Quilting in the Garden with Some Quilting Super Stars

While I missed my chance to see the space shuttle Endeavor fly over Silicon Valley...I did meet a quilting super star...Alex Anderson!!  I registered for "An Evening with Alex Anderson" as part of Quilting in the Garden, hosted by Alden Lane Nursery.  I gave myself an extra hour to arrive early for a good spot.  But once I left GPS warned me there was a 43 minute delay!!!  I thought for sure it had to be a glitch and reprogrammed the address and yup...43 minute delay which actually turned out to be a full hour delay as I arrived several minutes late!  But all my aggravation melted away once I arrived, sampled some delicious cheesecake and Alex started sharing her quilting adventures.  She really is an amazing quilter and such a fun personality!

Alex Anderson's gorgeous quilts

Since she is local she brought several of her finished quilts to do a mini trunk show.  While all her quilts were gorgeous, I especially enjoyed watching her styles and techniques progress.  I was especially drawn to some of her most recent works...absolutely stunning!  She also brought a quilt comprised of 6" blocks made by many of the guest artists on The Quilt Show!

While I was still new to quilting, Alex's Simply Quilts show on HGTV was my only quilting community.  She and her featured guest quilters provided so much inspiration, introduction to new techniques and tools and motivation to keep quilting.  So her presentation was a real treat!

Judy Mathieson quilt featured on the cover of her book

We also got a preview of the featured artist, Judy Mathieson and her gorgeous compass star quilts.  Of course after the presentations, I rushed over to meet both quilters, armed with a sharpie marker and copies of their books for signing.

We returned to Alden Lane Nursery the next day for the quilt show.  The nursery provided a beautiful backdrop for the 250+ quilts displayed in their centuries old oak trees, along the exteriors of buildings, inside their greenhouse and even over an antique wagon!  There was just so much eye candy to absorb...all you had to do was look up.

Quilts blowing in the gentle fall breeze--we will definitely visit again next year!