Jul
6
Hot in Madera
Filed Under Prizes, Quilt shows
| The winner of Jeanne Sullivan’s Simply Successful Appliqué is No. 1, Linda Klauer! Congratulations Linda, I know you will enjoy the book. |
Here’s a quilt tale from the road.
Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes, was displeased last weekend.
I was in Madera, California, at a quilt show, and this was my view.
This is a very pleasing quilt made from all Hawaiian-themed fabrics. Upon closer inspection (which I had plenty of time to conduct), it appeared as though the sleeve had been applied to the wrong end and the quilt was hanging upside down.
Note the boats sailing in the sky, the palm trees growing like Miracle Tomatoes, the motorcycle shack hanging from the ceiling.
Pele displayed her displeasure. It was 104º when I arrived for setup.
Wished I had Sue’s sunbonnet during load-in. Putting the booth up was quite the challenge. At one point I lay down on the cement floor. It felt good but I thought I might scare somebody so I got up.
I learned a new term, that of “swamp cooler.” Alicia explained to me that it’s when air is blown over water (as opposed to refrigeration) for cooling.
Swamp coolers are what we had at the Madera District Fairgrounds. But we were told that two air-conditioning units were being brought in, so we had hopes that the days of the show would be better.
According to the Vibe it was 85º at 9:00 the next morning.
My neighbors were good buddies Shawn of the Rusty Crow and Alicia the Batty Lady.
The Rusty Crow, featuring “Anything Primitive and Scrappy.”
The Batty Lady can answer any question you may have about batting, and probably carries the type you want.
Shawn wished for a piña colada.
Alicia was frying eggs on the metal loading door.
Shawn had thermometers in her booth. Yes, that does read 90º inside.
Here were our two a/c units, demo models at a vendor booth on the other side of the building.
My knitting needles had been in the suitcase in the car.
As you can imagine, the crowds stayed away in droves. But there were some beautiful appliqué quilts in the show.
Celtic Spring by Virginia McClaren
Daisy Dance by Melinda Worstein
Civility by Barbara Haggard
And they had the loveliest retrospective displays I’ve ever seen.
The guild members were very supportive, bringing us cold water, encouraging us to take our time packing out, and helping us tear down. Thank you, ladies.
It was 105º as I headed home.
When I got to Casa de Fruta it was 92º and their chocolate goodies were melting and stuck together. I received a discount on my fudge-covered oreo.
By the time I got back to Santa Cruz it was 66º. I told Dana, “It’s freezing over here!” I was mighty glad to get home.
I hope you are staying cool,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Comments
3 Responses to “Hot in Madera”
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I’m on the East Coast and we are having the brutal 90’s. Love the humor of your fellow vendors, and the quilts look gorgeous. I love the colors of Daisy Dance and the perfect setting of Civility. Congrats to Jeanne.
Totally sympathize with you about the swamp coolers. This same thing happened to me and my Mom upon visiting the Inland Empire Quilt Show – when it got to 95 inside I had to leave as I suffer from heat exhaustion when it gets that hot. My mom and I were sad to leave as it was a lovely show just like the Madera one. What beautiful quilts they had. Thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful quilt show and a shame there weren’t more people. It is hitting 90 here and that is way too hot for me.
Debbie