Okay–I admit it.  I’ve done this a lot of times.

The first year it was held in the Marriott hotel, and the quilts were everywhere–in the central courtyard with many of the vendors in classrooms–a mess.  Then the Ontario Convention Center was finished and at some point we moved over there.  I have the 2009 bar. Somewhere.  2010 (the 15th anniversary) is still in its baggie, as is this year’s–if I can find it.

So, that impacts how I look at the quilts, what I’m interested in photographing.  So, if I’ve excluded your favorite, I’m sorry.  In this quilt show I have seen a migration from the more mainstream quilts (the kind that you and I make) to more and more elaborate quilts.  A natural progression, I suppose, but I have known of some quilts (that I thought were worthy) that didn’t get in.  And so the kinds of quilts that you and I make, seem to be in a different sphere than many of these.  I have found a lot of those types of quilts in the vendors’ booths, which is another reason to haunt them.

I enjoyed seeing the “travel” quilts.

These are the quilts taken from photographs of faraway places.  This was begun in a faraway place as well–in Esterita Austin’s class at a 13th-century villa in Tuscany, Italy.  Patricia Masterson was the piecer and the maker, and the title is Reminiscence of Tuscany.

I’m a complete fan of these group quilts, where everyone is given a strip of the photo, and encouraged to make it in what ever style or technique they wished. Then the quilter finishes it off.  The makers of this quilt, titled Annency, France, are “The Extreme Quilters Group”  from Simi Valley  and the quilter was Sue Rasmussen.

Detail.

Of course we all know where this is located.  History and Tradition was made and quilted by Judith Eselius from Oregon. (I don’t remember the canals being that blue, but I like that color when used in this composition.)

Detail of the quilting.

Incommunicato, by Esteria Austin (recognize that name?  from the quilt above?)  She writes: “Every September it is my privilege to lead a workshop and tour in Tuscany.  One year, after lunch, I snapped a photo of two participants caught in this wonderful pose.”  How many times has my husband been checking out our photos of the day, while I re-applied my lipstick?  Many.

And of course, this glowing sunset of a photo, from yesterday’s post.

Road to California, our local quilt show, is being held this weekend in Ontario, California.  My friend Leisa and I had pre-purchased our arm bands, and joined the other eight billion middle-aged women in line.  Some of these women had brought their husbands.  One woman described another’s husband as “the runner,” and I suppose that meant he ran packages to the car.  Then her friend suggested that the husband had also come to keep an eye on his wife’s purchases.  Which made the first woman laugh.  That’s Leisa and I posing in front of one of the giant barn decorations in an exhibit in the hallway.

This duality–of going to see a display of first-rate quilts and shopping the over 200 vendors–is what makes a quilt show so much fun, as witnessed by this man’s T-shirt:

He said if he’d had a dollar for everyone who took a picture of him, he wouldn’t be broke anymore.

I read somewhere that the average age of a woman who quilts is 55.  This crowd proved it.  But I’d have to say there were a LOT of older women who were in scooters, with walkers, and in wheelchairs.  An interesting cross-section of the aging quilt population.  We’d better get some newer, younger quilters in here pronto.  The doors opened and Leisa and I crossed through the front doors, figured out a time to meet, then waved good-bye to each other.  She likes to look in the vendor’s booths, but I always hit the quilt show first.

I like to look at the wearable art, because I follow the blog of someone who enters her garments in these shows: Summerset Banks.  She’d entered a garment titled “Spring’s First Blush,” inspired by her friend Ann, a cancer survivor.  This outfit features “free motion quilting, Prismacolor pencil colors and hand beading.”

The top, showing her second place ribbon.

The skirt, with its exquisite details.  Congratulations, Summerset!

Jo P. Griffith’s quilt, Last Harvest, was part of the special exhibit Fall, The Noble Seasons Series.  She also curated the exhibit, and it was filled with quilters’ percpetions of fall.

Gone A’ Maizin, by Rose Hughes

Grandma with an ax in Minnesota in the Fall, by Joanell Connolly.  She wrote: “I work with vintage photos of women from the 1930’s that speak to me.  Grandma just sings–fall.”  The women next to me who were looking at this kept wondering why the ax?  I don’t think there’s any good reason–just a funny photograph.

 

Mia Bloom made Autumn Glow.

The Hoffman 2010 Challenge was a sea of turquoise, quite striking.  Their 2011 Challenge Fabric looks like a re-do from something I saw in the 1990s, but I’m being snarky (um, I didn’t like it then and I still don’t like it).  I’m sure glorious things will come from it, though, as they always do.

One of the grand award winners was Natural Wonders, by Kathy McNeil (she also quilted the quilt).  Detail below.

Port of Cassis, by Lenore Crawford.  She used a fusing/fabric painting technique to depict this ancient port on the French Mediterrean Sea.  This scene just glows–it was a lovely quilt.  Details below.

I was taking this photo and some lady came up and said, “I have that fabric.”  I laughed because I have it too.  But when I said that neither she nor I probably do anything like this with our fabrics, she agreed.

“Get Maynard’s rear end,” said one friend to another.  I took a picture of it too–a snow scene titled Maynard, made and quilted by David M. Taylor.

*

And this one got the award for most humorous.  Really?  I thought it was a bit of a mess, although I’m sure the maker was pleased.  It will remain nameless, in case the owner does a search on his or her name.

So I don’t leave you on a downer, here’s a stunner of a quilt, all raw-edge appliqued.

Ruffled Feathers, made and quilted by Roxanne Nelson from Calgary Canada.  She fell in love with a photograph of this parrot, and she used only fabric “as the medium to build layers of color blends.”  I was frustrated that I couldn’t get closer to look at, but hoped I could look at by using the telephoto on my camera.  It was a really lovely quilt.

Detail of above.

More, later.