Highlights of Quilt Arizona 2019 ! part 1

The Arizona Quilters Guild has over 35 chapters, but they all get together annually for the Quilt Arizona show. The 2019 theme is Jewels of the Desert: "Every quilt is like a gemstone, the dancing colors play through patterns to endlessly fascinate and amaze. This year your quilt should convey Arizona's iridescent beauty, from golden sunsets and emerald cacti, to clear sparkling memories."

Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry ! (For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !)

Desert Jewel of Happiness and Joy by Lois Wendling, quilted by Donna Goldbeck

Lois Wendling won Third Place in the Theme category for this Arizona themed quilt.  Lois says, "I saw the 'Panel One Block Wonders' on Facebook and decided to try my hand at it. The colors in the panel are definitely, to me, like jewels in the desert. It was so fun playing with all the variations." We enjoyed Lois' design, and Donna Goldbeck's fabulous quilting, which include quilted pots in the top and bottom borders. The colorful kokopelli panel is shown below.

The technique uses a fabric panel in the middle, and one-block-wonder hexagon blocks cut from additional panels in the rest of the quilt. (Kokopelli is a Native American fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, often with feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head.)

Summer's Bounty by Jan Mawk, quilted by Jan Mawk

Jan Mawk won First Place in the Applique - Small category, along with an Exemplary Hand Quilting award.  The floral sampler is from the book Beautiful Botanicals by Deborah Kemball.  The applique, embroidery, and quilting were all done by hand, and then prairie points were added.  Jan Mawk says, "I spent 2299 hours on this quilt."  We've never seen such tiny, perfect hand quilting stitches:

Keeping the Peace by Barbara Miller, quilted by Cindy Stohn

Barbara Miller won a Judge's Choice ribbon for this lovely portrait, inspired by an original photo of their dog Shiloh.  This was her first attempt at using a collage technique, and the results were impressive!

Summer Dream by Vicky Button, quilted by Samantha Wright

This beautiful rainbow star quilt won a well-deserved Judge's Choice ribbon. Amazingly, this was Vicky Button's first paper pieced project. (The Summer Dream pattern is by Jacqueline de Jonge.)  She says, "I am still amazed that I was able to create this striking quilt!" 

Daddy's Delight by Ann Gonzalez, quilted by Ann Gonzalez

The beautiful desert colors make this quilt a standout.  Ann Gonzalez says, "This quilt is designed to be done in English Paper Pieced Style but I drew the seam lines on the back of each piece and stitched them by hand.  I then appliqued the top to the background."

We recognize the design as La Passacaglia Quilt - Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hammerstein.

Margarita! by Mardi Schock, quilted by Kim Rensch

Margarita won First Place in the Theme category.  Mardi Schock says, "Margarita is a template-made quilt from Margaret Miller's book.  It was a challenge from finding right fabrics, cutting the mirror images and then finding multiple pattern mistakes! Worth it though!"

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 Quilt Arizona show.

The Best of Quilt Arizona! day 2

Here are our favorite quilts from the recent Quilt Arizona show!  The annual exhibit by the Arizona Quilters Guild draws visitors from around the country - we even saw license plates from Alaska and most Canadian provinces.  The array of talent at this show is truly impressive!

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry !
For continuous free patterns, please visit us on Twitter

Grand Canyon Redux : The Sum of Its Parts by Linda Engstrom

Grand Canyon Redux won the award for Excellent Use of Color. Linda Engstrom says, "Kaleidoscopes [were] created from a photograph of one of my quilts, printed on fabric, embelllished with hand and machine embroidery, and joined into one cohesive piece."

Psychedelic Giraffe by Karen Adams

Psychedelic Giraffe has quite a personality! Karen Adams says, "Using white fabric, I traced an enlarged giraffe coloring book image, used FABRICA pens and filled in the blanks.... quilted her and added prairie points."

Lora's Doxies by Louise Bossert

Louise Bossert says, "Our granddaughter has three long hair doxies so I'm going to surprise her with this quilt."  The adorable Dogs in Sweaters quilt pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman.

All Drezzed Up and Someplace To Go by Barb Tatera

Barb Tatera created these Dresden plates from Kaffe Fassett fabrics, using Susan K. Cleveland's method for modern Dresden Plates.  She left plenty of negative space to be dressed up with quilting. 

All Drezzed Up won First Place in the Modern Quilt category, and also received the award for Exemplary Professional Machine Quilting.

