Quilt Fiesta! The annual Tucson Quilters Guild show (1)

It's quilt show time!  The annual Quilt Fiesta, held last weekend by the Tucson Quilters Guild, is an outstanding show. We're rolling out some of our favorite photos from the show.

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

Abuelita Scrappy Quilt by Millie Burgheimer

Winner of an award in the thread painting category, Millie Burgheimer created a lovely portrait as a tribute to grandmothers who quilt. She says,  "Our grandmothers (abuelitas) often made quilts by hand or [with an] old sewing machine.  They used old scraps and feed sacks. [This was] a fun project to create by thread painting and fabric that was given to me." 

Southwest Sunrise by Luanne Wood

This stunning quilt was based on the 2020 Southwest Sunrise BOM (block-of-the-month) by Reeze L. Hanson.  Luanne Wood says, "I learned a lot about New Mexico's Zuni Indian tribe from this pattern.  I added thread drawn motifs of Arizona's Sonoran Desert in the corners of the main section and revised the outer border with more Zuni thread-drawn motifs." The quilt won Judge's Choice plus an Exemplary Machine Quilting award.

Bienvenidos by Tami Graeber

Bienvenidos ("Welcome") won the 1st place Viewer's Choice award. Tami Graeber says, "I love painting Mexican tiles; this is my 5th tile quilt. It was inspired by a stairway at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The stairs were painted one row at a time and machine appliqued into place."

Southwest Lone Star by Kris Neifeld

This beautiful Lone Star quilt was based on the book, All-Star Quilts, by Helen Frost and Blanche Young (available at Amazon and other bookseller sites). We loved the combination of coppery oranges and reds with turquoise and teal blues. This classic Southwest color combination was achieved with batik fabrics.  The top was made and quilted by Kris Neifeld.

Monument Valley by Richard & Shari Thompson

This intriguing digital quilt was a collaboration between Richard and Shari Thompson.  Creating the border from a Navajo rug purchased by his grandmother in 1935, Richard used Photoshop to blend 40 of their Monument Valley images into a single file.  When this was printed on fabric, Shari quilted and embellished the scene. The detail was outstanding, as shown in this closeup photo of the sheep.

Tree of Life by Kay Walen

This wonderful foundation-pieced quilt was based on a design by Lisa Fryxell at the PreFurred Quilt Shop. Kay Walen says, "This quilt is entirely paper pieced.  I needed to improve my skills [with this technique]... I had a large learning curve and lots of reverse sewing opportunities and wasted fabric." The result, as you can see, was outstanding! This Tree of Life was quilted by Double T Quilts.

 

Image credit: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2023 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Flamenco Dancer

The Pacific International Quilt Festival is held annually in Santa Clara, California. This year's show included over 400 quilts. We're featuring some of our favorite works of art from the show.

p.s. 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.

Maria, 61 x 38.75", by Mary Anne Fontana (Delaware)

Entered in the quilt competition in the Innovative category, Mary Anne Fontana says: "This is an original photograph taken by me in Mercia, Spain in 2018.  Maria, a Flamenco dancer, was performing at an outdoor concert in front of this beautiful cathedral.  The printed image is a composite of two different edited photographs of her." 

Printed on 100% cotton fabric with cotton batting and backing, "Maria" was free-motion "thread painted" using thousands of yards of different color threads.  Fabric markers & watercolor paints were used to enhance her movement and beauty, and the finished piece was longarm machine quilted.

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

Welcome to the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival - part 4

Welcome to the Pacific International Quilt Festival! Due to time constraints, we could not view all the quilts this year! Therefore, we are showing a small sample of the quilts in this large show. Here is Part 4 of our photos with some outstanding creations.

Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, books, and collectible items !
For the latest free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Northern Harrier 30 x 30, by Carol Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Washington

Carol says, "In the Spring of 2020, a northern harrier (the large bird depicted here) lit just outside our kitchen window. We managed to open the window and snap several photos before it flew away." This quilt impressed us with its very realistic colors of nature and the minute, lifelike details of the harrier in surrounding nature.

Carol continues about her original design,  "To create the design for this quilt, I combined a tree photo and two photos of the harrier, then added digital painting to integrate the photos and simplify the background. The composition was printed on cotton fabric and heavily quilted to the level of thread painting."

Kimi in a Dangerous World by Elsa Meyer,  California, quilted by Marian Drain

Elsa's stunning art quilt is made very effective by the use of the lime green background which looks as if it is lighted from behind, so the praying mantis appears to be hidden among the foliage. Embedded on the insect's body are some very pretty butterfly motifs. Outlining the foreground shape in black gives extra high contrast to Elsa's original design. 

