Quilts Celebrating Creativity ! part 1

Welcome to the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association 2019 show! The Santa Clara Valley lies at the southern end of San Francisco Bay in Northern California. This year's show, titled Quilts Celebrating Creativity,  featured some outstanding works by talented quilters. Here are a few of our favorites!

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From The Golden State by Judy Rudolph

Right now, the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association is participating in an exchange program known as "Quilts Across the Pacific", where each member has a sister quilter in Australia with whom to share designs, patterns, and quilt ideas.

Judy Rudolph says, "This quilt was made as my exchange quilt for Patricia Keevers in Australia. I drew inspiration from California's state nickname, 'The Golden State'. The center features a Mariner's Compass block using the Ruth Robin Fat Robin ruler. 

Close-up, From the Golden State

Judy adds, "The center was hand appliqued, and the compass was hand appliqued to the background. The machine embroidery design was from the 50 States Collection by Anita Goodesign. The compass was trapuntoed with an extra layer of wool batting and big stitch quilting was used to highlight the star points and the circular designs in the background."  We appreciate all of Judy's hard work and the beautiful results !

Daisy by Mandy Fleig

Here's another quilt made as part of the quilt exchange with quilter friends in Australia. Mandy writes, "This quilt features Daisy, my Australian friend's pup. As I have become acquainted with my friend across the Pacific, I realized how similar we are. I lost my beloved pup that was also a yellow Labrador Retriever several years ago. The pictures of Daisy remind me that no matter where we live, how different we appear, really we are all the same. We all want to love and be loved."

Close-up, Daisy

Wonderful thread painting work here really emphasizes Daisy's friendly countenance and soulful eyes. Mandy has done an excellent job in using a variety of neutral fabrics to highlight this yellow Lab's attractive markings.

Yosemite Falls by Jaunell Waldo

Jaunell explains, "I wanted to create a quilt introducing my new Australian friend to one of my favorite places on the planet. Picking a specific place within Yosemite National Park was tricky, but I finally settled on the waterfalls because it will give her an idea of the overall majesty of the park." 

Close-up, Yosemite Falls

We really admire this very lifelike landscape quilt which captures the texture of the rushing water, the large trees, and the surrounding sun-dappled rocks.

La Passacaglia Unravels by Randa Mulford

Randa Mulford was a featured quilter at this show.  She states, "This quilt was my first foray into English paper piecing-- I haven't hand-pieced a quilt in many years ! It's been a fun journey, which I've been sharing with other quilters making the "La Passcaglia" pattern by Willyne Hammerstein.  One goal of this quilt was to use only fabrics from stash, mostly prints by Paula Nadelstern." 

Close-up, La Passacaglia Unravels

Randa continues, "My innovation on Hammerstein's design was to 'unravel' the portions of the rosettes that lay outside of the rectangular perimeter of her design. This quilt won first prize in the Traditional Quilts category at the 2018 Chicago International Quilt Festival."  We certainly like this quilt, which is full of beautiful jewel-tone fabrics.

Hippie Daze by Mel Beach

To describe her quilt, Mel has selected a quotation from Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." Mel says, "Hippie Daze" originated in response to a particularly negative world news cycle. As I stitched out the background design, I gained a renewed sense of hope. Once the quilting was complete, careful cutwork revealed more of my hand-dyed fabrics hidden underneath.
Wishing all peace, love, and happiness ! "

Close-up, Hippie Daze

These giant vividly colored flowers and the tie-dyed motifs in the center really take us back to our youth in the 1960's ! We think this quilt is so cheery and fun -- a real day brightener.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 SCVQA show.

Modern Quilt Month 2018 (5)

What makes a quilt modern? According to The Modern Quilt Guild, the characteristics may include the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast, graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, and expansive negative space. We hope you enjoy our selections!

P.S. For bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry, visit us on E-Bay - we're Top Rated Sellers ! And for continuous listings of free quilt patterns, please check us out on Twitter !

Aerial Geometry 2 : Home and Place by Leslie Tucker Jennison  (Texas)

Leslie explains,  "The aerial geometry of the land as seen while flying over the Great Plains of the Midwest U.S.A. in a small aircraft, is embedded in my memory: rolling hills with linear elements of agriculture, dotted by farms. Since moving from the area, I think a great deal about the meaning of home and place. What do we take with us when we leave a place, and what defines home on a personal, as well as a broader scale?" 

Leslie's techniques for her original design include hand embroidery plus machine piecing, appliqueing, quilting, and embroidery. She has creatively centered the motif of a house as a bright focal point amidst the soft neutrals representing the fields and farms.

Smoke by Katherine E. Jones (Australia)

Katherine's elegant, languid design was inspired by a wisp of smoke. She improvised the placement of two strips of variable width bias applique, then used a walking foot to do echo quilting in every decreasing weights of white thread ranging from 5 weight to 60 weight.

In this close-up, you can see the delicate, ethereal effect created by Katherine's  gently curved quilting pattern.

The Big Log by Latifah Saafir  ( California)

Latifah states, "The Big Log was one of the first quilts that I designed back in 2009. It was inspired by a rug that I saw online (designer unknown) and the whole quilt is built in the style of a log cabin blocks. It is quilted with organic free motion quilting."

