Quilts of the World part 3: Canada

Part of the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival was the World Quilt Competition XX, which is a special exhibition within the larger P.I.Q.F. This competition, which is open to quilters from many countries, starts out each summer on the East Coast of the U.S.A.; the best quilts from that show then go on tour to the various regional shows in America. We hope you enjoy this presentation, continuing with quilts from CANADA.

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Sweat Lodge @ Lazy M, 34 x 43", by Patti Morris

A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, made with natural materials and used for a purification ceremony in native cultures. Patti Morris says, "This design came from an art retreat at the Lazy M Lodge in Central Alberta. Walking around the grounds I came across this very old stick-like fort called a Sweat Lodge. I sketched it onto paper and then transferred it to fabric. My goal is to donate this piece to the Lodge when I return for another drawing retreat."

A to Z for Ewe and Me, 79 x 90", by Carolyn A. Hudson

Winner of the Best of Country award for Canada, A to Z for Ewe and Me is the 2014 Block of the Month for the Quilt Show designed by Janet Stone. Carolyn Hudson says, "Janet is doing a series of alphabet quilts with ewes and winning consistently in shows for her work."

Each letter of the alphabet is done in a different font and includes a pieced or appliqued block. Carolyn says, "Making this quilt has been a pivotal point in my quilting journey and such fun!"

Ophelia, 54 x 38", by Marilyn Farquhar

This original design quilt is hand appliqued and longarm quilted. Flower motifs were fussy cut and appliqued to create the ostrich. Marilyn Farquhar says, “My son frequently challenged me to make an “ostrich” quilt instead of “flower” quilts. I took up the challenge in secrecy…. not only did I want to make his ostrich, I wanted to use floral fabrics, just to get his goat."

Marilyn's use of purple polka dot background fabric created a whimsical piece and allowed textural quilting.

New Crop, 43 x 43", by Leah Gravells

Leah Gravells says, "I am continually inspired by the sky and the fields of Alberta to create original designs. The new crop fields by Cochrane inspired this design. The fields were a lush green. This design uses 170 batik fabrics which were individually cut into ¾” strips. Each strip is quilted to the batting and backing using a “quilt as you go” technique on a domestic sewing machine."

Leah used 100% cotton batik fabrics, Hobbs Heirloom Batting and 100% cotton Gutermann thread.

Red, White and Black, 54 x 58", by Patti Morris

Patti Morris says, "This quilt originated from some left over stash I found while cleaning out my studio in the spring of 2015. Working without a plan, I sewed some strips together hoping to make a quilt for one of my grown daughters. The more strips I sewed together, the more fun it became. Then, when I decided to throw in some colorful dots, the piece seemed to dance!"

Canadian Winter, 72 x 78",by Carolyn A. Hudson

Canadian Winter, done in red and gray, is an original medallion quilt with an inner border of sampler blocks.  The center 16-point oval Mariner’s Compass is a pattern by Judy Mathieson’s book and was used with permission. The red stars really show up against the wintry gray blocks.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration. Ophelia was exhibited in the main PIQF show.  The other quilts shown were entered in the World Quilt Competition.

Welcome to the 2014 River City Quilters' Guild Show: Day 2

The River City Quilters Guild is a prominent guild established in 1977 in Sacramento, the capital city of the state of California. We really enjoyed seeing the over 200 quilts in this year's show, and we'd like to share some of the highlights with you in these posts.

View of Arles With Irises, 80 x 65”, made and quilted by The Fab 5 Group (Carole Pirruccello, Cathy Brorby, Phyllis McCalla, Jan Bawart and Jan Soules.) First Place, Group Quilt-Large

These five panels represent five different views of the flowers in the fields of Arles, France. The artists say about themselves, " The Fab 5 art group took on the daunting task of trying to render, artistically, in fabric, [Impressionist painting] Vincent Van Gogh's  "View of Arles With Irises". Each artist worked independently on her slice [of the total panel shown here]. The resulting interplay of colors, techniques, and embellishments convey a "joie de vivre" ( a joy of life) to this amazing landscape.

Closeup photo, View of Arles with Irises by The Fab 5 Group

An amazing sense of movement is created here with with the circular quilting pattern, and the fabric appliqued in three dimensional rounded pieces. You can almost feel the wind blowing through the trees.

Closeup photo, View of Arles with Irises

These lovely three dimensional origami flowers in shades of purple remind us of little Dutch windmills. Tiny patchwork pieces provide a  dappled sunlight effect to the field behind the blossoms.  We're posting  more closeup photos of "View of Arles" at Quilt Inspiration on Pinterest.

