Quilts in Full Bloom

Aurifil Threads sponsored the “In Full Bloom” exhibit at the International Quilt Festival and the quilts just made you smile!!

Being a HUGE sunflower fan, I immediately headed to this quilt made by Marinda Stewart….

I especially liked the center of the sunflower. She used lots of dimensional touches, including yo-yo’s……

It was VERY effective!!

Next is “Orange Orchid” by Ann Harwell……

This quilt would have also fit in the Abstract Category and I found it fascinating!!

One of the things that I noticed was the quilting. In the class I took from Christa Watson, she encouraged us to use “non-straight” lines, which is so effective here…..

Mary Lynne Izzo presented us with Van Gogh’s Flowers……

The most impressive thing about this quilt were the handwork touches that she added to the pictures….

“Hummingbird Garden” from Linda Waddle was a favorite because of the background…..

She said that it started as a Shibori dye and she decided it looked like tall grasses and turned it into a garden!! She found the perfect balance between embellishing, painting and quilting…….

Kim Folger hand-appliqued this beauty……

She said that she spent more than 1000 hours on the applique alone!!

I love the emotions evoked by this pink tree by Jill Ortlip…..

This is an excellent use of fabrics…..even incorporating some fun gingham fabrics!!

“Dyeing for a Cup of Tea” by Felice Dahlhausen…..

….also started with a Shibori dyed fabric. She worked wonders with the designs!!!

Well, I started with a sunflower so will end with one as well (by Jill Ortlip and quilted by Sharon Vitt)……

Naturally, all I could see were the flowers, but when I read the title “The Summer Buzz”. I returned to the quilt and found the 9-patch Honeybee blocks…..

These are SO fun!!!

Come back tomorrow for the “Hand Made” exhibition….. again…..a category that I will NEVER be able to enter!!