Latifah adds, "I love this quilt because it was my first attempt at free motion quilting, and I think I did just about everything wrong. It stands as a symbol of my approach to quilting, though. Workmanship is most important, but I allow myself to be able to have the room to learn and create while I'm learning. And, though the quilting is definitely beginner, it is still a stunning quilt."
We think the quilting is very impressive and works perfectly with the bold, geometric, eye-catching lines of Latifah's quilt, which is indeed stunning.

Wild Thing (Tuning Fork #36) by Heather Pregger (Texas)

Heather says, "The tuning fork resonates with me on multiple levels; not only is it a musical took, reminding me of childhood music lessons, but it also has become a personal symbol I repeatedly use in my quilts."

Heather continues, "I love its essential shape, which can be interwoven to form interesting and unique configurations. Over the years, it has become less civilized and has turned into a wild thing." Heather's intriguing and striking original design is machine pieced and quilted.

The Miller's Wheel by Catherine Butterworth   (Australia)

Catherine writes, "While traveling in the U.S.A., I saw an exhibition of historic American woven coverlets. On display was A Handweaver's Source Book.  One graph caught my eye and was the inspiration for this quilt."

Catherine continues, "For a modern touch, I made the layout asymmetrical and added multiple colors to the original two-toned graph to create movement radiating out from the center. The quilt has been machine pieced and machine quilted on a stationary machine."  We really like the circular quilting pattern, the circular black and pink center motif,  and the polka dot fabric which creates a wonderful contrast to the tiny squares depicting the weaving pattern.

Spinning Stars by Mel Beach  (California)

Mel notes, "As part of the Modern Quilts Unlimited "Everything Old is New Again" challenge series, I gave 12 traditional quilt blocks modern makeovers. See if you can fine my modern interpretation of these classic quilt blocks:  bow tie, snails trail, rail fence, LeMoyne star, Jacob's ladder, card trick, flying geese, pinwheel, drunkard's path,  Ohio star, friendship star, and sailboat."  What a fun activity!

Mel adds, "Modern quilted texture brings these blocks into the 21st century !"
The aqua, lime, and silver gray color scheme,  plus the contemporary setting for these well-loved traditional blocks, makes Mel's quilt very attractive and eye-pleasing.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2018 Road to California (Smoke, The Big Log, The Miller's Wheel, Spinning Stars) and the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival (Aerial Geometry, Wild Thing).

Welcome to the 2017 Pacific International Quilt Festival: Day 2

Welcome to PIQF! This annual quilt show takes place each October in Santa Clara, California. Here are some of our favorites and some of the highlights of this show. We'd love to hear which ones are your favorites.

(Note: For great deals on quilt books, fabric and other treasures, please visit our eBay store!)

Braveheart , 64 x 46, by Linda Anderson (California)

Blue ribbon winner for Best Sewing Machine Workmanship, Linda explains, "I love to tell stories of people and cultures. Everyone has a story. I like to find a moment that captures something unique about a person, or a circumstance at any time in history."

Detail, Braveheart

Linda continues, "On a trip to China, we witnessed a Tang Dynasty performance of music and dance.This warrior presented such a powerful presence of command and leadership, I wanted to tell his story of courage, which is the symbol in the background ( on the upper right).
Linda's magnificent original design is machine appliqued and sewing machine quilted. She did a spectacular job of portraying the fine details of the warrior's facial features and costuming.

Carousel ,36 x 36,by Yvonne Chapman (Australia)

Blue ribbon winner for Best Use of Color in the World Quilt Competition, Yvonne notes, "This was my 'Tradition With a Twist' entry for the Australasian Quilt Competition 2016, the twist being that one of the horses here was real. As a child, the tradition during the summer was for a fair to operate on the town square. The carousel was my favorite ride, and I always thought MY horse was the REAL horse."

Detail, Carousel

Yvonne adds, "I love the way the lights reflected on the horses and tried to replicate that in this quilt."
Her original design is machine appliqued and sewing machine quilted. We can almost hear the carousel music playing, as these vibrant hues take us back to the merry-go-rounds of our youth. 

Swan Song, 46 x 30, by Sally Wright (California)

Sally writes, "Swans swam in a brook next to the site of our wedding; and it is said that swans mate for life. So marking our 30th wedding anniversary in 2014, these loving swans rest in their nest in the reeds bordering some imaginary lake."

Detail, Swan Song

Sally comments further, "They were rendered in fused applique from my own drawing, then painted and free motion quilted on an ombre ground. " We love the way these lifelike swans convey such a sense of serenity and gracefulness. Sally's original design is machine appliqued and sewing machine quilted.

Lime Light, Star Bright by Mel Beach (California)

Mel says, " I am fascinated with mandalas, both for their meditative qualities, and [for their] beauty. This modern mandala is pieced using the slice and insert technique." [a way to join fabrics at random angles while maintaining an even top edge].

Detail "Lime Light, Star Bright"

We really like the way these quilted loops and ovals complement the bold, angular geometric lines of this fascinating pattern. Mel's very intriguing and contemporary original design is machine pieced and sewing machine quilted.

Supernova by Marilyn Badger (Utah)

Blue ribbon winner in the Traditional Quilts category, Marilyn states, "Stars are my favorite design. Supernova evolved from my desire to make a red and black quilt."

Look at all the amazing details and precise piecing here ! Our photo really does not do justice to this jaw-dropping quilt, which is paper pieced, hand appliqued, embroidered, beaded, painted, and longarm quilted. 

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.