A few that appeal!!

Well, life has gotten in the way of blogging today so this post will be short and sweet!!!

There were a number of quilts that just appealed to me and here are a few of them…..

This quilt in the Tactile Architecture display was made by a team of 5 people with over 35 people involved in some way ……

“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mid-Mod World”

This was one of those quilts that just makes you smile and it was so much fun to listen to people as they walked up and first saw the quilt. The most common comment was “It reminds me of ‘The Jetsons'” and I definitely agree!!

In particular, I love the secondary design that was made from the quilting…..

Speaking of quilting, I found something interesting in this maze quilt from Vicki Miles and Marilyn Popplewell…

“Palace Garden Maze”

At first glance, you think that all of those FMQ stitches are pebbles and everyone knows how LONG it would take to do THAT many pebbles….

BUT, as I came in even closer I could see that it was really a “loopy meander”…..

Now it would still have taken a lot of time but is so much faster to do. As a matter of fact, I often find that my pebbles turn into a loopy meander and my regular meander turns into a loopy meander too.

It is definitely one of my go-to designs!!

The Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) had two different exhibits. the first was called “Gastronomy” and there were a couple of quilts that caught my attention.

This quilt from Dianne Firth was appliqued between two pieces of polyester net and the effect was amazing….

“Bread”

You could see thru the background and, although they don’t show up in the photo, the shadows behind the quilt were wonderful!!

I love the way the quilting adds motion to the design…

This quilt from Sue Colozzi called to me because of the intense thread painting and couching in the greenery…..

“Cranberry Bog Reflection”

Since one of my next projects is to do the background for “Sadie the Saddlebill Stork”, I scrutinized many of these types of quilts and came home with a few ideas that seem to be working….spoiler alert….once we get thru the show, I will show you what I have been working on!!

In that same vein, have a look at this thread-painted beauty from Alison King….

“Once Loved”

Look at these amazing details in the grass…..

….and especially on the roof and chimney…..

AMAZING!!

Okay….sorry that this one is so short and sweet, but more to come tomorrow!!!

Pieced with Love

The pieced competition at the International Quilt Festival has always been one of my favorites. I am thoroughly amazed at the creativity and accuracy that these quilts exhibit!

Audrey Esarey got my viewing off to a good start with her Mobius quilt….

“Mobius Radial No. 2

This is one of those quilts that will stay in my mind for a long time!!

This quilt from Beth Nufer and Clem Buzick was made with Dupioni silk…..

“Sphere”

Don’t you think that would be REALLY hard to piece and applique??

The Blue-Ribbon went to Amy Pabst for this beauty…..

“Heat Lightning”

This is another example of her “Micro-piecing” technique that I talked about a few days back. Check out this post for more examples of her technique.

I especially like the border treatment…..

This beauty from Setsuko Oki was hand pieced and quilted!!

“Symphony of Light and Breeze”

I always tip my hat to handwork artists. It is something that I do not have the patience for!!

This quilt from Sarah Ann Smith is simple but so effective…..

“Phlamingo, Some Assembly Required”

It shows a great usage of the “Crossed Canoes” block and I love the small amount of “Big Stitch” quilting that she added….

Second place was awarded to Ruth Ohol for this ACCURATE quilt….

“Memories From Hotel Fahey”

I think that I would have gone crazy trying to piece that border!!

In her artist statement, Paula Doyle said that she was trying to create a quilt with a fresh and contemporary feeling. I would say that she accomplished that…..

“Yukata Bee Quilting”

Nancy Goodman scored a Third-place ribbon for this fun quilt….

“Alhambra at Sunset”

My mind doesn’t do well with Improv piecing, but Nancy’s sure does!!

Being a SUPER FAN of Sunflowers, this quilt from Luz Seidensticker definitely caught my eye…..

“The Troubadour”

Linda and I both loved the dimension that she presented with these upturned flowers….

It is so much more effective than just having all of the flowers facing forward!!

The name of this quilt is “The Troubadour” and after I read that I had to go back and figure out why. The answer came in two paper-pieced birds….

I hope that you are enjoying these impromptu quilt shows!! Come back tomorrow for a showing of various miscellaneous quilts that caught my fancy!!!

A smaller view

There were 47 entries in the “Small” Pictorial Quilts category at the International Quilt Festival. In this post, I have managed to narrow it down to a dozen favorites!

So…..let’s go!!

Mimi Ghauri-Young produced this quilt that really does look like a Matisse painting…..

“Seaside View — Homage to Matisse”

This quilt from Judith Phelps is painted and machine quilted…..

“Remembrance”

As with many of these pictorial quilts, the quilting makes all the difference…..

The expressions on these sheep faces drew me into this quilt from Enid Weichselbaum……

“Lambing Time”

Karen Hull Sienk used mixture of piecing and fused applique to create this wonderful canyon scene…..

“Tribute II”

I love how the pieced border echoes the interior picture.

This Third-place winner from Roxanne Nelson was a study in detail…..

“Come on In, the Water’s Fine”

Just look at how many fabrics are used to create the eye…..

….and these couched threads work perfectly as whiskers….

