Tag: Quilt Show

PIQF 2008 Day 1


PICT2528
Originally uploaded by jlapac

TFQ and I went to the PIQF Preview tonight and it was wonderful. Apparently, most people who attend, attend to shop. I saw two ladies leaving with Jem Platinums! We have started to attend the preview in order to take photos. I barely looked at the quilts, but just shot photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/sets/72157608068541986/) so I wouldn’t have to worry about the crowds. It was great! And I know I will be much less cranky tomorrow when I can just look at quilts.

I am thrilled to say that people entered cheerful quilts. Not exclusively, but my overall impression is cheerful. I am so happy, because after EBHQ and APNQ, I was getting worried about the state of quiltmakers’ psyches. There are also a lot of quilts with a ton of details on them, so I think people have just been sititng in their studios for the past four years waiting for Nov.4. I didn’t look much at the vendors, but will work on that tomorrow as well.

Eddie’s Quilting Bee is about 2 miles away. We went there before the show opened and looked around. I bought an 8.5″x4.5″ Creative Grid ruler and a pattern for a tote bag from Gail Abeloe for Tracey Brookshier Design Studio. It is similar to the Eco Market tote, but has a square bottom and no side panels. It will be interesting to try it out.

The tree quilt above is called Leaves on a Tree and it is, coincidentally, by Gail Abeloe. Gail is the owner of Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove. Nice work!

Weird and Wonderful Wearables

Deirdre sent me a link to these weird and wonderful “wearables”. They are really creative and inventive, but I don’t think that they are truly wearable. I really admire people who think outside of the box in such a way that they can come up with an outfit for a sumo wrestler type. Enjoy the inspiration!

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Parakeets’ Expression


This is a quilt that TFQ and I saw at the APNQ show. It has been on mind because of the expressiveness of the little parakeets. I think that this quilt tells a story because of the implied movement of the birds. I can appreciate realistic quilts, but don’t always see the point in reproducing a photo in quilt format. This one, however, tells a story.

APNQ 2008 Show : the good, the bad and the merchant mall

I spent last weekend in Seattle with TFQ. While I was there, we spent quite a bit of time at the APNQ show.

As usual there were a lot of great quilts. Sadly, however, there were a lot of depressing colors in the quilts. Happily, the jurors really picked quilts with GREAT technique, so there was a lot of fantastic quilting, piecing and embellishing. It is a thrill to see people who care about wonderful piecing and try new techniques.

This slice quilt was very cheerful and joyful. I liked the umbrellas.

There was a Sharon Yenter/In the Beginning special exhibit of antique quilts. I really liked the exhibit and was glad that they allowed us to take photos (sans flash) on the second day. We looked at these quilts several times and decided that the difference between them and the new quilts was that the antiques had joie de vivre in them. These quilts were not perfectly flat, nor did all the fabrics match exactly and the piecing wasn’t perfect, but the quilts had life in them. They looked like the maker enjoyed making them. It looked like there was a little bit of a twist to the regular pattern in each one.

There were a few quilts that used wheel or plate designs and this was one of my favorites. I love the block, but the colors are also very cheerful.

I am drawn to tree quilts lately.There were a few at the show and this one was lovely. I like the fact that it does not try to be realistic. I also like the different fabrics that the maker used.

All in all I was disappointed with the show. I have always liked this show and been overwhelmed when I have attended. This year’s show did not meet my expectations. I am not sure if my expectations are too high or if people are submitting their new and fantastic quilts somewhere else or what else might be going on.


The merchant mall was very sad. There were not enough vendors with fabric. None of the vendors had much, if any of the newest fabrics, such as Heather Bailey or the new Pimatex dots. As you can see, above, I was able to find a few pieces. The fabrics in the lower right hand corner are silks, which I intend to use for another Colorblocks quilt.

I see a trend towards packs and kits rather than yardage as well. I don’t have anything against packs and kits, but I want yardage. I especially want to see the yardage in person since my recent bad experiences shopping online. I heard through the Grapevine that they didn’t let the Quilting Loft into the show as a vendor since the show organizers thought they had too many fabric vendors already. BAH! We went to visit the Quilting Loft anyway and stocked up. 😉


Fabrics from Pactific Fabrics in Northgate Mall.

Gifts from TFQ from Seattle.

Fair Photos

This was the last weekend of the county fair, so we took our free tickets and went and indulged in quilts, rides, funnel cakes, lemonade and frozen, chocolate covered bananas.

