Highlights of the Pacific International Quilt Festival ! (part 2)

The Pacific International Quilt Festival is the largest quilt show on the west coast of the U.S.A. Many thanks to our good friend, quilt artist Bonita McFadden, for her excellent photos. Let us know which quilts are your favorites !

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The Musicians, 76 x 62, by LeAnn Hileman, Arizona

LeAnn explains, "The Musicians is my interpretation of my photo of these two gentlemen playing classical music on a rainy day in San Diego [California]." LeAnn's original design is hand appliqued and sewing machine quilted.
LeAnn has done an excellent job of using very subtle neutrals to depict the lighting on the musician's faces and the shadows behind them.

Coming Through by Cindy Brown (California), quilted by Sheila Connolly

Cindy notes, "This quilt is paper pieced using the Elephant Abstraction pattern by Violet Craft.
Orange is my favorite color. I want to thank Dawna Harrison for helping me pick out the material and Sheila Connolly for the machine quilting. I love that you have to get close up to see all the beautiful quilting. " All of these shades of orange provide a beautiful contrast and highlight the strong geometric components of this fun pattern.

Jazz Sax, 63 x 50, by Colleen Pelfrey (California), quilted by Sandra Bruce

Colleen writes, "I always wanted to play saxophone. When I was in the fifth grade, I told my dad I wanted to play saxophone, and he said, 'Great, we already have a clarinet you can start on!', so I ended up playing the flute into adulthood. The whole time I thought, 'That'll be the day when I can play saxophone!"

Close-up, Jazz Sax

Colleen continues, "When my fifth grade son wanted to play sax, I said, 'Let's buy two saxophones!'. Guess this is the day!" Colleen's original design is machine pieced and longarm quilted. These gold and cream tones work perfectly against the dark background, where very cute musical note symbols were quilted by Sandra Bruce.

Log Cabin Courthouse Steps Quilt, circa 1900 (Unknown Maker; San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles)

From the time of 1900-1910, this lovely antique quilt was a gift of Jennifer Berthold to the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. The pieces were hand-stitched to a foundation, then machine quilted.
The notes from the museum say, "At first glance, this quilt appears typical in every way to quilts made around the turn of the last century. However, a closer look will reveal quite a bit of interesting 'restoration' work. A variety of very contemporary fabrics have been systematically and carefully appliqued over a number of the 'steps' throughout the design."

Don't Worry, Be Happy by Colleen Granger  (California)

Colleen remarks, "I started with a pile of hand dyed fabrics from Always Unique, and I used my Ninja Star paper piecing pattern to create the rings.  Finally, I just had fun quilting. "

Close-up, Don't Worry, Be Happy

To us, these pretty shapes look like bright spinning wheels of colorful candy ! We appreciate the sense of motion and energy in Colleen's quilt.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Bonita McFadden for Quilt Inspiration.

Best of the Utah quilt show (part 4)!

Here are our final photos of favorites from the the 43rd Annual Springville (Utah) Quilt Show! This juried exhibition features quilts of all styles created by some of the State’s finest quilters. We are always impressed by the quality and beauty of the quilts by these Utah quilters.

Please note: We're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter !
We're also selling beautiful quilting and crafting books at low introductory prices on e-Bay!

Cub Loving His Dad by Sharon Aposhian Wright

Recipient of a Judge's Choice Award, Sharon says,  "I made this quilt to commemorate the birth of my first son's first son, Aram.... The black background is quilted from the back of the quilt following the pattern on the African backing fabric.  The design on [the] front was then colored for accent."

The techniques used were fused raw-edge applique, colored pencil shading, thread painting (silk, metallic, variegated), embellishments, and fishing line whiskers. 

There is Room for Everybody by Linda Williams, quilted by Kim Peterson

Linda Williams says, "This is the first time I have worked with batiks.  At the suggestion of the pattern designer [Edyta Sitar], I decided to give it a try."

Linda continues, "I love the contrast in the quilt components; it would not have been the same using quilting cottons only." The pattern is Homestead by Edyta Sitar.

Wild Winter by Carol Ford, quilted by Virginia Gore

Carol Ford says, "These are some of the animals and birds that live on our ranch in Birdseye, Utah... I found these paper pieced patterns online, and I purchased the fabrics in Alaska." 
Thank you to our reader who let us know that these lovely animal patterns were designed by Linda Hibbert at Silver Linings Originals.

Glimpse of Happiness by Kira Holladay

This is a wonderful way to frame a fabric panel.  "This quilt began with a few charms from a fabric collection by Moda.  It was inspired by the Labyrinth Quilt Pattern by Debbie Maddy... it is a window into what feels like peace to me.  All quilting was done on a home sewing machine."

Paradise in Blooms by Josephine Keasler, quilted by Kim Peterson

This quilt is based on a pattern by Judy Niemeyer.  Winner of a Judge's Choice Award, Josephine Keasler says:  "The process for making this quilt was a challenge and a joy.  Using color to create the water lilies, anthuriums, calla lilies, roses and bird of paradise was fun.  Changing the vases to baskets made this design mine."

Check out the intricate quilting in golden thread by Kim Peterson, at the bottom of this photo:

The Joy and Bliss of It by Marie Nelson

We enjoyed these colorful, rick rack-edged flowers.  Marie Nelson says, "This quilt was my response to the 2016 HMQS ADORNit Fabric Design challenge, featuring improvisational piecing, applique, and rick rack embellishment."

Harmony by Kaye Wittwer, quilted by Ramona Sorenson

Ramona Sorenson says,  "For many years my family was involved in music.  I created a design merging the treble and bass clefs.  This represented the harmonious sounds of the blending of all voices.  My daughter helped me create the design to use for the English Paper Piecing of hexagons.  I made a large quilt using 3/4 inch hexagons; in this quilt I wanted to see what it would look like with 1/2 inch hexagons in black and white."

Luna Essence by Anne Muñoz

We love this small art quilt with its hand stitching, shown below.  Anne says,  "This whole cloth quilt was batiked and discharged, then hand and machine stitched."

Image credit:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.