This week we will spend four days touring through the “Abstract” Category of the International Quilt Festival!

I am always interested in the difference between “Modern” and “Abstract”, and I feel that there is quite a bit of cross-over!! As a matter of fact, a number of the pieces that I will show were also at QuiltCon back in March!

But, enough philosophizing…..lets see quilts!!

The First Place Ribbon was awarded to…..

This quilt is a tribute to the quilter’s mother who passed away suddenly while gathering cherry tomatoes in her mountain cottage garden on a hot summer day.

The quilting is pretty simple, but highly effective!!

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The Second Place ribbon went to…..

This quilt is depicting a high school friend group.

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Third place went to…..

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Phases of life, phases of the moon, and phases of color where in the quilter’s thoughts as she pieced this quilt.

The striped circles were perfectly pieced……

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This next quilt was in Quiltcon and was one of my favorites…..

I particularly appreciate now the scale of the blocks change as they move to the outer edges of the quilt!!

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She says…. “My heart beats with passion and life, and the colors are a reminder to embrace life with open arms, to treasure each moment and to revel in the sheer delight of being alive.”

Oh, if we all lived that way!!

I have grown to love this straight line quilting where the lines are not all an equal distance apart….

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The quilt was inspired by walking in the coastal redwood forests near her home!

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I love the overlay of the circles and the precision of this piece!!

That’s all for today…..come back tomorrow and we will see 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…….

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Modern quilts often take traditional blocks and reinterpret them through the use of solid-colored fabrics or give them a new twist by using negative space, minimal repeats, improvisational piecing, and gridding for quilting.

This exhibit showcases amazing modern quilts from talented artists.

Let’s go!!!

This quilt was made using the Pantone color of the year as inspiration…..

She used the traditional Drunkard’s Path block but added a twist with an inserted strip of fabric in the middle.

I love the saturated colors!!

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Her inspiration was a Jelly Roll and a wedge ruler. Boy, did she take that inspiration for a good ride!!

The quilting adds to the excitement and fun….

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This quilt was made using the Modern Quilt Wyndham challenge fabrics.

The title of “165” was chosen because on her EQ8 program, there are 164 previous designs left behind!! That is a lot of committment!!

Interestingly, the binding is NOT a stripe but was pieced!!

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From her artist statement….

“Many of us are raised to believe that there is a certain path that we are to follow. What happens if we break free and go a little wild? This quilt explores the diverging path through modern improv piecing and bold color play. The motif of the traditional Flying Geese block is used to explore the idea of breaking free. The block is represented through piecing and ghost quilting.”

I LOVE the quilting, especially these wavy lines….

I have GOT to try this someday!!

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This quilt is inspired by the pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant, and by the traditional Drunkard’s Path quilt block.

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The Wedding Ring pattern has been a favorite of the maker, but she fell in love with this version featured in Simply Moderne Magazine. The pared-down simplicity and use of sold arcs and floral fabrics provided the perfect palette for intricate quilting designs…..

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Well, that is half of them.

Come back tomorrow, and we will twist tradition some more!!

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Well, we have spent the last three days looking at pieced quilts from the International Quilt Festival. Let’s finish them up today!!

This quilt was designed based on a card that Carrie received from a friend.

Don’t you love to hear where we find our inspirations!!

This quilt is a collaboration based on free-style baskets, machine appliqued flowers and Square-In-A-Square blocks. As she says….”Funky and Wild is always better!”

This Temperature & Precipitation quilt…..

I hadn’t seen these as house blocks, but that is what they are!! When she alternated them in each row, the diamond-esque design emerged!!

The left side of each house represents the high, right side the low and the background shows precipitation.

It sure made for a fun quilt!!

This is another quilt from Kathy (see Tuesday’s post for the first one), where the original “Panel” is a digital print of her husband’s painting. It is so well-done!!

This next quilt is inspired by an antique quilt…..

The blocks are hand-pieced!!

“After working together previously on a guild quilt, the makers partnered together on the creation of this quilt, which showcases a spectrum of colors and textures using over 1,800 batik strips and over 400,000 quilting stitches”

WELL DONE LADIES!!

The title word “apricity” means the warmth of the sun in winter, and that was exactly what the quilt was designed to express!!

These “Color My World” quilts are very popular and I love to see how each maker adds her own touch to them. In this case…..

“This joyful quilt is a love letter to the wonderful old house that we’ve lived in for 40 years. It took more than a year to piece and nine months to quilt!!”

WELL, WE MADE IT!!!

That finishes up my favorites from the “Pieced Quilt” category at the 2024 International Quilt Festival!!

Tomorrow I will take you on another video tour of my favorites from the Machine Quilting Category. You DON’T want to miss it!!

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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…….

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Yesterday, I promised you Hexies and Log Cabins, so let’s get started!!

The first quilt is a sweet, traditional Hexie…..

There are 2,450 hexagons (approximately 3/4-inch). It was pieced by hand and ruler quilted….

This next quilt is also a traditional design….

She says “in every stitch, ‘Scrap Happens’ captures the joy of embracing imperfection and finding beauty in the unexpected.”

In particular, I appreciated the scalloped border and the intricate quilting…..

Yet more English-Paper-Piecing was displayed in this quilt…..

The “ghost” stars quilted in the border add that much more to the design….

Moving to Log Cabin blocks…..

This traditional offset log cabin is a collaboration between mother and daughter!!

And as with all of the quilts, the quilting is gorgeous….

Going to a more modern log cabin…..

Silver Foil embossing and metallic threads reflect the glimmer of distant stars.

SO MANY TINY STRIPS!!!

Have a look at this Imrpov-Pieced quilt…..

She made excellent use of straight-line quilting….

I love a good “Curtain Quilt” and the colors in this one tickle my fancy…..

In particular, I love the alternative designs formed in the background. That took a mastery of her fabrics!!

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OKAY…. three days down, one to go. Come back tomorrow for the final in the “Pieced Category”.

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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…….

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