Quilt Festival - Long Beach 08-03-11

A perennial exhibit at all venues of the Quilt Festival, "Celebrate Spring" does indeed celebrate Spring!

http://www.cynthialvogt.com/index.php 

So simple, so elegant - the silk gives a glow that can only be seen when viewed "in-the-fabric".

Doesn't this just make you smile?  Hiroko has created such a realistic image it is hard to believe it is not a photograph. 

Great thread painting makes Ponta's coat look like actual fur.

What a cutie!  Having Natsumi wearing pink makes the blossoms even pinker.  Notice the rhythmic quilting in the background over Natsumi's head.
 

 
http://www.sharonlschlotzhauer.com/

The details make this quilt a standout.  36.5"W x 44"L

I think Sharon may use the same method that I do - quilt the background first, then do the applique.  The flowers are fused and the edges stitched then quilted.  Embellishments added as the last step.

This is the perfect fabric for the flower - did she paint it?  Or is it a commercial print? 

Wonderful thread painting - I wanted to reach out and pet this little guy.

http://www.mckieart.com/

 
44"W x 52.25"L
This handsome guy is another marvellous piece from Barbara McKie who made the puppy I posted last night.  She has refined her technique to fade out the background and accent the bird.  There are applique edges, but she does them so skillfully they are very difficult to find.

More thread painting for the feathers.  I believe I saw more thread painting this year than ever before.

Quilt Festival - Long Beach 08-02-11

I don't know if there were more than the usual number of quilts depicting animals, or if I just noticed them more this year.  Here are some I think are outstanding.

Barbara McKie has developed her technique to amazing perfection.  There were quite a few of her works in this show and each is exquisitely thread painted.  Barbara does commissions and shows several of these special works on her website:  http://www.mckieart.com/ 

 

This is a photograph of Preston printed on fabric and thread painted using very fine threads.  33"W x 27.5"L

I hope this detail will show you some of the stitched lines.  Click to enlarge.

I suppose that "stitch painting" is the same as "thread painting".  Approximately 30" square.

http://www.fibreartnetwork.com/artists-gallery.php?artist=5

The right side of the quilt is actually squared up - the angle of my photo distorts it.  The group of sheep in the lower right corner are done with fusing - interesting effect of using various greys for these figures.

The rectangles in the background are fused. 

A disembodied wing with wonderful feathers drawn with the quilting lines.  Approx. 30" x 18"

 

This is a different sort of batik work that I am not familiar with.

Notice the little hand stitches in the eyes for the "glint".  Both hand and machine quilting was used.

http://www.goddu.com/carol.html

Another great owl quilt.  Hard for me to decide which owl to show as a detail.  All are amazing.

 

What a personality!  Click to enlarge.

Quilt Festival - Long Beach #10 07-30-10

Barbara Barrick McKie is an incredibly prolific quiltmaker who has developed her unique method of photography and thread painting into a fine art. She had eight quilts and some photographs on display at QFestival. I first saw her work at Quilt Visions and was fascinated trying to figure out how she had created that quilt. Since then I have seen and admired her work at shows, online and in magazines. She shares a website with her husband, a sculptor. http://www.mckieart.com/Pages/main_pgs/Main_home_frame.html

Barbara takes amazing photos, transfers them to fabric and thread paints them in a way that makes them so real I want to reach out and pet the animals.

Pretty amazing, huh? I have shown her work previously on this blog, check for her name on the right sidebar.

PIQF #10 Barbara Barrick McKie 10-24-09

Barbara McKie keeps growing as an artist. These photos on fabric are greatly enhanced by her meticulous free-motion machine embroidery. What a great thing to do with pictures from an unforgettable tour of the Galapagos Islands.

Yes, I can see that little gleam in his left eye!

These Galapagos Gulls are much like the Bonaparte's Gull we are familiar with.

A moment that a nature photographer dreams of!

The colors she has used are very subtle, just as the colors are on the live animal.

I tried to crop this one to show the red binding. Interesting choice.

This gal does look as though she has a splitting headache, doesn't she?

More PIQF quilts 10-19-08

I always find the Santa Clara Convention Center a difficult place to take good photos - I suppose it is the lighting. Also, the camera flash reflects off the letters on the signs and obliterates some of them, so straight on images are almost worse than none at all. Some of these pictures were taken by Mary and some by me.

There seemed to be more animal quilts than usual, or maybe I just noticed them more this year. The first set of three pictures show one of several quilts Nancy Brown had in the show. As I have said before, she does exquisite handwork which I admire very much. These little doggies are after my heart - even if there isn't a poodle!

http://www.members.aol.com/nancybrownquilts/

I believe Sandy Curran's work has appeared at previous PIQF shows. However, I can't check because I am not at home with my textile library. Her other cat quilts I have seen have been appliqued, so perhaps this is a new direction for her. http://sandycurran.com/default.aspx

Barbara McKie is well known for her beautiful flower quilts which combine printing on fabric and intricate quilting. This is the first of her animal quilts I have seen. It was one of the sensations of this year's PIQF show. On first seeing the quilt many people, including myself, thought it was really fur. But, no, the combination of painting and stitching that Barbara has done make the animals very realistic. A great quilt.

http://www.mckieart.com/Pages/main_pgs/Main_home_frame.html

Mary and Joe are still on dial-up, so doing a blog and moving pictures around takes an eternity. I will be somewhere else tomorrow night and if they have high speed I will post some more PIQF quilts. If not I will have to do it after I return home later this week.