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!

(Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !)

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.

Highlights of Quilt Arizona 2019 ! part 1

The Arizona Quilters Guild has over 35 chapters, but they all get together annually for the Quilt Arizona show. The 2019 theme is Jewels of the Desert: "Every quilt is like a gemstone, the dancing colors play through patterns to endlessly fascinate and amaze. This year your quilt should convey Arizona's iridescent beauty, from golden sunsets and emerald cacti, to clear sparkling memories."

Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry ! (For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !)

Desert Jewel of Happiness and Joy by Lois Wendling, quilted by Donna Goldbeck

Lois Wendling won Third Place in the Theme category for this Arizona themed quilt.  Lois says, "I saw the 'Panel One Block Wonders' on Facebook and decided to try my hand at it. The colors in the panel are definitely, to me, like jewels in the desert. It was so fun playing with all the variations." We enjoyed Lois' design, and Donna Goldbeck's fabulous quilting, which include quilted pots in the top and bottom borders. The colorful kokopelli panel is shown below.

The technique uses a fabric panel in the middle, and one-block-wonder hexagon blocks cut from additional panels in the rest of the quilt. (Kokopelli is a Native American fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, often with feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head.)

Summer's Bounty by Jan Mawk, quilted by Jan Mawk

Jan Mawk won First Place in the Applique - Small category, along with an Exemplary Hand Quilting award.  The floral sampler is from the book Beautiful Botanicals by Deborah Kemball.  The applique, embroidery, and quilting were all done by hand, and then prairie points were added.  Jan Mawk says, "I spent 2299 hours on this quilt."  We've never seen such tiny, perfect hand quilting stitches:

Keeping the Peace by Barbara Miller, quilted by Cindy Stohn

Barbara Miller won a Judge's Choice ribbon for this lovely portrait, inspired by an original photo of their dog Shiloh.  This was her first attempt at using a collage technique, and the results were impressive!

Summer Dream by Vicky Button, quilted by Samantha Wright

This beautiful rainbow star quilt won a well-deserved Judge's Choice ribbon. Amazingly, this was Vicky Button's first paper pieced project. (The Summer Dream pattern is by Jacqueline de Jonge.)  She says, "I am still amazed that I was able to create this striking quilt!" 

Daddy's Delight by Ann Gonzalez, quilted by Ann Gonzalez

The beautiful desert colors make this quilt a standout.  Ann Gonzalez says, "This quilt is designed to be done in English Paper Pieced Style but I drew the seam lines on the back of each piece and stitched them by hand.  I then appliqued the top to the background."

We recognize the design as La Passacaglia Quilt - Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hammerstein.

Margarita! by Mardi Schock, quilted by Kim Rensch

Margarita won First Place in the Theme category.  Mardi Schock says, "Margarita is a template-made quilt from Margaret Miller's book.  It was a challenge from finding right fabrics, cutting the mirror images and then finding multiple pattern mistakes! Worth it though!"

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

Best of Utah: The 44th annual Springville Quilt Show (1)

This annual Springville quilt show is a juried exhibition that features quilts of all styles and sizes created by some of Utah's finest quilters. This is our third year attending the show and the quality of the work is outstanding. Here are some of our favorites!
NOTE:We are now a "Top Rated Seller" on eBay... check out the great bargains on quilt books and fabrics at our eBay store!

Kaleidoscope Walk by Kathi Shunn, Quilted by Ami Krenzel. Award of Excellence.

This quilt took our breath away. It was hand pieced and contains over 2900 pieces and 200 different fabrics. Kathi Shunn says the piecing alone took over a year. The design was based on the the La Passacaglia Quilt from the book Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hammerstein.

Kathi Shunn says, “My favorite thing about making the La Passacaglia quilt was the ability to treat each rosette as an individual. I didn’t think about how the rosettes would look together until I was at the end just looking at what colors were lacking. I enjoyed the process of one rosette at a time so much that I am making four more of them for each of my children to inherit."

Blessed by Rhonda Montgomery, quilted by Charlene Nelson. Best of Show.

It's no wonder this fantastic quilt received Best of Show.  We loved the creative design and beautiful applique work.  Rhonda Montgomery says the quilt depicts her five children at one of the family's favorite beaches.

Rhonda says, “I have always wanted to make a beach quilt. After many years and several attempts at making an ocean, I decided I could live with this “storm at sea” one. I hand dyed the sky and decided an old mariner’s compass block would be perfect for my sun. I was born in Hawaii and have loved Hawaiian quilts, so I added a beach boardwalk border with appliqued flowers to resemble their style."

Round the Garden by Katherine Porter, quilted by Virginia Gore

The applique and embroidery details on this quilt were absolutely stunning. Katherine Porter says, “When I saw the picture of Wendy Williams’ Round the Garden [quilt pattern] it spoke to my heart and became my personal obsession. I started it in November and considered skipping Christmas to continue my 10-12 hour days. Wendy’s design called for wool applique but I chose to use needle-turned applique."

Katherine continues, “I love embroidery and after making three million, five hundred and sixty two French knots (not an exact number – there may be more!), I still love it. I have absolutely loved making this quilt.”

Woven Rainbow by Kira Carter, quilted by Marion McClellan.

Kira Carter says, “I wanted to push myself and make an illusion quilt in a modern way. The spectrum of colors in this was a challenge to get right but I love the way it turned out.

Kira continues, “Marion [McClellan] and I brainstormed on how to make the quilting pop. We decided on the straight lines to imitate a basket weave with the bold graphic flowers popping out as if in the basket.”

Sweet Millefiori Meadow by Karin Crawford, quilted by Kim Peterson. Award of Excellence.

This quilt reminds us of Spring in all its glory. You can see just about every technique of quilting in this quilt. It is hand pieced, machine pieced, hand appliqued, machine appliqued and hand embroidered. Karin Crawford says she wanted to portray a meadow with everything you can find: flowers, birds, insets, greenery and a beautiful sky.

Karin says Sweet Millefiori Meadow was made of Riley Blake fabric for a challenge in May 2017. She used every fabric in the Meadow Sweets line, and the theme was taken from the fabric line’s name.

Farm Quilt, made and quilted by Joan Hardman

Joan Hartman says, “As a quilter, I like to try new techniques. This art form comes from Marilyn Bedford’s book, Portraits for Fabric Lovers. Bonnie Keller used this technique to take stock photos of animals from the internet and posterize them [for the Farm Quilt pattern]. My quilt includes my three cats, Jimmy, Chloe, and Paddington."  The photo below shows some of the embroidery details.

Joan continues, "I used soft country colors from my stash and searched the Internet for material that looked like barn wood that I could quilt wood grain on. I used Steam-a-Seam to piece the animals and Quilted Treasures to print flowers and such. Each of my farm friends has hand-embroidered details and very little quilting to keep them dimensional.”

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.