Highlights of Quilt Arizona! (4)

The annual Quilt Arizona show is a highlight of spring!  Here are some great quilts from this year's show (part four of 4)!

p.s. Please visit our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles! For blog highlights and free patterns, follow us on Twitter!     

Baltimore Spring by Pearl Sceviour, quilted by Spools: The Workshop. 

 Winner of a Blue Ribbon for 1st Place in the Applique-Duet category, Pearl Sceviour says this is her third in this series of quilts.  it is based on the Baltimore Spring pattern by Pearl Pereira (P3Designs). "I love the technical challenge of the tiny detail in this pattern and it has been one of the most satisfying quilts I've made to date. I did a lot of the quilting within the applique motifs, as I was willing to spend the time with color changes." 

Pretty in Pink, made and quilted by Barb Tatera. 

 Winner of a 3rd place ribbon in its category, this quilt began in an AQG class on the Crimson Christmas pattern by Krista Moser.  Barb Tatera says, "I changed the largest poinsettia to pink to create a fresh, contemporary color palette.  The free-hand feathers emphasize the petals of these classic winter blooms.  I'm so glad I took the class!"

Chasing Dreams by Pamela Elliott, quilted by Jessica Jones.  

Winner of a 2nd Place ribbon in the kit quilt category, Pamela Elliott says that she loves color and paper piecing and this pattern caught her interest.  "It was a joy to work on."  It was based on the published design: Chasing Dreams by Jacqueline de Jonge.

 Unfolding, made and quilted by Claire Victor  @cvqquilts

Winner of a Blue Ribbon for 1st Place in the Modern-Small category, Claire Victor says that this quilt was designed using Procreate.  "I am trying to create dimension and motion without shading or painting.  It was constructed by English Paper Piecing (EPP) and machine quilted on a domestic Bernina machine with no stitch regulator."

 Claire Victor says, " The background quilting design is my modern tribute to crazy quilting."

  Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Quilt Arizona show.

Our Feline Friends

Our feline friends bring us joy and companionship. It's no wonder so many talented quilters have chosen to honor them with a quilt! Here are three quilted tributes made with a variety of styles and techniques.

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !    

The Daydream Cat by Jayeun Shin (Gyeonggi-do, South Korea).  

This contemporary art quilt is made with hand dyeing, machine piecing, applique, and quilting.    A sphinx cat, drawn to a flower pot, drifts into a dream where reality and fantasy are divided into gray spaces. Blue and yellow curtains and walls reflect the cat's free, lively, and optimistic nature. The cat's imagination is expressed playfully through quilting. 

Gus, made and quilted by Sandi Lanz.  

Sandi Lanz says that when she saw this panel and fabric [by Timeless Treasures] she had to make it. The pattern is The Multiverse by Leigh Headington at The Sweet Tea Girls. (See the links for more information; the links are active as of this writing.) This quilt turned out beautifully.

Cats in the Garden by Nancy Landon, quilted by Brenda Smitley. 

Winner of the award for Exemplary Hand Applique, this original design is based on traditional Baltimore album blocks poular in the 1840s and 50's.  Nancy Landon says, "The applique flowers are my favorite and the cats are just 4 of many cats I have loved." We enjoyed every part of this gorgeous quilt including the lavish pink border roses.

p.s. If you love cat and dog quilts, check out our Free Pattern Day (CLICK HERE!)

 

Image credits: Photos of The Daydream Cat were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Houston International Quilt Festival.  Photos of Gus and Cats in the Garden were taken at the 2026 Tucson Quilt Fiesta.

 

 

 

12 Days of Christmas: A Baltimore Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our readers! To celebrate the season, we're posting 12 of our favorite Christmas quilts from recent shows.  We hope you enjoy the beautiful details expressed in these masterpieces! 

p.s. Also check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on designer jewelry and collectibles!
For free quilt patterns and more, please follow us on X/Twitter.

Christmas Dreamin' by Rhonda Jenner (South Dakota).  

This beautiful quilt was made with hand applique, embroidery, and quilting; machine piecing and quilting. Based on the Baltimore Christmas pattern by Pearl Pereira, Rhonda Jenner changed several things on the design. She removed Santa's pack, the ornaments, and the pipe; and added a quilt for the doll, some drumsticks, an airplane, a football, a ball, and a glove.