Lava Lamp, 97 x 91.5”, made by Laurel Anderson, quilted by Lin Squires. 2nd place, 2-person quilt - Pieced and Applique

This quilt was inspired by designs of the 1960's and the Shimmer fabric line from Northcott. The fabric colors move from dark to light in 9 shades with shimmers of gold or silver.

close up, Lava Lamp by Laurel Anderson

The ovals are machine appliqued and all the other curves are pieced. A pattern is available at Laurel Anderson's website, Whisper Color.

Twilight Star of Indonesia, 37 x 37”, made and quilted by Susan Kooiman

Susan notes, "I chose this pattern to challenge myself and my paper piecing skills. It was the perfect opportunity to use my beloved batiks."  We love the vibrant split complementary color scheme of orange, red, and gold, combined with a deep blue violet. The circular flying geese border provides an especially innovative and creative effect. This quilt was based on a pattern by Judy Mathieson.

Close up, Twilight Star of Indonesia by Susan Kooiman

In the center of the pastel chartreuse star is a pretty gold brooch with a gleaming purple jewel. Circular gold stitching around the purple background ties the components of this center medallion all together.

Cats Rule, 65 x 80”, made by Kathy Mack, quilted by Shannon Freeman

We love cat quilts, and this one is a beauty!  This quilt was completed by Kathy Mack as a block-of-the-month quilt taught by Anelie Belden, using the Folk Art Cats design by John Simpkins for The Stitchin' Post.  Kathy says: “This is my first attempt at needle-turn applique.” The quilt won Honorable Mention for a Two-Person Pieced and Applique quilt. Each of the cats has button eyes and other embellishments. We couldn't resist taking lots of close-up photos!

Close up photos, Cats Rule by Kathy Mack

The cat jumped over the moon...

This cat has button eyes, embroidered whiskers, and an inscrutable expression...

Here is a cat with a beach ball and a daisy collar:

This cat is totally happy with his mouse... check out the halo over his head!

The stylized bushes are decorated with buttons shaped as gears...

Here is a sunny yellow cat...

This cat is chasing a dragonfly:

"Santa Claws" is comin' to town on his little green cat feet that look as if he is walking on stilts. He look all ready for Christmas Eve with his jaunty hat and belt with star round his belly.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Highlights from the 2014 Tucson, Arizona Quilt Fiesta (continued)

We headed south through the sunny Arizona desert last weekend to the  2014 Tucson, Arizona "Quilt Fiesta" .  Here are some more of our favorites.  We hope you have fun viewing these selections!

Together We Dance by Patsy Heacox

1st place winner in the  Pictorial Art category, Patsy writes, "Five times World Champion Hoop Dancer, Tony Duncan, inspired me to include his family in a new way. [My techniques include] inked portraits, raw edge appliqued, thread-painted, embellished. Background quilting of childrens’ images, sacred symbols. 

Close up, Together We Dance by Patsy Heacox

We were very impressed by this artistic quilt and the creative background quilting, which includes the Native American flute player, which you can see in the upper left. You can also see part of the quotes, which Peggy says are inked and then free motion outlined.

Extravagant Nature by Laura Steiniger

Extravagant Nature was adapted from Kim McLean’s Roseville Album pattern. "My love of nature inspired me to adapt a Kim McLean pattern. I added rabbits to personalize the design and had fun creating the birds and animals out of Kaffe Fassett and other fabrics. I’ve never had this much fun playing with fabric."

Close up, Extravagant Nature by Laura Steiniger

In this close-up, you can see the fabulous colors that Laura chose to depict the animals, including the very cute rabbit on the lower right-hand side.

Close-up, Extravagant Nature by Laura Steiniger

Laura has done wonderful work in creating a tree-of-life motif, where these lively, happy creatures exist in a vibrant fantasy world of different hues.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? by Janet Pugh and Barbara Barr, quilted by
Barbara Barr (non-judged)

This highly imaginative quilt is a view of a dinner table, as seen looking down from above on the table. Janet writes, "Barbara and I envisioned hosting a dinner party with 8 of America’s best-known contemporary quilt artists as guests. We designed 8 dinner plates in their respective styles. Ours are the two end plates on the tables. Can you guess who’s coming to dinner?" (The answer is in the footnote* at the end of the post).

Close-up, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? by Janet Pugh and Barbara Barr

Each plate is a mini-quilt that is finished and then appliqued to the surface of the quilt.  This Mariner’s Compass design is from Judy Mathieson.

Close-up, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner by Janet Pugh and Barbara Barr

The plate shown above was designed in the style of Caryl Bryer Fallert.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner by Janet Pugh and Barbara Barr

The plate shown above was designed in the style of Yvonne Porcella.

