Easy Quilt Pattern

Quilters gathering for annual show at Ravalli County Fairgrounds

HAMILTON - With the soothing sounds of 1940s big band music floating in the air, the Bitterroot Quilters Guild busily readied the First Interstate Center on Thursday and Friday for its annual quilt show.

Ten rows of zig-zagging racks filled the room while a group of women worked to cover them in white muslin fabric.

"It's a lot of preparation work," said Sue Anne Iman, co-chairman of the guild.

And while the white muslin looked plain, come the weekend, the room will be bursting with a whole host of colors and patterns.

The annual quilt show, titled "A Sentimental Journey," runs both Saturday and Sunday at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds. Events run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Coming up with a theme for the biennial event is no easy task, according to the guild's two chairmen.

"It was hard," Iman said.

"You want something that will lend itself to décor," added Jamie Grant, guild co-chairman. "It seemed like it could go a lot of different directions."

The spirit of "Sentimental Journey" will be captured by the Route 66 Café set up for food, or benches for bus stops, or old suitcases and hat boxes.

But the real magic comes from the more than 300 quilts that will be on display in both the First Interstate Center and the arts building.

Most of the 60 exhibitors come from the Bitterroot Quilters Guild. That is more than half of all the guild members.

"We use the show to showcase our own work," Grant said.

Quilts will be in one of a number of categories, including traditional, innovative, pictorial, original art, home décor, antique, juniors and group, to name a few.

"It's a pretty big deal," Iman said.

The show will also feature a number of vendors, lining the sides of the First Interstate Center. Vendors include Patchwork Quilts, In Good Company and Cotton Capers out of Choteau.

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Out in the arts building, the guild's Quilts for Kids program will be showcasing the types of quilts they provide to the community. The group gives out more than 100 quilts a year to places like Emma's House, Bitterroot Youth Home, as well as a number of fire departments across the valley.

But the show isn't just for looking. For quilters hoping to pick up a few new tricks of the trade, a variety of demonstrations are scheduled for every hour of the weekend. Demonstrations will be on various topics such as bindings, English paper piecing, rotary cutting and fabric dying.

Baby Quilt Pattern Made Easy

A baby quilt is a fabulous item for snuggling and welcoming a new baby into this world, and in this video you’ll see a fantastic way to easily design a quilt in a pattern that the new mom and baby will treasure. Natalie from Missouri Star Quilt Company shows us an easy, simple and beautiful way to create a baby quilt pattern using a charm pack of Kona quilting squares in solid pastel colors. This idea works well for making a quilt that would be appropriate for baby girl or boy.

Referred to as Charm Squares or Charm Packs, these collections of 5″x5″ squares of fabric are widely used to make quilts. These “charming” medleys are extremely easy to piece together for making fantastic designs. They are very affordable to allow your imagination to soar when you create custom quilt designs, or they can be used to make your favorite traditional pattern. Quilt patterns can be assembled without a fuss over choosing colors or cutting uniform sizes of fabric.

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