Friday, April 30, 2010

Last But Not Least....


These are the last few of the pictures taken at Chicago Spring Quilt Festival...

The first two were part of a floral quilt exhibit:


"Hibiscus Reflection" by Barbara Barrick McKie, Lyme CT is machine appliqued and machine quilted. This is the second in a series combining reflections in glass of different flowers.


"Hibiscus in Dappled Light" by Marianne R. Williamson, Miami FL is free motion quilted and raw edge appliqued; I thought the unusual shape of the quilt was interesting. The stitching was beautifully done...


"Life on Mars?" by Sara Kelly, Hanford CA is fused, painted and machine quilted. In her artist's statement, Sara said, "Drought...fires...pollution...I wonder about the future of the West Coast." Your view is shared by many of us who live here, Sara!


"High Heel Daze" by Diane Steffen, Lake Ozark MO is machine pieced and machine quilted.










Had to get a close-up of that cute ruffled white polka dot border -- well, yeah, and the boot....





"Oh Stars and Dreams and Gentle Nights" by Peggy Ripple, Colleyville TX portrays a night sky with a galaxy of stars....


At first I thought the quilting in the body of the quilt was understated; as I looked at it more, I realized that it was merely giving way to the knock-out quilting in the border!





















As many of you know, Spring Quilt Festival will be held in Cincinnati next year instead of Chicago -- hope to see you there!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Another Challenge at Spring Quilt Festival


The next quilts were part of a collection that I think was a challenge to quilters in Illinois. I didn't get a picture of the placard identifying this group of quilts, so if this information is not correct, please let me know so that a correction can be made. No details were given as to city/state of the quilters, so just the name is provided.


"Royal Radiance" by Dottie Lankard is her original design using EQ6 and is paper pieced.


The level of detail is amazing, especially considering that this piece measures 37" in each direction.


















"Woodland Spring" by Lisa Ellis is an original design "constructed using my own Lazy Landscape and Graceful Trees techniques." This quilt measures 22" square; I was particularly captivated by the pieced background and how it set off the applique.


"Pretty in Beige?" by Julia Donaldson; central flower image was based on a photo taken at a local flower show.

















"Fantasy Seahorse" by Pat Mazzarella; "Decked out in beaded paisleys, my fantasy seahorse hovers above an equally fanciful seabed."


Had to show close-ups of this wonderful embellishment....




















A few more photos in another post and then Chicago will be another fabulous quilt show memory.....

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Shared Stitches -- Cameron Park CA

When I taught at the Folsom Quilt & Fiber Guild a couple of years ago, some of the members were raving about a fairly new shop in the area called Shared Stitches. One of the members just happened to be going there during my stay and invited me along for the ride. There were lots of great fabrics and very friendly people, so I joined the e-mail list. This, of course, exposed me to weekly in-box temptation as new offerings -- whether fabrics, classes, or notions -- are described and added to the ever lengthening list of "things I have to have"....



So when my sister Carol and I went earlier this week, I was pretty excited about it. This is the front window, promising lots of good stuff inside!


There were more fabrics than I remembered and quite a few quilts displayed.


















This is the $5.00 Block of the Month; there are a few spaces left in the class to make this quilt, designed and quilted by Lorraine Matthews.


This quilt was hanging in the classroom and I absolutely loved it! It's called "The Calendar Quilt" and it is a block of the month project from WillowBerry Lane. It was a 2008 project and there was just one pattern left in the store...


So I grabbed a few fabrics in the pinks that I love and started my pile of bolts, which kept growing.....

















....and growing, until I had 11 fabrics when I was done. Still not enough, but a pretty good start!


My sister doesn't consider herself a quilter, but she does like to do hand work. She bought 1/2 yards of the 10 fabrics at left.











And this quilt, hanging in the shop, was her inspiration.








Oh, and we also went to Babies R Us to buy itty bitty clothes for my two month old nephew, and to DSW to buy shoes for me, and Mimi's Cafe for lunch, High Sierra Quilters for more fabric, and then Starbucks to wrap up the afternoon -- all in all, a good sisters' day!
If you would like to visit Shared Stitches, it is located at 2650 Cameron Park Drive, Cameron Park CA 95682 (phone 530-676-4739). To go to the store website, click here.

Hoffman Challenge 2009 -- Spring Quilt Festival

I'm a big fan of Hoffman fabrics and of the Hoffman challenge, so had to be sure to get a few pictures of some of the 2009 challenge quilts displayed in Chicago.



From the exhibition placard:


"Every year for more than two decades, Hoffman has issued a challenge to quilters, clothing designers and dollmakers to create original items using the selected fabric. On display in this exhibit are quilts made from fabric F9006 - Earth Pearl."