The cheerful quilts are coming. I saw a definite change in the palette of some of the some of the quilts. There were a few really bright quilts, a number of pastels and fewer in the brown range.

Oak Hall, which normally houses the Home Arts (including the quilts) was closed and they were using a huge tent. Not an ideal situation, but Julie Curry, the Home Arts building director did a great job hanging the quilts. I would have liked to have had more room to take photos and a little more light, but at least the quilts were not 30 feet up on the wall.

I hope to see some of the quilts at PIQF so I can get better photos.

PICT2183 San Mateo County Fair 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/sets/72157606792927862/

A selection of things from the set

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This quilt was my favorite quilt. I liked the black on white print that the maker used for the background. I liked that s/he used a lot of different prints as well. I also LOVED the blue circle. That detail is genius. I think it makes the pink stand out even more, but takes off the sweetness edge.

S/he did this in hand applique

Nice border as well.

Make CHEERFUL Quilts

EBHQ Show April 12-13, 2008

The East Bay Heritage Quilters held their bi-annual show last weekend at the Oakland Convention Center. The best part of the weekend was that TFQ came down to visit and go to the show with me. As usual, I took a lot of pictures. TFQ has a new camera, so her photos are included in the group, which I have added to Flickr.

The show was well hung with plenty of room to look and photograph. The lighting was excellent and while well attended, it wasn’t so crowded that we had to fight with people to see the quilts. The disappointing part of the show was the brown. The overall impression of the show was that there was a preponderance of quilts made from brown or beige or some equally depressing color. These were not the rich chocolate browns of dark chocolate, but the sad, world weary browns of a country/area that is sad.

The above quilt, by Carol Lee Blangsted, a former president of EBHQ, was probably my favorite in the show. The fabric didn’t make my heart sing, but the design was wonderful and the quilt was well executed. Ithought it was a good design for the lovely large print fabrics available now.

The shopping was ok, but there weren’t nearly enough vendors selling fabrics and there were barely any fabrics from any of the new groups that have come out recently. Their loss was Black Cat’s gain.

We spent a lot of time at Black Cat chatting and looking at the fabric. We didn’t get as much bang for our buck, but the fabric choices were fantastic.

I did buy a few fabrics at the show, and one booth, a friend of TFQ’s, had luscious ribbon (see right side of picture above). As you can see dots are still the rage in my life!

I was also on a button kick. The totes require a button and I have been at a loss to find the right ones for various projects. I stocked up at Britex on Friday and partook of one booth’s antique buttons at the show.

The above fabrics were a gift from TFQ. YAY!

Quilt Exhibit at the Renwick

It pays to read blogs, so you can tell people to go and see this exhibit. It is about QUILTS!
It is at a real MUSEUM!
They have a companion BOOK!

Sadly (I guess it is my day for sadness), I won’t be heading out that way until the summer. Do give me a review and let me know if you liked it. Perhaps I will put the book on my Christmas list. Hhhmm.

clipped from bemused.typepad.com
http://bemused.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/26/100_2995_3.jpg

But the week wasn’t all about turkey and muffins.  Before everyone else arrived at my sister’s, M & I ducked out for a spectacular day in Washington, a city we’ve spent a lot of time in since Molly & K both went to college there.  First stop, the Renwick Museum, where we saw the current show, Going West! Quilts and Community.  I’d wanted to see this exhibit since I read that it had been curated by Sandi Fox, author of two of my favorite books on 19th century quilts, Small Endearments and For Purpose and Pleasure.  Well worth the trip, I’d recommend the show if you’re going to be in D.C. before the close of the show in mid-January.  Sadly (for you,) no photos allowed.  The show’s companion book does include all of the show quilts (and more) with accompanying essays on over fifty quilts brought to or made in Nebraska in the late nineteenth century.

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The Baskets of PIQF

One of the themes I noticed at PIQF was baskets.

There are a number of things I like about this quilt, which I think is unusual. First all of the baskets are unusual. I didn’t examine each one separately to see if they were all different, but I think they might be. In looking at the photo I saw a couple that were slight variations of each other, but different enough to be considered unique. This is the kind of detail that makes quilts great and shows that quick quilts aren’t everything.

Second is the setting. The maker (and if YOU are the maker, I will gladly put your name here). This is a very clever way to setting the blocks. It also gives the quilt a lot of movement without buying into the whole primitive wave that is moving through the quilt world.

