Last week, at the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show in Lancaster PA, all the quilts were fabulous!  I admit I supported the vendors generously.  But I have to share this story.

In between the crowds, I was taking a photo of one of the wall quilts, an undersea landscape quilt of dimensional corals, seahorses, fish, seashells and dimensional seaweed, quilted in watery waves and splashes and bubbles and sparkles. 



Camouflage At Sea - by Flora Joy

 There are fish hiding behind the corals!

A lady reached out from the crowd and pointed toward the quilt. I hoped she knew we are not supposed to touch the quilts! She was pointing to a big button on the quilt. Then she reached out for the button, grabbed it and started yanking on the button! I just about had a heart attack! She must have enjoyed the look on my face as she grinned and explained "It's my quilt!" She was Flora Joy, the quiltmaker!

The buttons on the quilt are magnetic. Each of the 3 corals has a magnetic button, and allows the coral to be opened like a book to reveal the camouflaged fish! Of course, we are still not supposed to touch the quilts. But Flora enjoyed opening the buttons for me to take pictures, and gave me permission to share them.




Flora Joy sharing the secrets in her quilt.

 








Who is lurking behind that black rock?

 

Of course! It's a ROCK fish.



What a special treat, meeting the quiltmaker in person!

Next post, I hope to share some of the beautiful Amish quilts from the Esprit collection that we saw at the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum in Lancaster.