Silver Winter by Jacquelyn Morris-Smith

This quilt was based on the Golden Tapestry Special Edition pattern by Anita Goodesign, which was originally done in gold thread on a blue background. Jacquelyn says: "When I saw this design I immediately wanted to do it in black and silver. This reminds me of a beautiful winter scene, with over 2 million machine embroidery stitches."

Close up, Silver Winter by Jacquelyn Morris-Smith

In our opinion, this pastoral garden scene brings to mind a tapestry pattern from centuries past. We really enjoyed this superb example of machine embroidery.

Circus Stars by Sally Dickinson, quilted by Mary Vaneecke

First place winner in the medium size quilt made by two persons,  Sally Dickinson notes, "Circus Stars started as a collection of clown embroidery patterns from older Aunt Martha’s Hot Iron Transfers. Instead of working these in Red Work, I chose ‘Rust Work’ to give the quilt an antique feeling." The light colored stars with various sized-points placed in between the blocks really add sparkle to this quilt. Pattern source: Embroidery from old Aunt Martha's Patterns.

Close up, Circus Stars by Sally Dickinson, quilted by Mary Vaneecke

Sally's expert workmanship is shown here in her precise rendering of the tiny blocks and the little clown spinning the balls and the hoops.

Square Peg in a Round Hole by Barb Smart, quilted by Barbara Angerhofer

Barb Smart used a Burgoyne Surrounded pattern by Mary Fons, which was published in the Winter 2012 edition of Quilty Magazine (as of this writing, there is a digital pattern).  We've always loved this pattern, which originated in the 19th century (see the history below). Barb Smart has created a wonderful graphic version with a single blue block which adds a contemporary focal point to this quilt.

close up, Square Peg in a Round Hole by Barb Smart, quilted by Barbara Angerhofer

Barb Smart says: "This quilt is machine pieced and made with 100% cotton. My inspiration was to practice squaring up 9-patch blocks. I like the simplicity of the pattern, yet it shows drama!"  Barbara Angerhofer's quilting, which was done in concentric and overlapping circles, adds interest and a sense of movement to the quilt.

"Burgoyne Surrounded" is an abstract depiction of the battle of Saratoga, a turning point in the American Revolution. The chains of small squares represent regiments of Redcoats and British armies of Burgoyne, marching from Canada, and General Howe, marching from New York. The circle represents militiamen from New England, surrounding Burgoyne at Saratoga. This pattern and a related one, "Burgoyne's Surrender," have been popular since the 19th century.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.
*Answer to "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner": Top row, L-R: Michael James, Jane Sassaman, Ruth McDowell, Ricky Tims; Bottom row, L-R: Judy Mathieson, Yvonne Porcella, Libby Lehman, Carol Bryer Fallert. 

Remembering 9/11 : Red, white and blue quilts

Each year we commemorate September 11, 2001 with quilts to remind us of those who were lost, their families, and the freedoms we cherish.  Today we are sharing a wonderful variety of red, white and blue quilts from our post archives.

Waves 1, by Beth Carney, at Beth Carney Studio

"I looked out my window and saw the candles flickering as flags waved in the wind. Our colors were standing strong and proud. Wave after wave." ~Beth Ann Carney.  This quilt was included in the book, America from the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11 2001.

The Freedom Quilt Experience, commissioned by The Peter A. Kudla Family Foundation, designed by Cynthia Martin, quilted by A Better Quilt Inc.

The installation was made from ten unique quilt panels which form a display 16 feet high and nearly 30 feet wide. The two center panels mimic the two shafts of light representing the Twin Towers. Each panel was designed and sewn together by a different individual or quilt guild.

New Tears by Kim Ritter at Kim Ritter.com

"New Tears" by Kim Ritter was published in the book America from the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001.

Scarlet and Indigo by Judy Mathieson

"Scarlet and Indigo", which was made for the AAQI World Series Challenge, is a small version of a portion of a quilt called "Cinnabar and Indigo" by Judy Mathieson.

Red, white and blue, 24 x 32", by Marina Lynn at Quilt Inspiration

This project, made with cyanotype stars and batik fabrics, was inspired by an antique commissioning pennant.

Celebration of Freedom  by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times

Made in 2005, "Celebration of Freedom" became the focal point of an auction by The Defense Credit Union Council, with the proceeds going towards the Pentagon Memorial Fund.

Attic windows - a Soldier's Quilt, 42 x 56, by Darlene Douglass at Douglass Arts

"Attic Windows - A Soldier’s Quilt" was machine pieced by Darlene Douglass and quilted by Sandy Henricks of Sun City Quilters. The quilt was presented to a wounded soldier at Ft. Hood, Texas, in April 2008.