On the Road with Sweet Potato Quilts and Don't Forget...

This posting has two parts. The first is about my beloved orange aka sweet potato quilts. But the second part is more important. Read on...while on a trip to the folks at Avlyn Fabrics in Phoenix AZ, I gave a talk on Sweet Potato Quilts at The Bernina Connection. Sweet potato quilts FYI are the quilts with lots of gold-orange and North Carolina seems to have an abundance of them. Some collectors call the color 'cheddar' but this is a recent term. I prefer the label 'sweet potato' because that covers all shades from yellow through dark rusty red.

The store put all orange fabrics on sale at a 25% discount that night. As an extra treat, the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission (yes, there is such an entity) sent recipe cards for the crowd and refreshments (hot cider, coffee, sweet potato pie, empanadas, and cookie bars) were served. Richard Gross, prez of Avlyn Fabrics, is not only a foodie but a cook. He made the cookie bars and they were a hit! Go to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission website www.ncsweetpotatoes.com and click 'recipes' and then the bars, called Abracadabra Bars, are the first click under 'desserts.'

Here are a few of the pairs of quilts (antique and a contemporary quilt inspired by the antique) that I showed Wednesday night. The large lavender/orange quilt is from North Dakota and I call the smaller version Dakota Flower.


And then there's an old Pine Tree quilt bought at an auction for a whopping $12. It inspired a much larger bed quilt I call Flame Tree, shown here as an unquilted top.

The triple-sashing on the antique quilt (left) is typical of North Carolina quilts but the 'lightening' set of the new piece is more Kentucky-ish.
Love them both.


And now for part #2: go to this link http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltauction.html and you'll see an usual phenomenon in the quilt world: otherwise friendly compatriots locked in a battle for quilting supremacy. If you like WFW (World Federation Wrestling) you gotta see the  first World Quilt Federation Smackdown Auction. It's for a great cause--Alzheimer's research--and the quilts are mini-masterpieces by the best in the business. Bid now!