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…….

Celebrating Life at IQF

The “Celebration of Life” Exhibit was a favorite for one reason……

My friend Rosie had a quilt in it!!!

Here she is with her quilt, “Sisters”……

“Sisters” by Rosell Crockett

This is a wonderful quilt and exhibits Rosie’s creative abilities. Just look at this thread-painting…..

It was such fun to see her answering questions from her fans…..

There were several other wonderful quilts in the exhibit…..

“As Time Goes By” by Karen Hewer

I enjoyed the colors in this next quilt and the maker said that she decided to make her own colorful flowers to help get through a particularly bleak winter.

“Sunset Blossom” by Ivy Jensen

I especially like the hand-dyed background!!

This next quilt had so many fun touches…..

“Ode To Ginny: Look Out World, Here She Comes” by MaryLynne Izzo

Just look at these embroidered flowers…..

“Skipgen Travel and Downshifting In Countryside” by Ami Lee

I love the “life scene” displayed in this quilt where grandparents are walking with their granddaughter…..

Look at the dimension achieved in this quilt…..

“Nature In Colors” by Alessandra Volker

You feel as if the butterfly is about to fly away!!!

Finally, this portrait quilt caught my eye……

“Waiting For A Cup of Coffee” by Yu-Ting Lin

It is based on a photo of the maker’s son. What a sweet thing!!!

Come back tomorrow as we tackle the Cherrywood “Monarch” Challenge….

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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…….

More Color Celebration

Yesterday I posted about seven of my favorite quilts from the “Celebration of Color” exhibit at the International Quilt Festival.

Today let’s look at seven more!!

About 20 years ago I had the pleasure of taking a two-day Machine Quilting workshop with Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry. During that workshop, I developed a great appreciation for her work. This was one of her quilts…..

“Aquarium #3” by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry

And true to form, her quilting was impecible…..

This quilt is another from Hsu Hsi-Chen (see yesterday for another of hers)……

“A Road Leading to Home” by Hsu Hsi-Chen

Just look at the light coming out of that quilt!!

The maker of this quilt said that she started with the outside corners and worked her way in……

“Art Deco Diner” by Mindy Brown

It is a fun example of improvisational piecing!!

This next quilt has SO many different techniques…..

“Connecting the Dots” by Cathy Sperry

Just look at some of the details…..

I love quilts that use hombre fabrics effectively and this next quilter certainly did that…..

“Murphy’s Monster” by Linda Fleschner

She named it “Murphy’s Monster” because she felt everything that COULD go wrong, DID go wrong!! Regardless, it is a gorgeous quilt!!

Most of the quilts in this exhibit were a conflagration of colors, so it was fun to see a monochromatic one…..

“Turn The Dial” by Kathy York

The last quilt that I want to share won the “Best of Show” award in the Celebration of Color Exhibit…..

“Joy” by Cole Whitaker

It is an amazingly well pieced quilt and I appreciated the quilting……

So….there you have my favorites from the “Celebration of Color” exhibit.

Tomorrow we look at another “Celebration” exhibit….. be sure and 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…….

Let’s Celebrate Color!!

The “Celebration of Color” exhibit is one of my highly anticipated exhibits at the International Quilt Festival and this year was no exception. Here are some of my favorites…..

This quilt was displayed along one of the walkways and I stopped and stared every time that I walked past…..

“Inner Cube” by Jodi Murphy & quilted by Teresa Silva

The use of the strips and dots made this quilt sparkle!!

You can probably guess why this next quilt appealed to me…..

“Corona Wedding Dish” by Ben Darby

I love the piecing, but WHAT a great way to practice quilting patterns…..

I have always liked quilts with vases on them and this one was perfect…..

“Vases” by Maggie Vanderweit

The straight-line quilting adds a lot of texture without interfering with the design…..

This next quilt had so much movement……

“Take the Stairs” by Charles Cameron, quilted by Carrie Hauser

This is the Artist’s statement….

As in previous years, there is a group of quilters (from New Taipei City, Taiwan) who specialize in collage-style quilts. They are marked by an amazing attention to detail, and being covered with Tulle before quilting.

“Dyeing Party” by Hsu Hsi-Chen

I don’t remember seeing “snippet” applique in their previous quilts, but it certainly worked well for the background trees…..

The applique and the quilting were perfect on this quilt…..

“Spring Explosion” by Sharon Engel

The final quilt for today’s post is……

“Geodots” by Rebecca Belaas

This quilt uses some of the same fabrics as the vase quilt above and it is interesting to see how different the quilts are….even with the same fabrics!!

Once again, there is some amazing quilting in this piece……

Well, that is half of my favorites from this exhibit.

Come back tomorrow for the other half!!

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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…….

A Little Red, A Little White!!

One of the special exhibits included the quilts from O.V. Brantley, a quilter from the Atlanta area.

The exhibit itself was gorgeous….

….with bright red and white displayed EVERYWHERE!!

This Millefiori quilt is SO well done…..

“A Star Among Stars” – Pieced by O V Brantley, Quilted by Maxine Moore

I love the one medallion that is more white than red. It balances out the other designs well.

I also like the angels that circle the design…..

This quilt was pieced from a Judy Niemeyer pattern…..

“Star of Mu” Pieced by O.V. Brantley, Quilted by Janece Risty

There is so much JOY displayed in this next quilt…..

“Praise Team Praising” by O V Brantley

This quilt was very simple in design but so effective in red and white…..

I was intrigued by the small quilts that hung with each of the big quilts…..

This was her reasoning for these little quilts…..

How nice is that???

The maker was standing with her quilts and someone asked about washing them. This was her answer…..

O V Brantley talks about washing RED quilts

Come back tomorrow and we will get started on one of my favorite exhibits…..the “Celebration of Color”!!! I imagine that it will take more than one day!!!

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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…….