changed hands while I was at the show. I called the venue for the concert and no one had turned in the list for the will call tickets. So my Friday plans fell apart and so we went back to the quilt show.

They had a passport/ scavenger hunt game going on that we didn't notice on Thursday so we did that and went to several of the demos and antique quilt turnings. I will do a separate entry on the antique quilts but I am glad I went back. We got a lot of things on our first day and the second day but I did pick up some thread.

Thread from Friday

Loot from Thursday

I have part of the photos taken on my google photos album. My battery had died halfway through the show and I had given my extra batteries to mom. Once I get a chance I will get a copy of her photos to put in my album also.

The tea for today was a Pomegranate Green Tea. We had stayed at a hotel weds night so we could get to the show early Thursday. Breakfast was left overs from dinner the night before and I grabbed the hot tea in hotel breakfast area. We also ended the night at the Apple Barn for a fired pie and hot cider for dinner. It had gotten cold so that hit the spot.