Quilts from Quilt Market 2016 • part 2

June 18, 2016June 18, 2016 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

The following quilts were exhibited in the center of Quilt Market this year, in a special exhibit. They are the prize winners from Houston, and the area around them was always calm and quiet, so it was a nice place to visit. Here are the rest of the pictures I took.

Why Knot? is by Tanya Brown, who writes: “This quilt was inspired by watching my Cub Scout son practice knot tying, an exercise designed to torment the uninitiated. In this piece, the metaphorical nightmare of becoming hopelessly engulfed in one’s own knots is made real.” Follow the link on her name to read her (hilarious) description of how this piece came to light, as well as interesting reading on her process.

Ravendale Star, by Linda Fleschner, is a quilt where she did not design the entire thing before she started but knew that she would “use the Ravendale paisley print in a Radiant Star.” She goes on to say, “When that was finished, I designed the border feather, staying with a black and white palette–a big departure from the bright colors I normally use.”

(Okay, I took this one because it bulges slightly in the middle, just like mine do. However, mine aren’t as intricate or beautiful or amazing as hers. This is my make-me-feel-better-about-my-creations shot.)

Laura Fogg‘s Visions of Apple Pie. Her artist’s notes say: “Looking up into a loaded apple tree on a hot summer day, I imagined all of the things I could make with the glorious fruit.”

Anniversary Roses, by Susan Gorder. She writes: “The appliqué rose blocks and borders were my take-along project on many trips over several years. Once the top was finished, it took me another six months to hand quilt. Instead of traditional grid quilting behind the appliqué, I decided to quilt feathers and to repeat elements of the border design around the center blocks.”

White Holes by Peter Hayward. His notes state that “I wanted to take the basic concept behind op art quilts to a new level by adding color gradation and concentric lines as a way of enhancing the 3-D effect.”

Magical Zone, by Keiko Ike. She writes: “I wanted to create a mysterious quilt with design and color. I perfectly pieced the extremely sharp points in the Mariner’s Compass, which is normally difficult to finish flat.”

A Coastal Town is made by Nobuko Kotani and quilted by “14 friends from Kanagawa.”

She writes: “This started from a fabric I found while I was on a trip. The pattern on it was interesting, so Katy designed a town with many unique houses along a coast.”

Can you tell I loved all the details?

Dance, by Marisa Marquez (of Madrid, Spain): “Every little girl’s dream is to become a dancer–elegant and graceful. As we grow up, we continue dreaming.”

Audrey II Plus 3, by Marianne Mulheron. Her notes say that “In response to a Spring Into It quilt challenge, I used real springs to attach three dimensional baby plants to their carnivorous mother, Audrey II, from the movie Little Shop of Horrors.”

Mysterious Letter, by Noriko Nozawa. Her notes say: “The Kana letter, which is a Japanese inherent letter, is the main theme of this work. Although I used the Japanese traditional letter, I added a sense of fun by changing the color, placing the letter randomly, and repeating it.”

I love all the different textures in her quilt.

Arroyo Grande Album is by Andrea Perejda. She writes: “Folk-art appliqué has been an interest of mine for many years. I started with Threadbear’s pattern for their Civil War Bride quilt top. I altered it considerably, adding personally meaningful motifs and appliqué sashings.”

Laura Wasilowski‘s Bird on a Branch #6. “This quilt,” she writes, “depicts a view of my front garden.”

Exuberance, by Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum, was “[i]spired by the layering of colors created in watercolor paintings.” She “used layers of bright organzas to ‘grow’ a joyful bouquet of flowers and a transparent vase.

That’s it for my quilt show today.

I’ve been working on my own quilts, finally tackling the hard job of quilting through two layers of batting (some make this look easy, but really, they are lying. . . unless they are on a big machine).

I’m also working out the thorny problem of those pesky border instructions for our Oh Christmas Tree border post, which is coming up quickly. Don’t worry. I’m on it.

It’s all coming July 2nd–just in time to stay home that weekend and sew! We’re almost finished with that quilt. Just keep on quilting; we want to see YOUR quilts next year in Houston, and then Quilt Market!

A Look at the Quilts at Quilt Market 2016

June 15, 2016June 14, 2016 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

First, I need to report on the giveaway held in the last post–all your comments were terrific! and seemed to be a healthy range from “just the kids” to “adults have a great time, too.” I really liked the ones that said to include them both–so now you know.

