The Month (and the Quilt Show) That Was

When I started this idea of a daily post each day in June with quilts from Fiber Arts Fiesta, I wondered if I there were enough of the quilts I loved to share all month long ... it turns out I ran out of month before I ran out of quilt favorites.

Judith Roderick is a silk painter who makes fantastic silk quilts (with lots of buttons!). This is her quilt, Two Creatures, the winner in the large art quilt category.



Judith's description from the program says, "This playful quilt was a dance between black silk and over-dyed hand-painted silks, richly embellished.

Here is a closer look at some of the wonderful details.


Judith Roderick also had a special exhibit at the show - here are a few of the quilts found there.



Although the month is ended, I just might HAVE to share more photos of Judith's work in July after I am moved and settled into my place.

Global Themes

I enjoy quilts inspired by events or global themes.  This is Climate Change by Gail Garber, the first place winner in the large art quilt category at Fiber Arts Fiesta, which took place last month in Albuquerque.




Gail's description of her quilt, from the program, is "Textile expression of sudden changes in our warming world." It was quilted by Kris Vierra.

It's a great example of what's possible with paper foundation piecing.

Kris' quilting is the perfect complement to the quilt design.

Simply Stunning

It's easy to be wowed by a quilt with a well executed, complicated, difficult technique ... but I also love the surprise of encountering a quilt with a more approachable technique that is stunning and in no way diminished by it's simplicity.

This is Ray of Light, by Victoria Romero-Cederberg, the second place winner in the the innovative pieced and/or appliquéd quilts category at Fiber Arts Fiesta last month in Albuquerque.

This is one of the quilts in the show that were a challenge to photograph because it was blowing in the wind of the big fans that cooled the event space.

I love black & white fabrics ... and what a fun way to use them.

The quilt, Meadows by Lorraine Hollingsworth was in the same category and, for me, another of those simply stunning quilts from the show.

I loved her use of color, fun quilting designs, and that pieced binding.

At this point, it probably goes without saying, but both quilts were quite large–once again the "small" category for innovative quilts was not consistent with other "small" quilts in other categories.

One more - Lovely Quilting

This quilt, Tree of Life, by Wendy Garrison, won second place in the Medium Art quilt category at Fiber Arts Fiesta that took place last month in Albuquerque.



I loved the combination of classic quilting designs with the art quilt elements of paint, beading and a layered organza technique to create the trapunto.

I didn't love that the organizers decision to hang this round quilt (with it's black sleeve at the top to allow it to be hung at the show) in front of a pale gray drape.  Both black and gray drapes were used at the show ... so why not hang this quilt on a black background section?   I know the pale gray drapes are a new trend at shows, but because they show every wrinkle and dirty smudge, I don't understand why.


In this detail photo, you can see some of the paint, beading and organza layer used to create the trapunto tree.

I have long admired quilts which have paint/dye added after the quilting.  I really loved the effect in the leaves of the tree.

Now that I am a bit more confident in my free motion quilting ... I might have to push myself to feel at the fear and try this technique anyway.

More Beautiful Quilting

Here is another whole cloth quilt from Fiber Arts Fiesta.  This is Renaissance by Judy Murphy.  It is made from dupioni silk and quilted on a home machine. 



(sorry for the wonky photo, it was in one of those tight corners which made a good, square, straight-on photos impossible).

It was entered in the category for small traditional quilts. In this category, "small" was equivalent to "medium" in other categories.

It didn't get any ribbon love from the judge, but I thought it was pretty wonderful.  I liked the addition of color by choice of thread color and the combination of quilting designs that I tend to use myself.

Beautiful Quilting

Today's quilt from last month's Fiber Arts Fiesta in Albuquerque is Over, Under and Around by Krysyna Swirdczuk. If won the award for Best Machine Quilting.

I loved the idea of adding the red cording to this whole cloth quilt, along with more traditional trapunto.  Of course, the quilting was wonderful.  It was entered in the large, innovative quilts category.  I think it is, in some ways, a modern take on the whole cloth quilt. 

The individual quilting designs could be considered quite basic.  Combining them with the celtic knot designs (with trapunto for emphasis) and using the red cord to define the interlocking circles elevates those basic quilting shapes.

Did you noticed the knotted cording at the edge? 

Best of Show

Have you been wondering when I was going to get around to sharing the big winner from Fiber Arts Fiesta?  Here is the Best of Show winner, Little Slice of Heaven on Earth, by Susan Bowman.

This is another really small quilt, although it is in the medium art quilt category, I remember it as being smaller than some of the "small" art quilts, which were approximately the same size as the traditional miniatures. I'm sure there's a historic reason for the inconsistent size labels (and I figure if I blog about it, someone will tell me what it is . . .  )

This quilt was filled with 3-dimensional details and interesting materials.  The artist's description from the program simply says, "Pieced, appliquéd, embellished, painted."




