Tripping

What an adventure that quilt show was today. I am so hyped that I am not tired enough to fall asleep so thought I would post. 

First of all, let me say that I was told NOT take photos at any of the vendor booths, which makes sense because they want to see their patterns.  Quilts we could photo were hung far out of reach, which disappointed me because I wanted to see the styles close up. Many were hung overhead, which was fine to see both sides. Others in the show were a good 20' behind theater ropes. It was still overwhelming to see.

The day was long so I saw as much as possible walking slowly to take it all in. Seemed to me that the quality of the work for most of them was done by confident intermediate to advanced quilters who used fabric to paint with and rarely followed any patterns except those in their heads. 

It was hard to put the work into categories that I could live with or visit within the realm of possibility for my own quilting future. Hard to imagine working on this one.

This one, for instance, I could see as a novel way to lay out a sampler. Color ways were brilliant and again, overwhelming. 

There were several red-white-blue quilts and compared to the other colorway choices, what I learned about myself is that I am not going to make them next year as I planned.

Although some vendors posted that cameras were not permitted, some did not, so I took the liberty of shooting a pic and moving along.

I am a fan of Asian prints & quilts. The simplicity of design moves my soul & when there are quilts I would make for my home, these work. I picked up the card for an online shop for these fabrics at: http://www.shiboridragon.com/ and held off making any purchases at this time. I am not ready for them, but someday soon.

The next thing that caught my eye were quilts made with buildings. Last year, I made a Halloween quilt for my Sister-in-Law and a Winter Solstice one for my younger Son both using houses. 

I loved these so much that they have moved up to the next type of quilt I want to make. This was at a booth, so you have to find it under the banners. They were everywhere! And I started making an effort to see how they were done.

I liked this one so much, I photographed it twice! Look at the detail having buildings in a village, on the farm and at the beach. Again, this one was so far away that it was hard to see the detail. I couldn't tell if it was pieced, paper pieced or appliqued or a combination of those and other techniques. Winning the $500 was almost small potatoes because I saw a $5000 prize on one...one that I would never want to make in a million years.

This next one was a brilliant concept of wonky houses on different blocks to make up a larger wonky house. The caption that I could read said it was the result of a class! Would that I could sign up for that one! Love, love, love it.

I've seen a lot of houses or buildings online and am convinced that I want to learn more about them.

My attention went to another form of quilting which is the mini quilt or doll quilt. 

However, the ones I saw displayed were not for kids.  Carrying on my search for more houses, I spotted this one that I know my older Son (a plumber) would love.

These mixed media mini quilts were hung on the walls so I could see them even though they were above eyesight. I had to hold my camera as far up as I could reach. 

I've got a new respect for this as a fabric art. Recently, I was unsuccessful in participating in a Doll Quilt swap. Swaps can be hard if both partners fail to commit so I resigned from that one. 

Yes, this is a mini. Off center, with that larger border and a detail to the bottom corner.

Hard to see the heart one is done with buttons! And the one below with flying geese. Remember, these are 12" squares! so those geese are mini-mini's

 With all the work fabric artists put into these, I can well imagine that they would not want to give them away to folks they don't know. I liked this colorway that is NOT pink. Quilting is done with an echo around a non-fabric heart, which I thought was brilliant!

This one is a birthday quilt. You can see how high up on the wall they are hung from the perspective I got on the photo. Its a birthday cake and isn't that fun? These aren't much more than 12 or 14" square and yet, there is a lot of work going into them. I would have loved taking more photos and decided to shoot images that I liked and might take ideas from in the future. 

This one uses a glove that is filled and then makes a sort of collage of materials and laces and other ribbons. It reminded me of what my artist friend in North St. Paul might make or has already made.

Then, this last one was the Three Fates or Fatas who spin, weave and cut the fabrics of our lives. Its simple enough and would touch the hearts of many women I know back in the midwest.

While I brought home a number of flyers, postcards and catalogues, the one thing I didn't photograph were the fabric bags so many quilters carried. I didn't even SEE them until I was waiting for the bus to take our guild back to Tehachapi. WOW. And I do mean wow. Simple patterns like the one I made recently, using their quilting skills to create unique totes.

Next time.