The winner was Number 7. . . and it was Leslie, so I’ll get those shipped out to her right away so she can keep going on her Halloween quilt. She wrote: I do miss the homemade donuts that our neighbor used to make and for which we, as children, would double back around for. Now it’s only wrapped candies, and we Moms all sort even those for scary things, but I do like Leslie’s perspective. Okay, here we go with the quilts.

Tutti-Frutti Alleyway, by Susan Bleiweiss. She writes: “This quilt is part of my ongoing series of art quilts which celebrate the use of vibrant color and whimsical imagery.” 5347 Redfox Circle. . . Blueprint of a Life, by Sandra Branford. Her artist’s statement: “Using my collage skills, I created a fantasy story board of my imaginative home. Through my original designs, I define myself and take the viewers on a journey through my mind. . . some wit, a few brains, and loads of imagination.”

And as an English teacher, I smiled when I saw the misspelling in this text. (You’ll have to find it yourself, and no, it’s not “hors d’oeuvres.”) Whenever I find typos and misspellings in things I write, I die a little of embarrassment, so I understand how things can get overlooked.

Trilogy, by Peggy Brown. “My goal,” she writes, “was to start with a painted free-flowing design, add collage and overlays of more paint, and compose a well-designed and unique painting on fabric — an art quilt.”

Pink Bird, by Judy Coates Perez (Check out the quilting in the following photos!) She write that she likes “painting images inspired by nature, using photos of real birds as reference for a pose, then altering them graphically; simplifying details, creating new patterns, and choosing different colors to create unique stylized birds and plants.”

Long Winter Flower Basket Sampler, by Eileen Daniels. During a “long, cold winter in Wisconsin” she “became addicted to embroidery.” She writes that she “spent hours listening to podcasts by Jonathan Welton and to my husband reading books aloud as I designed and embroidered this quilt.”

I noticed more embroidery in this show than I’ve seen before–a welcome addition!

Cuban Ballerina, by Jennifer Day. She writes: “This quilt is based on a photograph that I took of a ballerina with the National Cuban Ballet in Havana. She is dancing in a wonderful old building built in the early 1900s that has fallen into ruin since 1959. This quilt is a testament to the young ballerina who is gracing the building with her beauty in dance.”

More threadwork, but this time by machine. It was stunning.

Nancy Rehak‘s Tea for Two. “Inspired by Cindy Needham,” she writes, “I took an old tablecloth of my mom’s and created a quilt. It was a challenge for me to design my quilting to highlight the tablecloth. I named it Tea for Two because my dad used to sing that song to us when we were little.”

A Tree Grows in Tokyo, by Helen Ridgeway and her friends: Anita Crane, Mary Ann Hildebrand, Linda Humphrey, Marilyn Lampman, Holly Nelson, Bonnie Sprado and Barbara Woodman. The artists’ statement reads: “This was a collaboration by the eight members of the Sew Be It Bee. We each hand appliquéd a block from Kumiko Sudo’s book. One of our members, Mary Ann Hildebrand, designed and made the tree, using a scrunching technique, and made the cherry blossoms out of Yo-yos from a synthetic fabric.”

Gillian Shearer’s Eager to Learn – Afghanistan. “In 2011, in Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan, Ellend Jaskol recorded this image of two girls eager to learn at a new school in Sust,” she writes. “They were studying in a temporary tent until the school was completed. The power of educating girls is slowly breaking through. ‘When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.’ ”

Journey, by Grace Sim. She writes that “This quilt allowed me to try techniques I have wanted to try for a long time — fabric manipulation, liberated blocks, crazy quilting, modern quilting, Broderie Perse, and the use of buttons and crystals. I used them to form my favorite Italian landscape.”

More quilts are coming.

I realized in doing this post that if a person desires to become a quilt artist, it’s pretty important that they create a place in space to reside: whether it be a blog page, or a gallery of images, or just a single place where people like me can go and search in order to read more about them. There are many platforms that can be used: Instagram, Pinterest, blogging, Tumblr, etc.

I was unsuccessful in a finding a couple of the above artists. In this day and age of >instant< and >quick< and rushrushrush there is a tendency to overlook the long form of blogs. But they become important when looking at the bigger picture, or, your journey as a quilter. So if you are just starting, you might consider building your own little place where people can find you. While there may not be much more than four walls and a piece of carpet (where others might have several fully-furnished rooms), it will be your space.

Quilt Shops · Quilt Shows · Textiles & Fabric

Quilt Market • Salt Lake City (3)

May 30, 2016June 11, 2016 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

This quilt is called Over and Down Under, and is simply lovely. I want to make twenty. But this was a typical sort of sight and I’m afraid a typical sort of reaction from me.