This imagery, inspired by political events, was designed to symbolize the power of the minority (represented by the dragonfly) against the powerful (represented by the praying mantis.)

Folk Art Fun in Baltimore, 68 x 68, by Tami Graeber, Arizona

 This year's theme at the Pacific International Quilt Festival was "The New Normal", and Tami addressed this theme by writing, "The New Norm for me is creating a traditional looking quilt with an innovative style."  Tami has utilized the early American "Baltimore Album" pattern and re-created it to make an original design with a great deal of southwestern personality and flair. We really love the border of whimsical, very artistic and varied flowers. 

First Place Award winner for Best Use of Color in a Traditional Quilt, Tami's lovely work is machine pieced and longarm quilted. With artful use of fabric paint, she has added bright, vibrant touches, which really brings the birds, butterflies, and fruit of the trees to life. 

Sicilian Summer, 81 x 81,by Claudia C. Myers,  Minnesota

Winner of the Third Place Award for Best Traditional Quilt, Claudia notes, "The making and machine quilting of Sicilian Summer took all of the time we were quarantined from the Covid-19 virus, and them some. I am fortunate that I have a large stash of fabric and thread so I didn't have to make a trip to the quilt shop to pick up the supplies."

Claudia adds, "I designed this quilt on Electric Quilt (EQ) 7 and made it trying out a new way of applique construction, rather than curved piecing." Claudia longarm machine quilted her spectacular original design, which she also machine pieced, machine appliqued, and hand painted.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2021 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

Connecting Our Natural Worlds - SAQA Global Quilt Exhibit (Day 5)

The Connecting Our Natural Worlds exhibit by SAQA showcases art quilts that illustrate the natural wonder of habitats around the globe. Through their own unique artistic interpretation, each artist has identified danger to flora and fauna in their own backyards. The selected pieces inspire viewers to get closer to nature and become better stewards for our environment.  We recently visited this outstanding exhibit at the Brigham City Museum in Utah.

~ p.s. Check out our eBay shop for great bargains on books, magazines, and collectible items. For free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter. 

Lilies of the Valley by Sarah Ann Smith (Maine)

Sarah Ann Smith used dyed fabrics, fusible applique, and machine quilting to create this masterpiece honoring Lilies of the Valley.  She notes that climate change has impacted many natural events. For example, the majority of the maple syrup is now produced in Canada, having shifted north of the border. "Late every spring, I look for Lilies of the Valley, which are called May Blooms in German.  I wonder, with global warming and climate change, will they become April Blooms?"

Summer Light Brigade by Diane Melms (Alaska)

Here is a stunning tribute to fireflies, created with cotton, hand dyed fabric, tulle, paint, and beads.  Diane Melms has managed to capture the glow of fireflies against the dark forested background.  She says, "On warm summer nights, the flickering glow of fireflies would light up the back yard of my family home. The magical light left me mesmerized as these tiny flying lights blinked their way into my heart."  The hand stitching captures the meandering paths of the fireflies.

Sadly, firefly populations are disappearing due to habitat loss, pollution, and many other factors. "We can conserve firefly populations by protecting biodiversity hotspots that support firefly species, and by prohibiting the harvesting of wild fireflies... we can also turn off our outside lights, reduce our use of toxic chemicals, and create natural firefly habitats."

Texas Wild Rice by Nancy Costea

Texas Wild Rice focuses on this graceful but fragile plant that only survives in a two-mile stretch of the San Marcos River in Hays County, Texas. Its long leaves float under water while its stems rise above when the rice blooms. In this elegant art quilt, Nancy Costea used couched yarn to represent the delicate stems, while hand cut and polished copper pieces depict the grains of rice, shown below. 

Iridescent ribbons were used to accentuate the undulating leaves of the plant. The black background represents the sky and creates a dramatic contrast with the green leaves.  Nancy Costea says that educating the public about this plant, and cordoning off the area where it grows, are steps that could help to preserve this unique species.

In Awe by Ruthann Adams (Utah)

This photo printed quilt depicts a spot on the Anasazi Trail beside Quail Creek in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve in Washington County, Utah. This area is not well known, and probably the best way to preserve it is to keep it that way. Ruthann Adams says, "I call this quilt In Awe, because that is the feeling it evokes." 

Ruthann has captured the ethereal beauty of this desert scene with digital photography, enhanced with quilting and painting.  The colors of the landscape can be seen in these closeup photos.  A small waterfall, cascading into a pool, is shown below.

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the Brigham City Museum in Utah. As of August 2021, many of the pieces can be purchased at the Connecting Our Natural Worlds web page.