Rhonda Jenner says, "Fourteen years ago, three of us chose our fabrics to complete our quilts. One got lost, one finished the year before she passed but never quilted it, and I finished mine last year.  Between life's adventures of illnesses and losses, it is now complete."   - The angels and gingerbread men are among our favorite blocks, shown below:

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Houston International Quilt Festival.
 

Highlights of the Houston International Quilt Festival! (2)

We had a wonderful time at the Houston International Quilt Festival! We enjoyed seeing 1200 quilts from around the world, and are excited to share photos of our favorites... here is Part 2!

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on designer jewelry and collectibles!
For continuous free quilt patterns, please follow us on X (Twitter)!     

FIRST PLACE - Pictorial:  Peony Dream by Chen Jing (Beijing, China)

Winner of a blue ribbon in the Pictorial quilt category, Peony Dream was perfect in every detail, from the portrait itself to the oversized peonies and the elaborate embroidery in the borders.

The centers of the peonies were embellished with small pieces of fabric or ribbon, giving a 3-D effect as shown below.

 

Innova Master Award for Contemporary Artistry: Color My World by Karen Kay Buckley

Color My World features applique and embroidery that completely fills the spaces. Each block contains a critter (insect, animal, bird); some are hidden and some are obvious.

Maryland by Martine Crabe-Lanux (France)

This gorgeous quilt was based on a Baltimore Album quilt, circa 1847.  It is beautifully hand appliqued and hand quilted. The quilt took 3000 hours to complete over 2.5 years. Check out the tiny hand quilting stitches!

Kaleidoscope Garden by Judy Ballance (USA), quilted by Patty Wilson 

This quilt sparkles with bright colors and strong contrasts! Wool applique and hand embroidery lend a dimensional effect to the appliqued blocks.  Winner of a Third Place award in the Balanced Piecing and Applique category, this quilt is based on the Fairground quilt pattern by Wendy Williams.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Houston International Quilt Festival.
 

Garden Party: Applique and Hand Quilting

Hand quilting is such an amazing art form, it always stops us in our tracks.  Here's a beautiful album quilt by Melanie Harris. Scroll down for close-up photos of the colorful batik flowers, expert hand applique, and precise hand quilting.

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains! For more free quilt patterns, please follow us on X (Twitter).    

Garden Party, made and quilted by Melanie Harris 

Garden Party is a quilt in the Baltimore Album tradition.  we can see  a wreath, bird, tulips, and an amazing leafy vine that encircles the border. Winner of a blue ribbon in the One-Person Applique/Hand Quilted category, Melanie Harris based this gorgeous quilt on a pattern by Lori Holt. Melanie says, "This is my first hand applique quilt, it was a joy to work on in the evenings.  It took one year to complete the applique blocks and borders, followed by a few months to hand quilt."

This is among the best hand quilting we've ever seen, with perfect even stitches and spacing.

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Floral Album Quilts: Celebrating the Garden!

Album quilts, which show a variety of blocks, are on almost everyone's list of favorite quilt patterns.  They provide great visual interest and are often a valuable source of inspiration for your next project. Perfect for spring, here are some floral album quilts we admired at a recent show!

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, patterns, and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please follow us on Twitter !    

90th Birthday Quilt, made and quilted by Robin Walton

This quilt is gorgeous done in soft hues and batik fabrics! Winner of an award for her hand quilting, Robin Walton says: "The quilt was made for my mother-in-law in her favorite colors: blue and white. Her many trips to Japan inspired me to use blocks published by Susan Briscoe [from the book, "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match" by Susan Briscoe (2007).]  We admire Robin Walton's beautiful hand quilting as seen in the block below.

 Color Play with Circles, made and quilted by Janet Rupp  

This spectacular quilt has beautiful wool applique blocks in a profusion of colors! Winner of an award for Exemplary Machine Applique, this quilt was inspired by Ericka Kaprow's book titled Everything's Blooming: 30 Floral Wool Applique Quilt Blocks.  Placing them on an off-white print allows the applique work to stand out. Check out the embroidery work which adds a lovely finishing touch.