There were no artist statements or summations of techniques used displayed with these quilts, so I have just given the name of the quilter as well as her city and state as stated on each card.


"Pineapple Paisley" by Martha Mook, Fort Pierce FL. This quilt received an award for Best Hand Workmanship -- Mixed Technique.


"Indonesian Echoes" by Nancy Rowland, Palmer AK, took the award for Best Machine Workmanship -- Pieced.











The machine quilting was so outstanding -- just had to get this close-up!






"Elements of Nature" by Jacqueline De Jonge, Delft, The Netherlands, received an Honorable Mention -- Pieced award.


"Paisley Promises" by Diane Magarelli, Goodyear AZ.












If you leaned in a little closer, the machine embroidery and quilting really came to life.


"Wisteria Lane" by Cherri Kincaid, Merritt Island FL.


"Tembo" by Colleen Harvey, Nederland CO took the Third Place -- Mixed Technique award.











The elephant is almost life-like and his ears are three dimensional!



If you would like to know more about the Hoffman challenge, here is a picture of the 2009 fabric and the rules that the contestants worked with.

When I was in New Zealand, I saw the 2009 challenge quilts from that country and put them on the blog. If you missed that post and would like to see it, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Poppy Season Is Here in the Antelope Valley!


Last night we had company for dinner, our two friends who own my local quilt shop, Bolts in the Bathtub, and Nancy Bednar, a well-known sewing instructor who is teaching classes at the shop. With JoAnn Pugh-Gannon, Nancy wrote the "Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques" and was a Bernina educator in a former life....

Our Antelope Valley is known for the beautiful and plentiful poppy displays that come this time of year. Not every year is a good year and the past few have been sparse showings because we have had so little rain. But we had quite a bit of rain (for us) this year and the poppies are considered to be among the top three outstanding bloom seasons since 1968!


Above is a picture taken on Avenue L at approximately 80th Street West. The shot is taken toward the city of Lancaster, which shows in the background.


Here's a close-up of a few of the beauties, along with some other wildflowers that sort of crashed the party....

We were driving to Sacramento today to visit family -- I have a two month old (that's almost brand new!) great nephew who we will see for the first time and Dan will be doing some computer work at my mom's. So we continued northward, through the grapevine.



Another poppy close-up.....













Along the grapevine there were patches of blue flowers with small clusters of poppies interspersed; really pretty color contrast -- I know I can use that in a quilt!




We'll be in the Folsom/Placerville area for a couple of days; will probably go to a couple of quilt shops and maybe do some other shopping -- there's a DSW right across the street from our hotel!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Spring Quilt Festival -- Chicago IL -- Quilts from Canada


One of the several collections at Festival was a group of quilts from Canada. Here are a few of those:


"Maple Key Color Variations" by Marge Davidson, Edmonton, Alberta.



















This quilt is machine pieced, machine quilted, hand painted, sun printed (the source of those beautiful leaves), hand stitched and hand embellished. The sun printing enabled Marge to get such great detail in the leaves.


"Connected" by Lynne Morin, Kanata, Ontario is painted, appliqued and machine quilted.
















The inspiration source was a personal photo of her nieces.


"Polvs Arcticvs (North Pole)" by Floria S. Daly, Duncan, British Columbia, is hand and machine quilting. This quilt was made as one part of an artistic effort by a group named Articulation "to express 400 years of history in textile/assemblage form".


"The Snow Queen" by Christine Alexiou, Unionville, Ontario, is hand painted, machine appliqued, free motion quilted and embellished.











The evil queen in the Snow Queen fairy tale was the inspiration for this quilt, which is the first in a series of fairy tale quilts.




"The Rain Forest" is also by Christine Alexiou and is hand-dyed, hand-embroidered and beaded, machine appliqued and free motion machine quilted. There is also hand-felted wool in this project. In her artist's statement, Christine attributed her inspiration to "the rain forests of the world and the fact that they are disappearing at an alarming rate at the hands of mankind".

More to come, including the 2009 Hoffman challenge....

Friday, April 23, 2010

Spring Quilt Festival -- Chicago IL (Part 3.5)


Most of the quilts I photograph at this type of show are art quilts, but this one won my heart for two reasons: 1) I'm a total sucker for two color quilts and 2) yellow and white is so crisp and clean and suitable for a quilt show with a spring theme.

"Jacob's Ladder Variation, circa 1910" by Erma Wilder Federman of Plainfield WI, is on loan from the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. The quilt blocks are hand pieced; the borders were sewn on by machine.


The precise, beautifully done hand quilting was another thing that just draws you in for a closer look.....

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