Festival of Quilts :: The Quilts

In looking at the photographs I took at the Festival Of Quilt exhibits, there are clearly three different topics that took my fancy: circular themes, detailed quilting and (of course) those that incorporated biology.  Clearly there were many other quilts at the festival that were incredibly beautiful...but not all of the pretties can fit in one blog post!

Circles
Oh, New York Beauty.  Boy, did you shine at the festival.  How have I not tried to make one yet?  The NYB quilts exhibited would inspire anyone to start piecing!

By the London Modern Quilt Quild (50x50 inches)

Traditional NYB by Amy of Crafty Shenanigans (20x20 inches)

I really loved this foundation pieced star, too!  Paper piecing and stars...they get me every time!

What a Gem by Jane Sully entered into the Miniature Quilts category.

 I liked how scrappy this quilt was, but that you could still clearly see several concentric circles in each block.  I wonder how this was pieced.  Has anyone tried one like this before?

I forgot to take a photo of the label!  I'm sorry, quilt maker!

Quilting

My oh my there were some very talented quilters showing off their skills!  Trudi's work was popping up all over - it always makes me smile.  Two of my other favorites are below: Big Bang and Stack.  Although I'm not gone on the fabric choices (a jelly roll and solids?) or the design in either quilt, the quilting draws my eye immediately.  

Big Bang by C.A. Sanchez and S.G. Medina in the Two Person Quilt category.
The background fabric is white/cream - the lighting in the exhibit was pretty awful.

Can you see how the background sections are each quilted uniquely?  Loops, swirls and clamshells really keep you interested, drawing you closer.

Detail of Big Bang.

Now, this concentric square design in Stacks gets my quilting juices flowing for a few of my current quilts.  I love how it take a solid background fabric and makes it incredibly interesting.

Stack by M. Munroe and R. Dorr, again in the Two Person Quilts category.

Each building block in the stack is then individually quilted again in loops and swirls.  That must have taken forever!

Detail of Stack.

Biology

Of course, anything with a bit of biology always catches my attention.  To my delight, there were a few quilts that incorporated orthopaedics!  It's funny.  This past spring my building at the university held an art exhibit where anyone could enter if your work had a scientific theme.  Nothing beyond those old ball and stick chemical structures came to mind, so I couldn't be bothered.  Now, something like these would have been lots of fun!

By Wendy Kennard called The Lost Synapse (Fragments of Memory).

 This quilt represents an x-ray of the quilter's daughter's spine, showing a clear curvature (scolosis).  The background fabric was hand dyed, then stencilled.  It was really beautifully quilted, too.

By Liz Smithbone called Scoliosis

 Ah, brown.  We are not best friends.  I don't know why you'd ever use brown here when you could use a funky funky color.  That said, I love the clarity of the bones in the piecing.  The background was screen printed and the rest appliquéd on top.  It was machine quilted giving the illusion of additional seams around the screen printed sections.

By Sonia Crabb called Them Bones.

All in all, the quilt exhibits had a little something for everyone.  Some quilts I wondered how they were ever accepted for exhibit, others blew my mind with detail.  There were modern ones, super traditional quilts, whole cloth quilts and even a quilted grandfather clock.  Yep - something for everyone.  In the end, we could each take away a bit of inspiration.  I see a NYB or two in my future!

Festival Of Quilts :: The People

So I was lucky enough to head to the Festival of Quilts in the middle of August.  This was my first trip, so it was all very exciting.  I was looking forward to the quilt displays, the shopping...but most of all seeing my friends.

My good friend Susan was kind enough to invite me to stay at her house over the weekend so we could have a good catch up.  I could meet her wonderful family and then we could head into the Festival together.  Who could say no?  I was delighted!  I am pretty sure we talked non-stop from the airport parking lot, through all of Friday, and Saturday until she dropped me again in the same airport parking lot on Sunday.  We had a lot to say, clearly :)

It was really wonderful meeting Susan's family.  Those of you who read her blog know she has two beautiful daughters (Emily and Helen), a quick-witted husband (John) and (at that time) three gerbils.  It was wonderful to meet them all and get to know them in person.  Before going over, I made two little pouches for the girls and stuffed them full of American candy as gifts.

Emily is a Fimo master.  She had a little Fluffy Sheep waiting for me!  It's perfect.  You should see what she can make with clay.  Amazing!

I made tea towels for Susan using Heather Ross prints as per HR's book PRINTS.  I know Susan loves to cook and hates to clean, so these would brighten the kitchen and would (maybe) make it easier to do the dishes.

Stolen from Susan's IG feed.

On Saturday we headed off to the Festival and nearly immediately ran into smiling faces we knew.  Nicky joined us for the day through booth after booth and winding exhibits.  How she did it after her long journey to the festival I'll never know.  It was pure luck, too, that we ran into Mary and Susy.  Look at the awesome array of hand made bags and clothes in that photo.  Super.

With Susan being such a prolific contributor to Love Patchwork and Quilting, we had to pop by their booth for Susan to meet Jenny.  They hit it off, of course.

And like a group of monkeys we had to mess and see if the three of us could squeeze on the LP&Q booth's couch.  It was a good laugh.

Of course, when we got home Susan and I dumped our newly fabric purchased fabric onto the floor to fold/refold and compare.  We had a great dig through Susan's stash, I drooled over her HR collection and then we pulled out several of her finishes that have long been favorites of mine.  It's different when you see them in person.

Sunday I packed up all of my new goodies and said my good byes to the Standen family.  They were so wonderful to me.  To remember my super weekend, especially the fun I had with Susan and her family, I picked up a little souvenir and tucked it into my suitcase.  Lucky me!

What a super trip!  It was so good to see my friends, to pick up a few (*ahem*) pieces of new fabric and to meet the Standens.  There were quilts there, too...I'll tell you all about them in my next post.