Wild Artichokes by Christine Nelson, quilted by Barbara Logullo  

These blocks are perfectly proportioned.  The olive green hues remind us of a Renaissance work of art! This pieced and appliqued design is based on a pattern by Vicki Stratton called Wild Artichokes.

The quilter had fun using her creativity in quilting this piece: It's hard to see in photos, but the green quilted areas include dragonflies, beetles, spiders, bees, butterflies, flowers and other motifs!

 Circle of Posies On Point, made and quilted by Karen Kelter

Wreaths, tulips, hearts, and green leaves make up a garden of blocks. Karen Kelter says that these blocks were an option in a BOM program, circa 2007, at the Quilt Basket [a local shop].  "It was my first attempt at machine applique.  It took a while to choose a palette in which to present them.  It is so gratifying to get them out of my UFO pile." Here's a lovely block featuring a basket of red tulips:

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson (Arizona) Quilters Guild show. 

Welcome to the Quilt Fiesta! (2)

We attended the 2025 Quilt Fiesta in Tucson, Arizona, and had a wonderful time.  This show is produced by the Tucson Quilters Guild, and there were so many beautiful quilts to admire. We hope you enjoy our photos of the show! Here is part 2.

Note: Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on patterns, jewelry, and collectibles. You also can follow us on Twitter!

We Chose Arizona by Maine-ly Quilting Sisters (Karen Chrisman, Betty Jordan, Mary Lucas, Katherine Kenwood & Susan Baxter); quilted by Betty Jordan & Katherine Kenwood.

This incredible landscape quilt was constructed in parts, then assembled.  Each part was made with Seminole piecing. The description says, "Our group began practicing Seminole piecing together. Betty, Katherine & Mary are from Maine; Susan is from Oregon and Karen is from Arizona. We live in this beautiful state by choice. The work shows our skills and our bond as quilters."

 Queen of the Night by Trish Hastings-Sargent  

This is a framed work of art, representing a relatively new category called Rigid Finished Art Quilts (RFAQ).  They are supported by a frame, stretcher bars or other means rather than a sleeve.  When art quilts are stretched onto a rigid frame, or matted and put into a decorative frame, they resemble a fine-art piece.

We were captivated by the translucent quality of these flower petals and the embroidery representing the pistil and stamen in the center. Trish Hastings-Sargent says, "Once a year in June, the night-blooming Cereus (cactus) turns into a stunning display of fragrant white blossoms! The show begins just after dusk and is usually over by midnight. By morning, the blooms are all gone."

Tucson Five-O by the Tucson Quilters Guild Quilt Fiesta Committee, quilted by Athena Taylor.  

 Pattern source: Inspiration from TQG opportunity quilt blocks over the years.  In 2026 the Tucson Quilters Guild will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. This quilt was created with this milestone in mind (hence the name, Five-O).  It will be the guild's 2026 opportunity quilt (wow!)  The quilt center showcases the stately saguaro cactus of the Sonoran desert, along with an ocotillo and prickly pear, highlighted against the mountains and the colorful sky.

Various local birds can be seen including an owl, hummingbird, and a Gambel's quail (below). 

Sonoran Baltimore by Judy Tenen, quilted by Linda Cote 

This gorgeous Baltimore album-style quilt was designed by Nancy Landon.  Judy Tenen says, "As always, I enjoy making quilts that Nancy Landon designed.  I modified her pattern slightly and enjoy the elements that represent Tucson while still being a traditional "album" style quilt.  Linda Cote furthered the desert theme with her custom quilting. Thanks to both Nancy and Linda!"

The historic San Xavier Del Bac mission is shown in the closeup photo above. Sitting just south of Tucson, the mission is not to be missed if you are visiting the area. It is Arizona’s oldest European structure and a masterpiece of Spanish Colonial architecture, completed in 1797.  

Beautiful applique work can be seen throughout this quilt, including the doves, squirrels, and vines in this photo.

Happiness by Sandra Schuster, quilted by Rick at Sunset Quilting

Sandra Schuster won a blue ribbon for her brightly colored beauty.  She says, "It pulses - from small to big, from thin to thick, with such saturated colors, and OH! Those feathers that are quilted on it! Brought together they equal happiness."  Pattern source: Prismatic by Gina at Gem Hill Quilts. 

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.