Third, is the fabric. Although there is a lot of black in this quilt, it does not look depressing. I also like the fabric that she used, especially the different yellows to sash the blocks. Much more interesting than using all the same yellow. The light colored background in the blocks really makes the baskets show up.

Fourth, the size of the blocks put them almost into the GAL* quilt department, but the details are so finely done and perfect for each block, including not adding them when they weren’t needed, that I think the blocks were done out of love and not because the maker didn’t have anything better to do.

Finally, the quilting is great. I think there is a lot of in-the-ditch quilting to keep this quilt together, but the gentle curves of the quilting that set off the blocks in a subtle way are perfect for the overall design.

This is another basket quilt. As you can see, the baskets are also small, and in this example, very girly. I remember the name being something having to do with girly handbags.

The pinks in this one were definitely the strength of the quilt, but notice the lavender that the maker added as the background for one block. I like it when the maker has the foresight and confidence to add a completely different fabric to the mix in order to add interest to the quilt. I think the brown looks ok, but it makes the quilt, overall, look a lot darker.

*GAL – get a life

The Bottoms of PIQF


TFQ said that after going to a big show she always wants to go on a diet, which set my mind to thinking about rear ends. Not really what I wanted to be thinking about at a quilt show, after all, but there you have it. As luck (maybe not the exact word?) would have it, three forward thinking quiltmakers made quilts with butts. I would have never thought of rear ends as a design idea, but it is definitely an idea.

Aside from patooties, there were other themes we saw at the show:

  • Sunflowers were big
  • Trees – there were lots of beautifully shaped trees in quilts
  • Animals in photo realistic type quilts were also everywhere
  • Trapunto was evident
  • People are doing some amazing quilting, which is a comment I made last year, but this year they are pushing the envelope even further.
  • Many more male vendors at the show
  • Packs of fabric rather than bolts and loose fat quarters 🙁
  • Lots of patterns and kits

There were lots of quilts with sunflowers! They were beautiful and it was amazing to see the artistry and work in some of the quilts. It made me wonder if the Sunflower Council did a lot of advertising in quilt magazines last year?

It was new to see so many males selling in fabric and notions booths. Men have always sold sewing machines, but there they were in the booths selling fabric. One guy from the Apple Scrapyard (see this post to learn more about them-very nice people) wanted to show me how to make a fan quilt. He was adorable and so friendly. I felt bad turning him down, but a big guy sitting in a booth filled with pastel colored Moda fabrics really made me smile.

The sad part is that many booths had only kits (including fabric and pattern) or packs of pre-selected fabric. As you could tell from the photos from yesterday, I had no trouble finding fabrics to buy, but there were many I passed up, because the vendors would not open the pack for me so I could just buy one or two fabrics. I hope the trend, which is obviously moving in that direction, doesn’t end up with having only packs and kits available. Don’t get me wrong, there is NOTHING wrong with kits. It is a good way for a beginner to start, but kits are not for me. There is also nothing wrong with packs. One of my favorite vendors, who wasn’t at PIQF for the second year in a row(!!!), Foothill Fabrics, does FANTASTIC packs. Her fabrics packs are right up my alley: all dots or all stripes or all of a line of fabulously bright colors. I just don’t want to buy packs every time from every vendor. I especially don’t want to buy packs centered around a large scale floral or a conversational print. The bottom line is that I want to choose my own fabric and put it into my own designs. I can certainly admire quilts made from kits and fabric packs, but that is not what I want to do.

Again, there were quilts, clearly made from a pattern, where the pattern maker was not credited. There were even some quilts that were labeled as ‘original designs.’ I think it is wrong to buy a pattern, make the blocks, rearrange them and call it an original design. It is an interpretation of a pattern, but not original.

I know this brings up the subject of blocks, especially classic* ones. If someone else designed the block, can it ever be part of an original arrangement? A complicated question, but I think it can. If you see a quilt, and remake it choosing fabrics as close to the originals as possible, the same setting, quilting and binding, then it is not an original work. If you see a quilt with a block you admire, you make a bunch of blocks in different fabrics and rearrange them in a new and original setting, then it is, if not an original design, an original interpretation of a classic block. I just think it is fair to let the world know where you got the idea. When/if TFQ and I enter the basket quilt into a show, I will certainly say that I saw the quilt at PIQF 2007. If I know the quiltmaker’s name, I will include that as well.

You can find a number of photos from the show here.

N.B. I don’t like the term ‘traditional’ to refer to blocks or quilts, because it seems to imply reproduction fabrics. I like to use classic blocks, but use new and fun fabrics in them.