And another. This came out last year, but to see it in person was really fun. And thanks to you all for leaving me comments and for entering our giveaway. The Husband Random Name Generator picked Mary of Lake Pulaski for the Elea Lutz book and Cathy C. for the Stashbusters book. (I’ll be in touch with you both by email.) Actually I wanted to pick you all, so the next giveaway is on June 2nd. And by the way, I’m working through all the comments where you asked me a specific question. Thanks for your patience. Now we continue. . .

But I also get giddy when I see Alison Glass’ fabrics, as they are lush and rich and saturated. These next few pictures are from Andover’s booths. Today’s post is the last of the business side of Quilt Market, before we break for an Oh Christmas Tree post on June 2nd. Then I’ll return to show you the beautiful quilts exhibited in the center of Market, award-winning quilts from Houston. Then we’re done with my lovely tumble down Alice’s — Quilt Market’s — rabbit hole.

Near the Andover gang is the Art Gallery gang. Above are the ordering tables, and now we’ll stroll through the quilt fabric designers’ booths.

Maureen Cracknell in front of her new collection.

This is a collection of pillows, using fabrics from all the Art Gallery Collections.

Exquisitely quilted little piece of deliousness in Bonnie Christine’s booth.

Cotton & Steel’s newest collection from Rifle Paper Company. Their booth won first place at Quilt Market–for design, I suppose, because it was so lovely. Here are some photos:

There’s that first place ribbon.

Such a teensy little sample!

I hunted down Lecien’s booth because of this:

This is Semaphore, Cindy Wiens’ quilt using my design, and it has been around the world, landing here for one more stop. Cindy did a terrific job. Mine is in the works; pattern coming soon.

I have no idea whose booth this was, but check out those chairs! Those colors! Wow!

Windham Fabrics was another favorite stop, and I did stop at their Pop-Up Shop before leaving on Saturday to pick up a few things. As I noted before, there was very little for sale on the floor; this was one place you could buy something.

Felice Regina’s new collection Luna Sol (sorry I caught her with her eyes closed!)

Check out these hexies from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs–amazing.

Marcia Derse and her new collection, Studio Alphabet.

This is the corner for the new fabrics from Janine Vangool (of Uppercase Fame), inspired by designs from her magazine. (She gave me two magazines and a skinny pack of charm squares to use in a giveaway–coming soon!)

Natalie Barnes’ new collection Hand Maker.

How many ways can I photograph this display from RJR? Apparently, after looking at my photos, a multitude of ways.

RJReynolds is the parent company of many fabrics, most notably, Cotton & Steel.

I hunted all over for this quilt for SloStudio, the colorful confetti-style quilt in the center, and found it at Riley Blake; I posted it up on IG, and kept looking around. I apologize if I don’t have the names of the makers–the tables for the buyers were snugged up to some quilts and I didn’t want to interrupt the business of quilting. All the following photos were from Riley Blake’s booths. You should also know they had the most amazing mint chocolate truffles, and I sampled one. Okay, maybe two.

Kimberly Jolly of the Fat Quarter Shop.

Lori Holt, in the green, waiting to sign books. She had a great booth with all her quilts.

Close-up of the above quilt. I love how they pieced the squares and fused on the leaves.

Fabri-Quilt had given me my Focus quilt to take home with me, so at the end of that last day, I posed it on the door handle going out and snapped a photo, as kind of a good-bye. I never ever expected to be here at Quilt Market, and quite frankly, wonder if I’ll be here again. It was a whirl of creativity, fabrics, colors, people, ideas and experiences. I’m so glad I was able to come.

(map of convention center, showing Fabri-Quilt’s booth)

Quilt Patterns · Quilt Shops · Quilt Shows · Quilts · Textiles & Fabric

Quilt Market: Salt Lake City (2) • Giveaway

May 28, 2016May 30, 2016 Elizabeth E.39 Comments

First off, congratulations to Dorothy, who won the giveaway. I’ll be in touch with you, Dorothy, to get your mailing info and get that off to you next week. Thank you to all who participated, and especially to all who commented on my yank-out-the-carpet-from-under-me fall. I’m pretty much fine, and am going forward, but you can bet I’ll look twice before coming out of an aisle. That story also made it to Carrie Nelson’s MODA blog, as I had to tell a story to her to get one of her camping badges. For a great recap of her Moda Designers’ booths, head over there.

I’ll also have another little giveaway at the end of this post, to reward you for reading, AND in honor of my mother’s 88th birthday. This is a photo of her back in the day. They apparently used to take all their birthday pictures outside because the camera couldn’t really capture the light as well inside. I think of that when I tend to use my mobile phone everywhere because its light-capturing sensors are the best.