Updated to add this link to the guidelines after reading the first comment. If you look at the measurements given, a "miniature" can actually be larger (up to 50 inches around) than a small art quilt (which is less than 40 inches). I suspect this quilt was right at the edge of the small/medium Art quilt border which put it in the same size range as the miniatures.  There are other criteria besides size for each of the categories, but I still find the inconsistencies distracting.

Small Quilt Confusion

As a visitor I found it a bit confusing that the smallest traditional quilts at Fiber Arts Fiesta were called Miniatures, but the same sized art/pictorial quilts were called Small.  This is Not Quite 50 Shades of Gray, by Lynn Rogers.  It was the winner of the category for small art/pictorial quilts.

Photos of black and white quilts never seem to capture their in-person beauty.  This is a striking quilt alive and in person.

I especially appreciated the quilting design.

Another monochromatic quilt in this category, Backyard Turtle, by Mary Mattimoe, won a Judge's Choice ribbon.

There were some more colorful, more abstract quilts in this category.  This modern mini, Beautiful Surprise, by Debbie Rogulich was the second place winner.  

This is another of my daily posts during the month of June, in which I am sharing my photos and thoughts from the Fiber Arts Fiesta that took place in Albuquerque last month. 

Poster and Imposter on my Design Wall

I will be disassembling my design walls sometime this week in preparation for my move, but this morning,  here is what was on my wall.

This is my first contribution to my local guild's poster group. It basically works like this–each of the 6 people in the group chooses a poster and slices it into 6 pieces and shares one piece with each of the other quilters. The poster pieces are interpreted as quilt blocks, one poster at a time, throughout the year. Today we met and put together the first set of six pieces.

On the design wall are the original piece of the poster (left), my interpretation of the slice as a quilt block (right) and the pattern I created to make the block (bottom).

When I was putting together my block, I thought it might be interesting to take in-progress photos as each new fabric was added. I used four pinkish reds, three greens, a tan and a mottled yellow/gold hand-dyed fabric.

Unlike other slice quilts I have seen, the individuals do not quilt their slice before assembling the quilt.

Last night, I had a nightmare in which I showed up at our meeting today and found I had made a block for the wrong poster/quilt ... and I was a little anxious about it up until the moment I saw another block from the group and confirmed it was the same poster as mine.  Originally they had been randomly ordered and then, as a group we had decided to reorder them less randomly, from what we perceived would be the easiest to the most challenging. 

As it turns out, *I* wasn't the person who made a slice of the wrong poster ... but, even with only 5 of 6 pieces, you can see that Theresa's quilt is going to be pretty cool.

Updated to add a link to WIP Wednesday on Freshly pieced, since the only other WIP around here involves organizing and packing.

Miniatures

I'm two thirds of the way through the month of sharing quilts from Fiber Arts Fiesta and I realize that I haven't yet shown any of the traditional miniatures.

This is the first place winner in the Miniature category, New York Beauty by Jan Lehman-Shaw.

The colors of these hand-dyed fabric say New Mexico to me and I love the hand-quilting on this tiny wonder.

The second place winner was a tiny sampler, Maureen, Carol and Cynthia's Quilting Journey by Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer.

Third place was won by a hand-quilted, whole cloth doll quilt, Winter Roses by Norma Koelm.

I especially liked the play of color and line in  the Judge's Choice winner, Star Brite by Linda Erickson.  I think this would be a fun design to supersize for a bed quilt. 

Another of those quilts

Today's quilt from the Fiber Arts Fiesta is another of those quilts that I had seen and admired online and was happy to see alive and in person.

This is Afton Warrick's quilt, XLV.  It was the winner last year in Quilter's Newsletter's contest to create a 45-inch square quilt that celebrates their 45th anniversary. 

Afton blogged about her quilt (and her win) here.  I loved the quilt then and in person at the show ... and was a little surprised there was no ribbon hanging on it.

It's an example of those quilts that compete well at one show (or competition) and go ignored at others and a reminder of the subjective nature of quilt judging.

Recently on her blog, Afton shared the Fiber Arts Fiesta judge's comments for all three quilts she had in the show.  If you're curious, you'll find that post on her blog, Quilting Mod, here.

More Up-cycling on Quilts

Chris Arnold, who made the Buffalo quilt I posted yesterday, had two other quilts at Fiber Arts Fiesta.

Smile, a portrait of Sitting Bull, was in the large pictorial quilt category.



I love portraits made from printed fabric and thought this one was pretty wonderful.

Chris' third quilt in the show was in the category for large, innovative pieced or appliquéd quilts.

It is Star. The description says that the 4-point star was improved and the background is a Buddhist tapestry.

Something Different

There were a couple of art quilts at Fiber Arts Fiesta in Albuquerque last month that were very distinctive, with a style of their own.  They were made by Chris Arnold, using unusual and re-purposed fabrics from thrift stores.

This very large quilt is Buffalo. It was in the category for large Art quilts.



The buffalo is a collage of fabrics appliquéd on top of a star made of ticking fabrics. The outer border is improvised, using re-purposed fabrics.  I love me some up-cycling.