Category: International Quilt Festival

Hands All Around

The definition of the “Hands All Around” category has always confused me a bit….

…..but I did like several of the quilts that were displayed!!

This quilt is made out of bits and pieces left from jeans that were used in another quilt……

“Boys Jeans” by Susan Santos

This quilt represents Taiwan’s traditional folk beliefs.

“Belief” by Pei Ying Li

This is an unusual collage-style quilt because it has a lot of quilting on it!!

Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry always finds ways to show off her quilting and this is no exception. She designed the quilt in Corel Draw and then had it printed at Spoonflower……

“Zigzags & Circles #4” by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry

The attention to detail in this collage quilt was equally amazing….

“To Pray” by Hsi-Chen Hsu

This next quilt was so striking and I was immediately drawn to it……

“Face The World” by Nate Robbins

The beard shows a remarkable use of fabrics…..

This final one was my favorite in the category…..

“Au Pays Des Geishas” by Caterhine Cerre, quilted by Brigitte Dumaine

It is such a fun quilt and there are so many details to enjoy…..

The category was a mixed bag but provided more opportunities to ogle BEAUTIFUL quilts!!!

Tomorrow we are going to look at some quilts from my home state of TEXAS…..stay tuned!!

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If you don’t want to miss my personal tour of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, be sure to subscribe…….

Handmade at the International Quilt Festival

I am always captivated with the handmade quilts, even though you will NEVER see me making one!! My Mom hand-pieceed and quilted and I have a great appreciation for that work!!

This was the First-Place winner……

“Flowers In Bloom” by Ayako Kawakami

….and the detail was incredible!!

….down to the edging….

The second place quilt was…..

“Flower Calendar” by Sachiko Chiba

…and the quilting is outstanding!!

This was Third Place….

“Reflection in Blue” by Eriko Kubo

In her Artist’s Statement, she talks about the tranquility of the Cold Blues and Whites….what a great description.

This next quilt is stunning…..

“Smile For You” by Keiko Minami

…but look at the dazzling quilting…..

This quilt made me feel like I was in the tropics…..

“One Calm Day” by Shigeko Haruki with 6 friends

I originally thought that this quilt had incorporated doilies, but then realized that each of those motifs were embroidered and quilted……

“Heart & Soul” by Jackie Perry

This quilt appealed on many levels……

“Autumn Swag” by Linda Roy

The colors are so satisfying and, of course, the quilting was crazy…..

Remember….this is all HAND QUILTING!!!

Finally, there was this sampler quilt…..

“Assorted Miniatures” by Sue Sherman

But would you be surprised to learn that it is about the size of my hand…..

All I could say was “OH MY”!!!

Come back tomorrow for the “Hands All Round” exhibit!!

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If you don’t want to miss my personal tour of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, be sure to subscribe…….

Contemporary Painted Florals

We walked through this exhibit a couple of times without much interest but once we REALLY started looking at the quilts, we were enamored!!

She had several different styles of quilts, starting with whole-cloth painted designs…..

“Blue Anemone” by Andrea Brokenshire

that were magnificently quilted and embellished…..

These quilts have a very realistic appearance…..

“Passiflora – Find Joy, Live Your Passion” by Andrea Brokenshire

Since I grew up in West Texas, I appreciated this cactus…..

“Desert in Spring” by Andrea Brokenshire

Just look a the details in the quilting…..

BUT, she didn’t JUST do Whole-Cloth painted designs!! On some, she added a three-dimensional background made of fabric snippets…..

“Dazzling Dalhia” by Andrea Brokenshire

Doesn’t the background add SO much depth to the piece!!

For these quilts, she paints each of petals and appliques them to the background before adding the magnificent quilting…..

Of course, I LOVED the sunflowers…..

“Three’s Company” by Andrea Brokenshire

We listened to Andrea talk about her process and found her to be personable and willing to share her skill. Here she is talking about the way she placed the snippet backgrounds….

Now that you have heard how she did it, take a good look at the background……

“Dogwood – The Promise” by Andrea Brokenshire

NOW….and only now….. I can see the subtle changes in color in the background. It adds so much to the quilt!!

And you can see the gradations that she talks about in this piece…..

“X-Caret: Orchid Blossoms I” by Andrea Brokenshire

It was a wonderful exhibit and I am so glad that we finally realized the extreme creativity displayed in it!!

Tomorrow we will look at the Handmade category…..be sure to come back!!!

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If you don’t want to miss my personal tour of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, be sure to subscribe…….

Comes In All Colors

One of the fun exhibits at the International Quilt Festival was “Comes In All Colors” by Lorraine Turner.

Her animal portraits were amazing and were, as advertised, in all colors!!!

“Heartsong” by Lorraine Turner

She said that the horse’s mane was stitched one thread at a time…..

One of the hallmarks of her quilts is the use of “other” fabrics, such as doilies and felted wool!!

“Mother Wolf” by Lorraine Turner

Just look at the way she used the doilies in these cute penguins…..

“From The Bottom of Our Hearts” by Lorraine Turner

…..and the use of interesting fabrics in this one…..

“Rise & Shine” by Lorraine Turner

This next one made wonderful use of wool roving and felting…..

“Everglades Evermore” by Lorraine Turner

That background is gorgeous!!

My favorite quilt in the exhibit was this one…..

“Tanzanian Tango” by Lorraine Turner

She included fun “dots” of color in the Zebras…..

……excellent embroidery….

…..wonderful machine threadwork….

….and, of course……lace……

It was a fun exhibit to view and I came away with lots of ideas!!!

Tomorrow we will move from fauna to flora….. come back for more!!

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If you don’t want to miss my personal tour of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, be sure to subscribe…….

Saving the Monarchs!!

Continuing our tour of the 2023 International Quilt Festival, let’s have a gaze at the Cherrywood Fabrics “Monarch Challenge”.

It was a HUGE exhibit with this being one of THREE walls of quilts…..

Now, before we go further, I have to say that this was a difficult exhibit to view. I was keenly aware that my quilt had NOT been selected for the exhibit and, honestly, it stung a bit!!

Regardless of that disappointment, the quilts were amazing. Here are a few of my favorites.

This first one was awarded the First-Place ribbon…..

I loved the piecing in this one…..

….and the applique here…..

This one was a fun take on the name “Monarch” with it being written in an “inkblot” style…..

Since I love daisies, it is no surprise that this one was also a favorite…..

I liked the name of this one…..”Dots & Stripes”…..

For all of the “Frida” fans, there was this one…..

Now….what did I learn from this exhibit…..

Several quilts were similar in design to mine, which tells me that I needed to be MORE creative in the design of future challenges!!

I purchased the fabrics for the 2024 challenge…..Poppies…..

These are luscious colors and I am already trying to think of interesting AND DIFFERENT ways to meet the theme!!!

Congratulations to ALL who were accepted in the exhibit!!

Come back tomorrow and we will check out another special exhibition!!

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If you don’t want to miss my personal tour of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, be sure to subscribe…….