A Time to Dance

The Pacific International Quilt Festival was recently held in Santa Clara, California. This year's show included over 400 quilts and other items on exhibit. We're featuring some of our favorite pieces from the show!

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A Time to Dance, 47 x 47", by Joanne Baeth

Joanne Baeth is a fiber artist driven to replicate the beautiful surroundings of her home in Oregon. She uses fabric, thread, paint, and dyes to add realism to her quilts.

This beautiful original art quilt was exhibited in the Innovative category at PIQF. Joanne explains her inspiration for this piece: "This quilt was inspired by great flocks of Sandhill Cranes that I was fortunate to have observed in the grain field behind my house. Small pieces of painted fabrics were fused to create the dancing cranes."

"As the quilt progressed during the beginning of the Covid Pandemic, painted, beaded, and stitched circles, which in mind represented renewal, became a repeating theme.  My hope was for a time to dance again."

You can read more about Joanne and her work on her profile page at Superior Threads.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

Highlights of the Road to California Quilt Show! part 2

Welcome to the Road to California Quilter's Conference and Showcase! The Road to California, as it is called, takes place in Ontario (Southern California), and features over 1,000 quilts by artists from all over the world. Around 40,000 people gather to see the show, take classes, and shop. Join us in admiring some of the stunning quilts from this year's show.

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.

Cody's Cubes by Beth Nufer, Oregon. Quilted by Clem Buzick

Honorable Mention winner in the Abstract Quilts category, Beth remarks, "I wanted to make a modern design quilt with a 3-D effect to it. I love tumbling blocks, so that worked out for this quilt."

Because the different faces of these blocks are separated with dark background fabric, the three-dimensional effect is even more pronounced. We really admire this expertly designed and constructed geometric quilt with brilliant rainbow colors.

Sonoran Desert Sunset by Kathy Adams and Joanne Baeth, Arizona

Third place winners in the Naturescapes Quilts category, Kathy and Joanne explain, "Original design [is] inspired by several photos we took of the Sonoran Desert which were collaged to make our pattern. Bold colors and Southwestern sunsets inspired our fabric choices. We divided the pattern horizontally into 6 sections and each created and quilted an alternating section."

The quilters add, "Work was done independently, sharing progress via phone and email. When complete, sections were mailed back and forth to be joined, as we live several miles apart." With their use of vibrantly-hued fabrics and intricate thread work, Kathy and Joanne have created a gorgeous quilt which depicts the sunset illuminating mountains, the cacti, and the wildflower-strewn floor of the desert.

The Eggs of the Rainbow Serpent by Jenny Bowker,  Australia

Jenny writes, The Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve is a site in the Northern Territory of Australia, which is the subject of an Aboriginal legend, which explains how the Rainbow Serpent carried water across the Australizan desert from coast to coast and left its eggs in the desert.The Rainbow Serpent is the creator of all things in the Dreamtime stories."

Jenny continues, "I wanted a strong sense of our traditional owners in this piece, but Australians of European heritage are not permitted by use Aboriginal symbolism. To avoid offense, I used Aboriginal fabrics in some sections of the quilt. Still playing with the idea of extending a landscape with patchwork blocks, I used an altered Kaleidoscope block in the rest of the quilt. The heat of Australia's desert swirls through the sky."  This is an amazing creation by Jenny Bowker, whose circular images and quilting motif give a dynamic energy to her work.

Untitled by Lynn Czaban, Oregon

Blue ribbon winner in the category of Human Images, Lynn notes, "This 1936 photograph by Arthur Rothstein, a photographer for the Famr Securities Administration, depicts a laborer at the Chopawamsic Recreational Project in Virginia."

For her design inspiration, Lynn used a copyright-free photograph from the Library of Congress. Her ability to capture in cloth the distinct, clear, facial features and expressions of her subjects is amazing. She has done other portraits from the Great Depression, and they have all turned out beautifully.

Digital Interface by Zoe Williams, New York

Zoe comments, "The beautiful, intricate, dexterous, miraculous human hand never ceases to fill me with awe. So much of our interaction with the world and our connection to others is done through our hands."

 

Zoe continues, "This quilt is an enlarged tracing of the proportions of my own hand, which allows me to express myself and function in countless ways."

She concludes, "Quilted into this piece are 122 words, given to me by friends and loved ones, of the meaningful things we do with our hands." We really admire Zoe's excellent workmanship, elegant use of complementary colors, and innovation in selecting such an intriguing and original subject.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2020 Road to California show.

Best of the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2019 (day 3)

Held annually in Santa Clara, California, the Pacific International Quilt Festival is the largest quilt show on the west coast of the U.S.A.  It features a wonderful variety of beautiful quilts! Here are some of the highlights of the festival. Let us know which ones are your favorites!

P.S.  For quilt patterns, books, and vintage collectibles, please visit us on E-Bay quilt-inspiration !

Wonderland, 90 x 90, by Renae Haddadin and Karen Kay Buckley, Utah 

Blue ribbon winner for Best Traditional Quilt, Karen Kay Buckley designed and appliqued a striking center medallion using bright colors and large graphics. Set against a dark background, this very cheerful floral foreground really pops right off the quilt.

Here's a close-up of the center medallion so that you can see the intricate piecing and applique. This original design is machine pieced, hand appliqued, and longarm machine quilted.

Karen used black setting triangles for Renae Haddadin to add colorful longarm quilting elements. Together, thread and fabric create beautiful movement and design in the combination of techniques.

