Quilt Fiesta! Highlights of the Show (1)

Welcome to the Quilt Fiesta, the annual Tucson (Arizona) Quilters Guild show! We enjoyed seeing  hundreds of fantastic quilts and will be sharing highlights here.  We hope you enjoy our photos.

p.s. Please see our E-Bay shop for great bargains on patterns and vintage collectibles. For continuous free quilt patterns and blog updates, please visit us on Twitter.

Montepulciano by Kathy Adams

This stunning original landscape quilt by Kathy Adams won Best of Show, along with 1st place in the Art Quilts - Scenic category.  Kathy says the quilt was "Inspired by a picture I took of Montepulciano from our lodge in Tuscany." Numerous advanced techniques were used, including making lots of parts for all the trees, bushes and grapevines, using wash away stabilizer, tulle, fabric and yarns."

There were so many admirers of this large quilt, it took us several minutes to get these photos! Check out the intricate details of the flowers, bushes and trees, including lavender in the foreground, below. 

Art Deco Meets Southwest by Paula Fulton, quilted by Athena Taylor

Gorgeous purple, teal, turquoise hues go together beautifully in this dramatic, original design! This quilt won First Place in the Two Person Primarily Pieced category, plus a special Award for Exemplary Machine Quilting (Computer/Digitized.)

Paula Fulton says, "I was inspired by several traditional southwest quilts but wanted to add a twist to it with art deco-style strips in the center. Purple, teal, turquoise and exquisite quilting [by Athena Taylor] give the quilt the 'wow' factor." We love the sun motifs shown below.

Indian Summer by Tami Graeber

This piece was a show-stopper with its strong contrasts and Southwestern feel.  Tami Graeber won a blue ribbon for 1st Place in the Other Techniques category.  She started with the Empire Place pattern from Sassafras lane Designs, but she decided to make the pattern her own.  "I only used a few blocks, changed [the] size to square, hand painted several Acoma tribal blocks, and added screen printed 3-D butterflies."

 Flower Lady by Millie Burgheimer

An incredibly artistic creation by Millie Burgheimer! She saw a flower lady in a market place and loved her face.  This piece was made with *lots* of thread, creating a realistic portrait of the flower seller, and the flowers themselves. Millie was awarded a ribbon in the Art Portraits category for this beautiful portrait.

 Athena's Infinity by Athena Taylor

 

Athena Taylor won First Place in the Modern Quilt category for this fantastic rainbow quilt, filled with stars, curves, flying geese, and New York Beauty blocks. It was based on the Infinity quilt pattern by Jacqueline de Jonge.

Athena says, "The quilt uses 25 different fabrics, all paper pieced. The quilting was done using free motion quilting and rulers.  No computer assistance on this one!" (Wow!)

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2024 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Quilt Fiesta! The annual Tucson Quilters Guild show (1)

It's quilt show time!  The annual Quilt Fiesta, held last weekend by the Tucson Quilters Guild, is an outstanding show. We're rolling out some of our favorite photos from the show.

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns and collectible items ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !

Abuelita Scrappy Quilt by Millie Burgheimer

Winner of an award in the thread painting category, Millie Burgheimer created a lovely portrait as a tribute to grandmothers who quilt. She says,  "Our grandmothers (abuelitas) often made quilts by hand or [with an] old sewing machine.  They used old scraps and feed sacks. [This was] a fun project to create by thread painting and fabric that was given to me." 

Southwest Sunrise by Luanne Wood

This stunning quilt was based on the 2020 Southwest Sunrise BOM (block-of-the-month) by Reeze L. Hanson.  Luanne Wood says, "I learned a lot about New Mexico's Zuni Indian tribe from this pattern.  I added thread drawn motifs of Arizona's Sonoran Desert in the corners of the main section and revised the outer border with more Zuni thread-drawn motifs." The quilt won Judge's Choice plus an Exemplary Machine Quilting award.

Bienvenidos by Tami Graeber

Bienvenidos ("Welcome") won the 1st place Viewer's Choice award. Tami Graeber says, "I love painting Mexican tiles; this is my 5th tile quilt. It was inspired by a stairway at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The stairs were painted one row at a time and machine appliqued into place."

Southwest Lone Star by Kris Neifeld

This beautiful Lone Star quilt was based on the book, All-Star Quilts, by Helen Frost and Blanche Young (available at Amazon and other bookseller sites). We loved the combination of coppery oranges and reds with turquoise and teal blues. This classic Southwest color combination was achieved with batik fabrics.  The top was made and quilted by Kris Neifeld.

Monument Valley by Richard & Shari Thompson

This intriguing digital quilt was a collaboration between Richard and Shari Thompson.  Creating the border from a Navajo rug purchased by his grandmother in 1935, Richard used Photoshop to blend 40 of their Monument Valley images into a single file.  When this was printed on fabric, Shari quilted and embellished the scene. The detail was outstanding, as shown in this closeup photo of the sheep.

Tree of Life by Kay Walen

This wonderful foundation-pieced quilt was based on a design by Lisa Fryxell at the PreFurred Quilt Shop. Kay Walen says, "This quilt is entirely paper pieced.  I needed to improve my skills [with this technique]... I had a large learning curve and lots of reverse sewing opportunities and wasted fabric." The result, as you can see, was outstanding! This Tree of Life was quilted by Double T Quilts.

 

Image credit: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2023 Tucson Quilters Guild show.