Welcome to the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival - part 4

Welcome to the Pacific International Quilt Festival! Due to time constraints, we could not view all the quilts this year! Therefore, we are showing a small sample of the quilts in this large show. Here is Part 4 of our photos with some outstanding creations.

Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, books, and collectible items !
For the latest free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Northern Harrier 30 x 30, by Carol Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Washington

Carol says, "In the Spring of 2020, a northern harrier (the large bird depicted here) lit just outside our kitchen window. We managed to open the window and snap several photos before it flew away." This quilt impressed us with its very realistic colors of nature and the minute, lifelike details of the harrier in surrounding nature.

Carol continues about her original design,  "To create the design for this quilt, I combined a tree photo and two photos of the harrier, then added digital painting to integrate the photos and simplify the background. The composition was printed on cotton fabric and heavily quilted to the level of thread painting."

Kimi in a Dangerous World by Elsa Meyer,  California, quilted by Marian Drain

Elsa's stunning art quilt is made very effective by the use of the lime green background which looks as if it is lighted from behind, so the praying mantis appears to be hidden among the foliage. Embedded on the insect's body are some very pretty butterfly motifs. Outlining the foreground shape in black gives extra high contrast to Elsa's original design. 

This imagery, inspired by political events, was designed to symbolize the power of the minority (represented by the dragonfly) against the powerful (represented by the praying mantis.)

Folk Art Fun in Baltimore, 68 x 68, by Tami Graeber, Arizona

 This year's theme at the Pacific International Quilt Festival was "The New Normal", and Tami addressed this theme by writing, "The New Norm for me is creating a traditional looking quilt with an innovative style."  Tami has utilized the early American "Baltimore Album" pattern and re-created it to make an original design with a great deal of southwestern personality and flair. We really love the border of whimsical, very artistic and varied flowers. 

First Place Award winner for Best Use of Color in a Traditional Quilt, Tami's lovely work is machine pieced and longarm quilted. With artful use of fabric paint, she has added bright, vibrant touches, which really brings the birds, butterflies, and fruit of the trees to life. 

Sicilian Summer, 81 x 81,by Claudia C. Myers,  Minnesota

Winner of the Third Place Award for Best Traditional Quilt, Claudia notes, "The making and machine quilting of Sicilian Summer took all of the time we were quarantined from the Covid-19 virus, and them some. I am fortunate that I have a large stash of fabric and thread so I didn't have to make a trip to the quilt shop to pick up the supplies."

Claudia adds, "I designed this quilt on Electric Quilt (EQ) 7 and made it trying out a new way of applique construction, rather than curved piecing." Claudia longarm machine quilted her spectacular original design, which she also machine pieced, machine appliqued, and hand painted.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

Welcome to the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival - part 2

Welcome to the Pacific International Quilt Festival! Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we could not view all the quilts this year! Therefore, we are showing a small sample of the quilts in this large show. Here is Part 2 of our photos.

Also check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, books, and collectible items !
For more free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Free Wheeling, 66 x 66", by Claudia Clark Myers

Here is an outstanding quilt by Claudia Clark Myers. We love optical illusion quilts, and this one is expertly done, from its design and construction to its glorious use of color. Winner of a red ribbon in second place in the Innovative Quilts Category, Free Wheeling is a three-dimensional "fool the eye" depiction of static, moving and broken wheels. It is Claudia's original design, made using a combination of paper piecing and applique construction.

Claudia explains that Free Wheeling was made for, and accepted into the National Quilt Museum's traveling exhibit, New Quilts from an Old Favorite.  But then, that exhibit was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic.  This masterpiece is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and longarm machine quilted.  You can see more of Claudia's work at her website, Claudia Clark Myers quilts.

To The Moon and Back by Sharlene Van Rooy, quilted by Holly Casey Quilts

This fun quilt was featured in the special New Quilts of Northern California exhibit at PIQF, and it really made us smile! It was a challenge quilt sponsored by Pinnacle Quilters of San Benito County (California). Sharlene says, "The quilt represents our love of camping and includes many memories from our travels.  The camper in the middle is placed within a compass that points north, south, east and west.

Each quadrant has highlights of Sharlene's travel and camping experiences. The couple is depicted above, all decked out with their binoculars, canteen, and hiking stick. Sharlene says, "The quilt represents our love of camping and includes many memories from our travels.  Now that we are retired, the compass indicates that we will be heading East."

Spring Harmony, 52 x 58", by Kathy McNeil

Spring Harmony was awareded a Blue Ribbon for First Place in the Innovative category at PIQF.  The quilt is a tribute to Japanese gardens, which are a feast for our eyes in the spring.  Kathy says, "Enter through the Torii gate, sit by the stream, waltz across the bridge and find a place to fall in love again."

Kathy McNeil is renowned for her landscape and portrait quilts with their exquisite, realistic detail. The red bridge and pagoda are precisely rendered in this piece.  Kathy has a way of using print fabrics to realistically depict landscape elements, such as the rocks, flowers, and trees in this landscape. You can see more of her beautiful work at her website, Kathy McNeil Art Quilts.