For the last few years, there have been so many quilts that came from the quilters in Taipei City, Taiwan. This beauty from Li-hsiang Wang is another of those…..

“Making Rice Dumplings”

Sandra Mollon used fused applique, dying, inking and machine quilting to create this wonderful landscape….

“Toroweap Overlook”

Ann Pigneri created this quilt from a photograph that she had taken……

“Fort Lauderdale”

In particular, I love the reflections…..

Carolyn Allison used a photo to depict her grandsons on a windy day at the beach…..

“Look! They’re Not Fighting!”

In particular, I was enamored with the movement in the clothing…..

The horizontal lines in this quilt by Deanna Corrigan are the perfect contrast to the applique!!

“Mountain Lake”

I loved this quilt from Sue Colozzi…..

“Snug Harbor Egret”

And was particularly impressed and interested in the thread painted foliage…..

Finally, Kestrel Michaud presented this fun quilt based in a steampunk junkyard……

“Not Today”

Just look at the detail in the Roadrunner…..

Well, that is it for the pictorial category. Tomorrow we will have a look at some of the quilts in the Pieced category!!!

Get the BIG picture

Today I will work thru the LARGE Pictoral quilts and tomorrow will hit the small ones.

It was an amazing category!!!

The first-place winner was “The Memories That Remain” by Lynn Czaban…..

“The Memories That Remain”

Can you say WOW!!!!

Just look at his face…..

The thing that I love about this quilt is that there is no painting involved. It is made with fused applique, thread-sketching, and machine quilting!!

She took the design from two photos that were taken in 1935!! They were in the public domain and documented in the Library of Congress. Her artist statement said “I imaged this gentleman gazing wistfully into the distance, thinking of a life well lived and the woman he loved!!”

WELL DONE!!

Next is a quilt by Hiroko Miyana and Msanobu Miyama……

“Catch It, Yuri!”

This quilt made wonderful use of dying, painting, fused applique, and FMQ. The quilting added so much to the design…..

“Memories of a Maiko” by Melissa Sobotka is painted, embroidered, embellished, and machine quilted…..

“Memories of a Maiko”

Just look at the detail on the face……

…and don’t miss the matchstick quilting in the background.

Karen Lambdin created this fun quilt…..

“Spiral Vortex”

It looks as if it is intricately pieced, but instead, it is appliqued……

But look at all of those pebbles!! I have to wonder how long it took to quilt!!

Jane Sassaman had a number of quilts in the show, including this fun, fanciful design…..

“Illinois Album 2”

I honestly hadn’t noticed the butterfly in the center until I posted the above photo!! Part of the appeal of this quilt was her use of machine embroidery stitches in the background…..

It was very effective and added another dimension to the quilt!!

Karen Eckmeier created this quilt as part of her “Happy Villages” series, although only the mermaids will be living in her “Sunken Citadel”

“Sunken Citadel”

There were so many fun things about this quilt, but the fish topped the list for me…..

I love that they each have different colored tails!!

Karen also produced the next quilt…..

“Tree Town”

She obviously loves giving the observer plenty of things to look at…..

This quilt had a layer of Tulle holding the appliques down for quilting.

Come back tomorrow for the smaller versions of the Pictorial category!!

A quilt with a view

I am not sure exactly what is the difference between a “Landscape Quilt” and a “Pictorial Quilt”, but today let’s look at a few of the quilts in the Landscape division!!

Now I LOVE these types of quilts and, if you remember, have one in process, although if I don’t get going on it, it may end up in the UFO category!!!

I’ll start with this one that was pieced and was one of my favorites, made by Barbara Danzi…..

“Fern Forrest”

It is very stylized but I love the impressions that you get from the piece!! You can definitely feel the ferns!!

This next quilt, by Susan McBride Gilgen and Cheryl Paul Styler had a bit of everything in it…..

“Remembering Old Nauvoo”

There was Applique, Embellishing, Embroidery, Dyeing, Piecing, AND Quilting. There was even some tatting!! I had to scour the photo to find it, but it is used as an embellishment in the binding. Sorry for the quality of this photo, but at least you will get the idea…..

The colors in this quilt by Susan Jackan definitely appeal to me…..

“Nature’s Architecture II”

She said that it was inspired by photos of rock formations in Utah and she marveled that a tree could actually take root in such a challenging environment. She used painting, hand piecing, and machine quilting.

Nancy Hershberger created this magnificent Autumn scene based on a photograph of the Great Smoky Mountains….

“Tennessee Autumn

The leaves were done with snippets and were super effective…..

….and the quilting added great movement. You can feel the leaves blowing in the breeze!!!

I am always interested in how quilters portray water in their masterpieces…..

Finally, Barbara Matzke produced an amazing river mill scene…..

“Glade Creek Grist Mill”

The threadwork in the trees was wonderful…..

….and I especially appreciated the piecing in the bottom of the quilt…..

It was a great way to recognize that this was a quilt and not a photograph!!

In the same vein, tomorrow I will show a set of Pictorial quilts. Believe me….you WON’T want to miss them!!

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