Applique Competition at IQF

I am NOT one who loves Applique!!! I have a DESIRE to do more but it never makes it to the top of my “To-Do” list!!

For the entrants in the International Quilt Festival Applique Competition, it was obviously at the VERY TOP of their list!!

Here are a few of my favorites…..

The Blue-Ribbon winner was by Akiko Yoshimizu…..

“Cherry Blossom”

You have to get closer to see the details……

…..and EVEN CLOSER…..

Each of these 640 girls are dressed in different outfits, complete with purses and shoes!!

In her artist statement, she says…. “I hope this will make you feel gorgeous as if cherry blossoms are in full bloom, or make you smile and feel kind”

Next is the most fun temperature quilt that I have ever seen. Debra and Donna Lohman worked together to create this sweet project…..

“Almanac Quilt”

Rain, wind, and temperature are all depicted in one quilt design. It combines the days into weeks and an umbrella showcases the high and low temperatures for each day that week.

Raindrops are used to show the amount of rain in that same week and the average wind speed is reflected in the tilt or angle of the umbrella…..

This is SO clever!!!

Next is a quilt by Heidi Proffetty…..

“Cry Me A River”

I had to get “up close and personal” with this quilt to determine how it was made. I discovered that it was fusible applique, leaving tiny strips of white to imitate mosaic grout……

Using a dense filler quilting design greatly emphasized the white lines.

Finally, I enjoyed this quilt from Jan Hutchison…..

“Fandangle”

This was inspired by Uzbekistan traditional textiles. It is machine appliqued and quilted and hand embroidered!!

Seeing these quilts ALMOST makes me want to start an applique project!!!

Come back tomorrow for several interesting Abstract Quilts……

I forgot about this!!

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something in my quilting closet and came across a piece that I had forgotten about completely!!!

The story goes back to 2011 when Michael and I were visiting with friends in Chaing Mai, Thailand. One night after dinner, we headed out to the center of old-town to the Nighttime Walking Market…..isn’t that a great name!!!

The weather didn’t cooperate so we didn’t have long there but I was able to make one special purchase…….

This applique piece is 37 x 20 and is an amazing example of fine applique!!

I love all of the animals, especially the monkey sporting USA Red-white-and-blue…..

And look at the fine appliqued details, especially in the black monkey…..

Those hands are TINY!!

I especially love the fabric used for the river…..

The piece gets even more interesting when you look at the back…..

…..and realize that it is a panel of sorts with the “grass” printed on the fabric and line designs of all of the animals printed as well.

Look at #35 from the back…..

….and then from the front…..

I would love to have seen the people actually doing the applique but this market was just for sales. Sadly, I didn’t pay much for it which means that the creators were making pennies!!

But, what a talent they have!!!

Now the big question is “What do I do with this?”

It is kind of funky and I am not sure that it would hang well in my home. Frankly, that is probably why it was put in a box and forgotten about over 10 years ago!!!

But, maybe it is time to get it out and use it.

What would you do with it??

FABRIC PULL!!!!

I don’t know what your favorite part of a project is, but I LOVE the fabric pull stage. My mind is full of possibilities and going thru the cubbies of fabrics, looking for the perfect ones, is SO…..MUCH……FUN!!

Yesterday’s event was even more fun because I watched my friend Marnie pull fabric for a quilt. Making it even nicer is that this quilt will be a Christmas gift for her friend Mike.

OKAY…..FOR ALL OF YOU WHO KNOW MARNIE AND MIKE……IT IS A SURPRISE SO DON’T TELL!!!

The quilt that she is making will use Laura Heine Guitar Collage…..

This design calls for numerous solid/”reads-as-solid” fabrics for the background and then lots of fussy-cut pieces added as embellishments.

Marnie threw herself into the assignment of choosing fabrics….

….pulling whites, blues, greens, oranges and …..TONS of possible embellishment fabrics.

As she searched, I cleared the cutting table…..

….and covered it with a neutral-colored fabric…..

As much as I like my purple cutting mat, it doesn’t do ANYTHING for helping to discern the true color of the fabrics!!

Marnie picked 8 to 10 fabrics in each color category and LOTS of possible embellishment fabrics. We spread them out to have a look…..

Now it was time to look at each color group and winnow down the options. The whites were the easiest to do so we started with those…..

As we went, Marnie learned how to place the fabrics in succession so that one flowed into the next…..

We now had all of the fabrics selected……

….and could start on the layout process.

It is going to be a great journey. Be sure to come back next week for more!!!

Quilting the jungle….

Yesterday I posted about designing the quilt top and back for my first grandchild’s baby quilt. Needless to say, I was smiling the whole time!!

The real fun came when it was time to quilt it!!

I started out with the lion’s face and mane…..

I was excited to see that the swirl designs were perfect for the mane and paisley designs worked for the lion’s body…..

The crocodile needed some scales to go along with his red toenails…..

I had lots of fun adding a loopy meander to the giraffe…..

The elephant needed some echoes…..

…..and the sky was quilted with a basic meander…..

The final quilt looked great…..

….and the little monkey on the back was so cute…..

When Jenny opened the present, she saw this monkey first and said “It looks like Moochie” (Moochie was the stuffed monkey that she LIVED with for many years). It made my heart so full to hear that!!!

Here is the photo that made the day perfect…..

Now we just need a baby boy to go with it!!!

Grandbaby Quilt!!

Early this year, our daughter Jenny and her husband Kevin announced that they were expecting their first child…..and OUR first grandchild!! Needless to say we were SO excited!!

And of course, my first thought was making a quilt.

When Jenny told me it was a boy and she was thinking about a jungle/safari theme, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make!!

You see, back in the early 1980’s we lived in Australia and there was a sweatshirt pattern in a magazine that I had clipped out to keep. Over the years I had purged many of these patterns but this one had stayed around……