Wednesday 8 March 2017

On the TV Set

Posted By: imamsahara 23:30:00 Leave a Reply

In my post this past Monday, I mentioned I got to be in the audience for the taping of 2 TV quilt shows.

My next-door neighbor is an avid quilter. She invited me to go with her to the studios -- something she has done before. We got there by 8am and left at about 4pm. It made for a long day, but it was very enjoyable.

Our TV hosts were Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson. You may remember Alex from her HGTV show, Simply Quilts some years ago. When HGTV terminated her show, she teamed up with Ricky Tims to record quilting shows for the Internet.

The Quilt Show is only available by a paid subscription ($40 per year, I think) and you get it on your computer. I don't have a subscription and don't plan to get one, but it was fun being in the audience for 2 tapings and seeing how they do things behind the scenes.

The first of the 2 shows was about stained glass quilts -- quilts with black outlines between the pieces. Very pretty. Stunning, even. Here are some of the quilts featured in that segment:

After the first taping, we were released for lunch, which was available at a cafeteria in the building, or we could go out. Karren and I chose to go off property to a soup and salad place.

When a taping was not in progress, we were invited to walk on the set to get a closer look at the quilts. Here I am with a microphone in hand, just goofing off (at their invitation).

Those who wanted were invited to sit in the control room during the tapings.

The afternoon show featured author Meg Cox who likes to make memories with her family and friends using creative traditions and, in this case, with quilts. This quilt (above) was made for her granddaughter to remind her that her grandpa will love her forever, even though he has died. Meg made this quilt with fabric from her husband's shirts.

Ricky Tims and Alex had challenged each other before this day to create a quilt having to do with their favorite Broadway show.

This yellow-gold quilt is Ricky's depiction of the hurricane described in the show Hamilton. If you look very closely in the pink area about midway in the photo, you can see the wording he wrote with free-motion quilting. That is very clever and we applauded him for that; however he humbly admitted he misspelled "hurricane" by leaving of the "e."

Ah yes. Even the best make boo-boos!

This beautiful use of blues and aqua fabrics is Alex Anderson's expression about friendship from her favorite Broadway show, Wicked. I was especially interested in the straight lines of quilting within each squared off piece.

Here is another quilt by Alex that hung above the audience seating area. She does such beautiful work!

At the end of each show, the cameras were turned onto the audience. We were told to tuck away our coats and bags and to sit up straight. We were told when to clap with wild enthusiasm, when to look quiet and approving, and when to laugh heartily. It was fun (and fakey but in a good way).