Quilt Activities for the Week

I spent almost all week engaged in quilt related activities. First, I picked up my Nosegay from the quilter. She did a fantastic job. Photos to follow as it is such a monster I have to move furniture to get any kind of photo.

I also picked up some quilts from the photographer so I can update Artquiltmaker.com. The quilts are older, but it turned out that I didn’t have good photos of these quilts.

I also spent a few days this week at PIQF with the JCN, The Fabric Queen (a new moniker for an existing Artquiltmaker character by request). I took a lot of pictures, which I will share in another post. I didn’t take as many as I would have liked as I was having camera difficulties. We went down early and went to the preview on Wednesday night. The quilts were available for viewing and the vendors were open for business.

I found a couple of fabrics that I can use. The three batiks were just there and gorgeous, but the skeletons are for the Flowering Snowballs quilt (I seem to be getting a sense of humor with the background for this quilt), then, of course, there are dots for the Pineapple.

Additional new fabrics.

We went to Eddie’s Quilting Bee after leaving the show. They moved about three weeks ago and it was right on our way, so we stopped. It is a nice, large, open and light filled shop (even in the pouring rain), but they didn’t seem to have a lot of fabric, probably because most of the fabric was at the quilt show. I found a couple more dots that I can use in the Pineapple. 😉

This is one of the quilts in the show. There were a number of great basket quilts, but one block inspired us to get sewing.

It is pretty much a normal Flower Basket block, but the little Bow Tie in the middle gave it a little extra zing.

Since my design wall is covered with Pineapple blocks, I used The Fabric Queen’s bed as a design wall. The green flannel wasn’t as sticky as I like and the green, though warm, was not that attractive for a background.

Not sure what to use for the background, so I was trying a bit of a print. Not so good, IMO.

I took the Pineapples down (don’t have a cow, they are going back up tomorrow!) in order to put the baskets up. They look much better on white.


Some details of the blocks.

This is how I piece when it is too late at night.

We decided that we would work on this quilt together, so I will take the blocks next time I go up to visit or the Fabric Queen comes here. TFQ is going to work on some alternate blocks in a chain to see if they work. I know I hadn’t planned to start a new project, but it was good to get some baskets out of my system and I am sure I will be refreshed for the Pineapples, which I am reinvigorated to work on.

Apologies for the large photos. I wanted to get something out to you sooner rather than later. More soon.

Los Angeles County Fair Photos

I went to the Los Angeles County Fair last weekend and took a bunch of pictures. It was nice to go somewhere and see a bunch of quilts. I was thrilled to see how many people are making things and taking the time to enter them into the fair.

The pictures were really hard to shoot, because all of the exhibits were in glass cases. Additionally, they all had fluorescent lights in the cases, which seemed to reflect off the quilts. The exhibits were also all folded and the quilts often had other exhibits hanging or standing in front of them. Sigh! I did my best and hope you enjoy the quilts.

San Mateo County Fair 2007

We spent the day at the San Mateo County Fair yesterday. The Fair, in general, seems to get smaller and smaller every year, but they still had a great selection of quilts and other needlearts. I wish more people would take the time to enter one thing.

I attend county fairs for many reasons. I really enjoy it being a coming together of things that people in the county make/participate in. We spent quite a bit of time looking at the bee hive and talking to a beekeeper. The cut flowers and plants were also amazing. My two favorite things are the quilts and frozen bananas. I thought the frozen bananas had gone the way of the dinosaurs after I checked every food vendor and none had them. I finally found them hidden in the ‘international’ area. I never knew milkshakes and frozen bananas were considered foreign food. Oh well, you learn something new every day!


As you may remember, I entered Thoughts on Dots into the fair. It didn’t get a prize, but I was pleased with how it was displayed. I was happy that there were no Sunbonnet Sue stuffed dolls in front of it and it wasn’t folded over anything. You can really see the whole quilt.
I was also REALLY pleased with how flat it hangs (no ripples!) and how well the sleeve looks. No lumps!


While I like, what St. JCN calls, the San Mateo Dotty better, this quilt reminds me of it. I know they are very different, but there is something about it that brought the SMD to mind.

This is a close up and I really like the flower motifs for the quilting.
These were fun! They are crocheted cupcakes.
Detail shots. Do you like the “sprinkles?”
This quilt was tied and didn’t hang very well, but I loved the tree in the middle. That drawing was very well done.

Detail of the tree.

The complete group of photos, unaltered and BIG are here as well as few other needlearts items that struck my fancy.