Alan Turing-An Enigma by Susan Auden Wood, Australia

Susan writes, "Alan Turing's crime was to be a homosexual in the 1940's and 1950's when it was illegal in the United Kingdom. He was one of the greatest minds of our time. He worked at.....the Government Code and Cipher School in the U.K., where he made major advances in the field of cryptoanalysis and was instrumental in ending World War 2 by deciphering German enigma encrypted signals. It is believed he shortened the war by at least two years, saving millions of lives."

Susan continues, "I have used various mathematical and binary design fabrics in this quilt to signify the scientific brain behind Mr. Turing's brilliance and also incorporated a mosaic picture into my piece." Susan's thoughtful and intriguing tribute to Alan Turing is part of an exhibition titled "OURstory Quilts: Human Rights Stories in Fabric."

If Only, 31 x 30, by Diana Biknell, Oregon

Diana explains, "If Only is a tribute to all of the people, researchers, and volunteers who work so hard to keep our animals from extinction. If only it were as easy as drawing a picture to bring animals to life." In this very creative work, the artist sketches a zebra, who then assumes the three dimensional shape of a real being, as it emerges from a two dimensional page.

Diana adds, "This [original design]  quilt was sketched and painted with Tsukineko Inks and Fabriko pens, appliqued, thread painted, and quilted on a domestic machine."

African Women Quilt by Lillian Karber Thiesen

Constructed in 1986, Lillian's quilt is part of an exhibition by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, titled "Inspired By." In this exhibit, the quilters are encouraged to state the source of their inspiration for their works, whether it is a pattern, hue, or shade of fabric, a sewing technique, or a song, poem, or anything that sparks their creative spirit.

Lillian's quilt was inspired by African fabrics that she purchased as she journeyed through a variety of countries in Africa. In this close-up block, you can see that the women's outfits are sewn from fabric that Lillian obtained in Kenya. Her applique and quilting are beautifully done, and her quilt will serve as a treasured heirloom and memoir of her travels.

Feathers and Frost, 40 x 60, by Joanne Baeth, Oregon

First runner up award winner for Best Sewing Machine Workmanship, Joanne comments, "Four overlapped layers create the top of the background: ice dyed cotton fabric, hand cut trees, ice dyed silk organza, hand drawn and cut trees, [which are] covered with thousands of beads." Joanne's gorgeous work glitters and sparkles like bright sunlight on a clear winter's day.

Here's a close-up, so that you can see the shading on one of the elegant swans. Joanne adds, "Thread painted bushes, glitter tulle, and feathers constructed one at a time finished the quilt."

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

It's Pumpkin Time !

It's pumpkin time! There are crates of them at our local market.  If you like fall, pumpkins and pies, you may enjoy seeing these award-winning quilts that remind us of autumn and harvest time.

Feathers and Farms, 50 x 48", by Joanne Baeth (Oregon)

Feathers and Farms captures a farm in the fall with trees ablaze and pheasants taking to flight.  From a distance the quilt appears to be a whole cloth painting, but Joanne Baeth explains that the quilt was created with fusible applique using tiny bits of fabric and further enhanced with thread painting, paints and ink. This outstanding quilt was awarded Best Wall Quilt at the 2014 AQS Lancaster show,  along with First Place in the Art Pictorial category at the 2014 Road to California and at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival. 

close up, Feathers and Farms by Joanne Baeth

The elements of the quilt are so well-blended that it is difficult to discern the individual pieces even at close range, although you can see bits of fabric in the trees in this photo.  On her website, Joanne Baeth explains: " My goal is to create art quilts that resemble oil or water color paintings. Using dyes, inks, paints, threads, and different fabrics to achieve this goal is an artistic challenge I enjoy."

Pumpkin Pie, 54 x 60", by Karolyn "Nubin" Jensen

Pumpkins of different sizes and shapes are surrounded by blackbirds in this fun quilt, which was based on the Pumpkin Pie pattern by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs.  At the bottom of the quilt is the pie.  This quilt by Karolyn Jensen won third place in the Appliqued - Machine Quilted category at the 2014 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

close up, Pumpkin Pie by Karolyn "Nubin" Jensen

The blackbirds,  pumpkin stems and leaves were made with wool applique and surrounded with a lovely scroll-like quilting design.  This quilt was inspired by Karolyn's youngest grandson's love of the outdoors and picking a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

Orange Glow by Alyce Leach

A pineapple log cabin quilt, Orange Glow was included in the Pieced Pineapple Special Exhibit  at the 2014 Arizona Quilters Guild show.  Alyce Leach says, "I made this quilt (again) from the Home for the Harvest book [by Nancy Milligan and Lynda Smith].  I re-sized the quilt and applique pieces to fit my orange fabric.  This quilt won Best Stationary Machine Quilting at the AQG 2012 show."

close up, Orange Glow by Alyce Leach

We enjoyed the folk-art-style pumpkins and the leafy quilting design which is showcased in the cream and ivory areas of the quilt.   You can read about Alyce Leach at the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame.

Autumn Glory, ~58 x 72", by Cathy Washburn

Cathy Washburn says that this is the largest wool applique project she has ever done.  "It was fun to go into my stash of wool and choose the pieces."   The pattern source was the Autumn Quilt by Kathi Campbell at Heart to Hand.  Barbara redesigned the border, adding a pumpkin and vines.  The quilting was done by Barbara Angerhofer.

close up, Autumn Glory by Cathy Washburn

In this photo you can see some of the tweeds and solids which Cathy Washburn used. There is a lot of applique in this quilt!  Even the sawtooth border at the bottom of this quilt is blanket stitched. 

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.