“Garden of Eating”

Sue Grennan has done it again!  Quietly, without fanfare – in fact without even a mention or a hint – she has completed a spectacular quilt and has placed it on display at the Peninsula Quilt Guild’s 19^th Annual Quilt Show, “Quilting at the Beach.”  It is a standout which, to my way of thinking, is saying a lot because every quilt in the show is spectacular.

The quilts are hung in every available display space at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum – a veritable maze of patterns and colors and textures and themes.  Some made me long to snuggle under them for a nice long nap.  Others made me wish that I had more bedrooms so I could become a collector and display them like the Shelburne does theirs — though I have no desire to be an innkeeper!  I had to try hard to remember “Thou shalt not covet…”

The Cauliflower Block

But it was Sue’s quilt that really blew me away.  Each quilt block features a highly stylized and instantly recognizable vegetable, hand appliqued with the tiniest stitches imaginable.  The colors soothe, yet compel, and I found myself smiling and smiling as I stood back for the big look and then drew closer to inspect the details and then backed away yet again.

In the space designated for telling ‘the story’ of the quilt, Sue wrote:  “I made this quilt instead of baking sugar cookies.”  That was all.  So very Sue!  Ever since the first (and only other) quilt of hers I’ve seen – two years ago at the 17^th Annual – I’ve been asking if she’s been working on another.  The answer has always been vague.  Non-specific to the max.

The Pumpkin Block

Talk about hiding your light under a bushel…  I wish I could think of a similar metaphor relating to quilts but all I can come up with in this case is an image of Peter Rabbit hiding among the cabbages in Farmer McGregor’s garden…

The only down side (so to speak) to the Quilt Show is that it’s up for just three days and today is the last of them.  If you are within hailing distance of Ilwaco, it is definitely a Drop-Everything-And-Go! opportunity.  Way better than sugar cookies no matter how you look at it!