Quilt Market is about business–the business of selling, of buying, of hawking your wares, of displaying, of meeting your buyers, meeting the designers, meeting the authors. Sometimes I would get a book at these signings, and sometimes I just snapped photos on my way past. Some publishers were gracious, not knowing who their books were going home with, yet others were a bit cranky about the whole thing. Considering that I buy from all of them, I’ll never tell who was cheerful and who was cranky, but it taught me a lot about that aspect of this business.

This talented lady’s book is part of our giveaway today. Elea Lutz designs not only patterns, but also fabrics for Penny Rose (associated with Riley Blake Fabrics). It’s a book published by Fat Quarter Shop and has charming pieced patterns, as shown in the quilt behind her.

The other giveaway (I’ll divide them into two) is the Stashbusters Book, by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith, a wonderful collection of scrappy reproduction-style quilts. I’ll choose two from the comments left below; let me know if you have a preference for which book you might win.

Once I left the cocoon of my Painter’s Palette booth and ventured out, I saw this young woman modeling the skirt found in Alison Glass’ LookBook. It was like — pinch me!–as I encountered Famous People and things I recognized from all the advertising I see when I read magazines, or attend quilt shows, or wander through the web. It was going to be a day of double takes as I walked among the Business of Quilting, the other side of the quilty looking glass.

Sassafras Lane Designs, in all their colorful glory.

Renegade salespeople in the lobby of the Salt Palace. Great carpet, right?

Quilt Soup. (That’s not Barbara Jones, but a “booth babysitter,” she said.

Don’t look now, but that woman in the Kokka booth is wearing a Wookie Backpack. I was in line behind her later on at the Lucky Spools book signing, and she shared with us all the trending video of the woman who’d just purchased a Chewbacca Mask for her birthday. I thought that was a neat coincidence.

These three pictures are from Katie Cupcake, by Amy Hamberlin. I love that Midtown bag.

Jillily Studio’s booth was a sweet shop, complete with little bagged chocolate truffles they gave out.

Hoffman Fabrics are in my neck of the woods in Southern California, and first started with Hawaiian print fabrics for the local surfers.

I don’t know if you can see it, but Latifah Saafir’s booth (Hoffman Fabrics) has a pair of tennis shoes slung over a wire–so LA. I loved it!

Fun also to see Hoffman’s newest line of fabrics from Thistlewood Farms. Those blues! (And yes, that’s KariAnne Wood holding her quilt.)

Heather Jones’ line of fabric is subtle, but I bought some at Sample Spree because I think it will work well in so many quilts. One of my favorite types of fabrics are those that bring a punch of something new to the existing stash, giving it more life. She has some great designs in her collection.

Here is a series of photos from the Clothworks/Frou-Frou booths, across the aisle from each other. Maybe because I was thinking about my trip to Geneva last week, and how I was missing the small prints from Europe, but I really fell in love with these fabrics (plus I love how they feel).

I love their cans of projects. Very clever.

Now, for a complete change of pace, this is the Free Spirit Booth. I noticed more and more of this type of booth design among the big names: a central section for the business of ordering, and small alcoves for the designers.

Amy Butler’s section. She also had a larger booth:

Tula Pink’s alcove.

Snow Leopard Designs by Phillip Jacobs (again, for Free Spirit Fabrics)

Elizabeth Hartman’s booth, with the lovely creator in attendance.

Cori Dantini, for Blend Fabrics. I loved their booth:

EdMar Company, a small vendor from Idaho was selling these gorgeous rayon Brazilian Embroidery Threads.

Benartex. I think you can see where all those beautiful quilts go that we see in “sneak peeks” on Instagram (and yes, I spelled “peeks” correctly). Every booth was awash in beautiful quilts, and I must admit I hadn’t even hit the Moda booths yet, and I was already in overload. So I thought I’d better head over and see Sherri’s booth, since I’d sewn a couple of items for her and had a sneak peek myself of some of her beautiful fabrics.

I could never get a photo that wasn’t blurry of these two women, so this will have to do. The Moda designers were in clusters at this show, which didn’t give them much space, but that made meeting them easier.

That’s enough for today’s post. More is coming.

Have a safe Memorial Day (or Decoration Day, as my mother calls it). ~~Leave a comment below to win a book in the giveaway. I’ll choose one and announce it in the next post.~~

UPDATE: Comments closed. Winner announced in next post. Thanks to you all for entering!