Blow Flowers by Cindy Stohn

The giant Dresden flowers were inspired by dandelions, and made with improvisational wedges.  The background was quilted with hand guided leaves and stems, and the flower centers were hand embroidered.  Cindy Stohn's beautiful quilting and embroidery can be seen in the close up photos below.

Millefiore by Nancy Owen James, quilted by Jessica Gamez

Millefiore won First Place in the Scrap Quilt category.  This quilt was made as part of a 2015 quilt along based on Katja Marek's book, The New Hexagon.  Nancy Owen James picked all the fabrics and finished the quilt in January 2017.  Jessica Gamez added the professional quilting.

We recognize many Tula Pink fabrics, including the adorable fussy-cut raccoons (above); they are from Tula Pink's Acacia fabric line. Hexagons lend themselves to fussy cutting, to wonderful effect. 

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Let's Go ! Day 4 of the Pacific International Quilt Festival

Let's go see some more dazzling quilts at  P.I.Q.F. 2012, the biggest quilt show on the west coast of the U.S.A. We're inviting you to be the quilt show judge and tell us which of these quilts you would choose to win a prize !  We're looking forward to hearing from you, as we always read your comments very thoughtfully.

Millefiori, 71 x 71, by Chris Kenna, New Zealand

Chris writes, " 'Millefiori' in Italian means a thousand flowers. It is often associated with the beautiful Venetian glass paperweights made by the Murano glassmakers.  My quilt takes its inspiration from these objects, and the traditional spider's web quilt pattern.  I have made it my own by incorporating even more spider webs in the negative spaces that usually remain plain in traditional spider's web designs." (Note: For more examples of Millefiori quilts, along with explanations, check out Willyne Hammerstein's book on "Millefiori Quilts", about halfway down the page at the Quiltmania Magazine website.)

Sedona Sunset, 90 x 90, by Terri Doyle, Gilbert, Arizona

First place winner for Best Machine Workmanship in the traditional quilts category, Marilyn says, "This quilt was designed using Electric Quilt Design Software 6 and my favorite Moda and Cherrywood fabrics." Notice the precise half square triangles of the outer border, whose points reinforce the star pattern of the blocks. This graceful, perfectly proportioned symmetrical design is at home in any decor, and the colors and patterns are pleasing to both men and women.

Close-up of  Sedona Sunset
 

Cherrywood Fabrics are 100% cotton, but they have a soft, brushed, sueded look and feel to them, so they handle beautifully in a long arm quilting machine. We were very impressed by the variety of patterns shown here.  Marilyn made a wonderful choice of fabric, along with a perfect selection of quilting designs.

Colours on the Run, 40 x 60, by Caroline Wilkinson, United Kingdom

Caroline notes, "I have always been attracted by scrap quilts, so the techniques of strip piecing and reassembling the parts has always fascinated me, too. A strip piecing workshop by Jan Hassard gave me the inspiration for this piece. The placing of colours on a dark to light scale and then deciding on the juxtaposition of more colors, without quite knowing the outcome gave me hours of fun. Commercial and hand dyed cottons. Caroline's beautiful fabric hues, gradated from deep to pastel monochromatic tones, look so pretty together in this machine pieced and machine quilted geometric contemporary work.

Flooded, 56.5 x 45, by Tanya Brown, Sunnyvale, California

Who doesn't remember the childhood joys of splashing cheerfully through rain puddles? Blue ribbon winner for Best Machine Workmanship in the innovative quilts category, Tanya writes, " An unrepentant little boy forges his own path through a flooded parking lot, and in doing so, creates a miniature tsunami."

Close-up of Flooded 

The subject of Tanya's original design may be lighthearted, but there's nothing carefree about the intense and diligent long arm quilting here. Based on the comments we heard from surrounding viewers, they were awed and delighted by the expert skills on display in this work.

Color Study I, 28 x 37, by Donna Deaver, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

And on the topic of rainy days, here are three small children sharing a giant umbrella, whose gorgeous colors replace the  absent sunlight.  Notice the thoughtful artistic attention to detail : the colors of the umbrella and the children's clothes are skillfully reflected in the water at their feet.  Donna tells us, "Fascinated by color relationships and feelings evoked by them, I began this series using umbrellas as the subject matter and an exciting split complementary color palette. Color definitely gives me my quilting energy. Machine appliqued and quilted using commercial and hand dyed fabrics, and multiple threads, both polyester and metallic."