Welcome to the Quilt Fiesta, the annual Tucson (Arizona) Quilters Guild show! We enjoyed seeing hundreds of fantastic quilts and will be sharing highlights here. We hope you enjoy our photos.
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Montepulciano by Kathy Adams
This stunning original landscape quilt by Kathy Adams won Best of Show, along with 1st place in the Art Quilts - Scenic category. Kathy says the quilt was "Inspired by a picture I
took of Montepulciano from our lodge in Tuscany." Numerous advanced techniques were used, including
making lots of parts for all the trees, bushes and grapevines, using wash
away stabilizer, tulle, fabric and yarns."
There were so many admirers of this large quilt, it took us several minutes to get these photos! Check out the intricate details of the flowers, bushes and trees, including lavender in the foreground, below.
Art Deco Meets Southwest by Paula Fulton, quilted by Athena Taylor
Gorgeous purple, teal, turquoise hues go together beautifully in this dramatic, original design! This quilt won First Place in the Two Person Primarily Pieced category, plus a special Award for Exemplary Machine Quilting (Computer/Digitized.)
Paula Fulton says, "I was inspired by several traditional southwest
quilts but wanted to add a twist to it with art deco-style strips in the
center. Purple, teal, turquoise and exquisite quilting [by Athena
Taylor] give the quilt the 'wow' factor." We love the sun motifs shown below.
Indian Summer by Tami Graeber
This piece was a show-stopper with its strong contrasts and Southwestern feel. Tami Graeber won a blue ribbon for
1st Place in the
Other Techniques category. She started with the Empire Place pattern from Sassafras lane
Designs, but she decided to make the pattern her own. "I only used a few
blocks, changed [the] size to square, hand painted several Acoma tribal blocks,
and added screen printed 3-D butterflies."
Flower Lady by
Millie Burgheimer
An incredibly artistic creation by Millie Burgheimer! She saw a flower
lady in a market place and loved her face. This piece was made with
*lots* of thread, creating a realistic portrait of the flower seller,
and the flowers themselves. Millie was awarded a ribbon in the Art Portraits
category for this beautiful portrait.
Athena's Infinity by
Athena Taylor 
Athena Taylor won First Place in the Modern Quilt category for this fantastic rainbow quilt, filled with stars, curves, flying geese, and New York Beauty blocks. It was based on the Infinity quilt pattern by
Jacqueline de Jonge.
Athena says, "The quilt uses 25 different fabrics, all
paper pieced. The quilting was done using free motion quilting and
rulers. No computer assistance on this one!" (Wow!)
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2024 Tucson Quilters Guild show.