Blooms and Feathered Friends, 42 x 42", by Linda Bergmann, quilted by Lin Squires

A gorgeous rendering of a Sue Spargo design, Blooms and Feathered Friends is hand appliqued using Australian Wool. Each element stands out brilliantly against the dark background, creating an explosion of color. The lively birds and flowers are elegantly embroidered. 

Linda Bergmann says, "Applique is very relaxing but also very time consuming." We can only imagine the hours that went into this delightful creation with its numerous fabric and thread colors, stitch types, and French knots.  It won Honorable Mention at the very competitive PIQF show.

Ebb and Flow, 82 x 75", by Liat Rorer

This original design is by Liat Rorer, who used variations in hue and tone to depict movement, keeping your eye flowing from one section to the next. Liat says, "The recent world events have created a constant ebb and flow, moving from fear and depression to moments of love and hope... Ebb and Flow represents this by moving from dark to light and warm to cool in unexpected ways, while our eye tries to find a clear image."

The quilt was machine pieced and longarm machine quilted in meandering lines (see the closeup below.) You can find Liat Rorer's creations at Liat Quilting on Instagram.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

Best of AQS Quilt Week 2014: Phoenix, Arizona

From February 5-8 the American Quilters Society held a Quilt Week® in Phoenix, Arizona. What a spectacular show! We hope you enjoy these award winning quilts.

Wandering ‘Round My World, 60 x 38”, by Beth Schillig (Columbus, OH)

Winning the award for Best Innovative Quilt, this quilt really drew us in with its beautiful hand-dyed green, blue and purple color scheme and intriguing textures.  We felt as if we were looking down on the oceans from far above the earth. The construction was also fascinating; the large and small circles float atop the heavily quilted panels.

close up, Wandering ‘Round My World by Beth Schillig

This original piece features turned-edge machine applique enhanced with decorative machine stitches. Each circle is filled with stylized floral appliques. Beth Schillig used  lots of freehand machine quilting and hand beading to adorn this beauty.

Magnolia, 84 x 84”, by Claudia Clark Myers and Marilyn Badger (Duluth, MN)

Magnolia is another show-stopper and crowd favorite by Claudia Clark Myers and Marilyn Badger. The machine appliqued flowers almost appear to be spinning on the surface of this quilt.  The flowers involve a new technique Claudia wanted to try, which was to piece the block, applique the flowers, then assemble and embellish the quilt.

close up, Magnolia by Claudia Clark Myers and Marilyn Badger

We loved the kaleidoscopic effect of the fabrics at the center of the flowers, and the lovely feather quilting, which really showed up in the white flower petals.

Isabelle, 93 x 93", by Kathi Carter (Vineyard, UT)

It was hard to get an unobstructed photo of this Best of Show quilt, as it was surrounded by throngs of admirers.  We were impressed with the dramatic, Asian-inspired design of circles and waves, which were decorated with thousands of turned-edge machine-appliqued leaves (approximately 2800, to be exact).  Kathi Carter says that she worked on Isabelle off and on for over 4 years and it is the most challenging quilt she has ever done.

Isabelle by Kathi Carter

The leaves were appliqued with nearly-invisible monofilament thread. In this photo you can see the embroidery on top of the leaves.  The quilt design is based on the Japanese Garden pattern by Karen Kay Buckley and the quilt is named after Kathi Carter’s new great-granddaughter, Isabelle.  For more information on techniques, see this interview with Kathi Carter.

Savoring Twilight in Venice, 35 x 42”, by Patsy Kittredge (Sedona, AZ)

Savoring Twilight in Venice is another award-winning, photo-inspired quilt by Patsy Kittredge.  We really enjoy the lifelike quality and artistic composition of this piece.  Patsy says, "This quilt is all about the light as evening approaches. Day gives way to night as Patsy’s daughters enjoy a quiet moment in Venice."

close up, Savoring Twilight in Venice by Patsy Kittredge (Sedona, AZ)

There is so much detail in every element of this piece.  In this photo you can see the wood grain texture which was quilted onto the wooden railings, and the many-colored fabrics which lend a shimmery quality to the girls long hair.  Patsy won a third place ribbon for this quilt.

A Pocket full of Paisleys, 57 x 71”, by Lorilynn King (Longmont, CO)

This stunning and sparkling quilt, A Pocket Full of Paisleys, has been racking up awards over the last year, including this blue ribbon in the Wall Quilt - Innovative/Art category. Lorilynn says:  "I decided to really, “really” learn my embroidery software so I digitized the designs myself." The paisleys were machine embroidered, then attached to the luminous quilted background. 

A Pocket full of Paisleys by Lorilynn King

Lorilynn started digitizing the designs in mid-2010 and began stitching the final version in March of 2012; from that point, the quilt took 10 months to complete.  Each paisley petal is made of individually embroidered pieces.  The scalloped edges are made with many individual half-circles with piping on the edges.  Here is one more close-up photo...

The embroidery detail is so impressive on this quilt.  Lorilynn King used Isacord embroidery threads, Superior Kimono silk thread, Yenmet metallic thread, and YLI Candlelight thread.  The hand-dyed fabrics provide a rich backdrop for this quilt.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.