Another auction quilt new to TCQC 01-10-16

The Alliance for American Quilts held a competition titled "Animals We Love"  and auctioned the quilts online last month.  This quilt won the competition and I won the bid for it. 

 

"Giraffe Nocturne"  Nancy S. Brown - Oakland, CA 2015  15.5"W x 15"L

Nancy does exquisite hand applique and specializes in images of animals.  She made this statement about her quilt: "I love giraffes and based this quilt on a giraffe that lives at the Oakland Zoo.  Giraffes only sleep about two hours a day - usually for about five minutes at a time - so they are awake most of the night.  I thought this one might enjoy the cool evening  air and the light of a full moon." 

 

What great detail she has in the eyes. 

Those funny nostrils that giraffes have. 

Nice label with contact information.

The back has a matching 4 inch sleeve.

 

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PIQF 2011 10-13-11

Today was the first day of the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, CA.  I drove up to Mary's yesterday and this morning she and her friend Chris and I drove to Santa Clara.  There were a lot of other ladies who decided to enjoy the first day of the show and the place was packed!  I am still gimping around with the sprained ankle (it would get better faster if I were to stay off it - I know) so I have to find places to sit down every now and then.  Tonight I a really exhausted and am just going to post the first four quilts I photographed.  I go back to Santa Clara on Saturday and will continue posting pictures from the show all of next week. 

The Mancuso shows post the quilt measurements with the length before the width, which gets a little confusing sometimes. Some of the quilters have shown quilts at PIQF or other shows I have attended, so check for their names in the side bar if you would like to see more of their work.

 

http://nancybrownquilts.com/

I do love Nancy S. Brown's work and this is the first time I have seen a person on one of her quilts.  She does a lot of wonderful animals - Henry, one of her little sweater wearing dogs is in TCQC. 

How much more interesting this quilt became when a bite was taken out of it!

http://www.pamelaart.com

Pamela Allen of Canada has such a great imagination and a wonderful sense of whimsy.  I adore these blue grazing creatures alongside a polka dot tree.

Pamela has used both hand and machine stitching.  Notice the turquoise machine stitching around the fern fronds - be that took many an hour. 

Is he a cutie, or what? 

I like this elephant quilt, but wish the blocks were slightly different.  Great sashing and border. And just the right amount of embellishment.

This year the heavy quilting on many quilts seems to be more in keeping with the design of the piecing or applique.  A big improvement over some quilts in the past which I felt were ruined by just overall quilting that had not relationship to over all design. 

 

www.nancyota.com

 

Nancy is a friend of many years and her quilts are always wonderful.  I don't understand why one shouldn't make a quilt with white flowers, I think they are very striking.  And look at the great "pebble" machine quilting she has done in the flower centers.  I'll post the other quilt she has in the show, it is right around the corner from this one (if you are going to PIQF this weekend).

  

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.

Expert applique artist 05-10-08

Nancy Brown is an award winning hand applique artist with a delightful sense of humor. She spoke to the Beach Cities Quilters Guild in San Juan Capistrano on Thursday evening and had us enthralled with her fabulous quilts and laughing at her humorous asides. Her quilts are all hand appliqued and hand quilted. If you get the chance, go to see & hear her presentation. The picture above is from her "Striped Cat" workshop - not a very good image because it is a picture of a picture! I wasn't able to take the workshop today, but I do have the pattern with instructions on her design and applique methods. Someday......!

You can see more of her work on my blog at: http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2008/04/nancy-brown-quilts-04-12-08.html

Or on her website: http://www.members.aol.com/nancybrownquilts/

Nancy Brown quilts 04-12-08

Nancy Brown is a Bay Area quilt maker who creates fabulous hand-appliqued, hand-quilted works, usually depicting animals. I have admired her pieces at Pacific International Quilt Festival every year and also at East Bay Heritage Quilters QShows. Today Mary and I went to EBHQ, held at the Oakland Convention Center and saw three of Nancy's quilts displayed.

"Elegy" (28"W x 23"L) is based on a photo of a tiger named Tatianna.

"Rocky" (15"W x 12"L) This sweet little tabby was part of the silent auction.

"Henry" (13.5"W x 18"L), also part of the silent auction, is named after the "Laugh-In" character Henry who appeared onstage with a flower and a poem. "Henry" will come to live in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection. Hurrah, there is finally a Nancy Brown quilt in the Collection!