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 08-01-11

I don't remember in past years a Special Exhibit of quilts with text on them, but I don't remember a lot of things these days.  I enjoyed this exhibit and am intrigued by the way the artists used the text to develop their idea.  

This beautifully made quilt definitely deserved better lighting.  The stem stitched used for the text is perfect

There are many fascinating details and the pastel swirlies give just the hint of color needed.

I have not always been a fan of Therese May.  I don't know how many years (decades) ago she broke all the rules and starting putting paint on her quilts - puff paint!  Horrors!  As a traditional quilter I was quite honestly appalled.  But as she has developed her style over the years it has grown on me (and a lot of other people with more art "taste" than I have) and now I enjoy her quilts very much.  On top of that I have myself used puff paint on quilts!  If it gives the effect the artist is looking for, perhaps anything goes. 

With the exception of the square in the middle, the entire surface of this quilt has om-ma written in puff paint.  It gives a rich, baroque look to the surface and draws viewers in to see the details.

The center is like an entirely different work of art, although a few "om ma"s sneak in.  The little dots that look like regularly spaced beads are all puff paint and the "eyes" are made of polymer clay. 

The dots along the left edge are actual beads sewn on.

A lot of thought and a lot of work went into this fascinating statement about the vagaries of truth.

Between the horizontal sections are dowels - painted and imprinted with "read between the lines".

Each of these op art squares (from Lunn Studios, I think) has a stitched saying.  This one is "Promise Me".

"Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire"

Deb and Kris are a creative partnership that zings with new ideas and ways to apply images to fiber.  At the SAQA conference in Denver I enjoyed a very short introduction to their class on Photoshopping images for quilts.  I hope to someday take one of their classes - maybe they will set fire to my creative spirit.

 

These are not individual strips of fabric, but strips of text that have been been combined, Photoshopped and printed in groups on fabric.  Very effective.

Quilt Festival - Long Beach 07-31-11

A full day (10am to 3pm) at the Quilt Festival today - Liz and I were worn to a nub.  Several people have asked me how well attended the show was, but I don't have feel for the crowd.  Although I go every year it is hard to tell in such a huge venue.  Every time I tried to walk through the vendor area (300 strong) I had to detour out to aisles that were more open.  I know that the venue is contracted for another two years.  As long as the show is held in Long Beach and my health allows, I'll be there!   Another question I heard several times today was, "Did you buy a quilt?"  No, but several were very tempting.

I hope that among the pictures I post this week you see some quilts that you love.

This quilt was displayed at PIQF (Pacific Int'l Quilt Festival - a Mancuso venue) in 2010 and I also took pictures of it then.  It is quite a beautiful quilt  About 24"W x 38"L. 

I think this is a lovely quilt.  The artist has used a great variety of techniques (not high tech) to create texture and coloring suitable to the landscape.  By-the-way, Ducor is located on Hwy 65 in Tulare County, north of Bakersfield and about 13 miles east of Hwy 99 - 2010 population 610.

Barbara's description doesn't mention the hours of machine quilting and hand embroidery that went into making such a realistic depiction of the grass, flowers, seed heads, etc., shown not just in the forground, but into the distance by the barn.  Quilt is about 24" square.

 

It just takes a hint of fence posts to define the edge of a pasture or field.

 

The larger flowers (rust and gold) are done with silk ribbon embroidery.   The other flowers are stitched with detached chain, French knots, stem, seed, and some I no longer recognize. 

 

She has also placed some silk ribbon leaves to give some "presence" among the flowers. 

This is a quilt I wish I could have made!

 

 

 

More Quilt Festival - LBeach 07-30-11

This had to be a day of rest, I was just wiped out this morning, so I didn't go to LBeach today.  But here are some pictures I took on Friday.   I thought some of you might be interested in how the quilts are displayed.  The black curtains are very thin so the lights on the other side show through.  The signs are on stands (like musicians use for music) and they are also color coded so viewers can keep track of what special exhibit the quilts are in.  There is usually a strip of vinyl across the space so one cannot get too close to the quilts.

The three pictures below are of the "West Coast Wonders" exhibit.   I didn't make note of every quilt and artist, so I am just showing those I know. 

"California Dreaming" Susan Slesinger, "Good Golly, Miss Molly" Deborah Mackay,

"Beach Scenes" Mia Bloom, "Summer Dreams" Mary Tabar. 

 

Unknown, Unknown, "Johnny Appleseed in Sebastopol"  Pam Berry,

"Say it with Flowers" Laura Fogg, "Red Barn with Salmonberries" Laura Fogg.

"Red Barn With Salmonberries" Laura Fogg,

"Spring in the Heart of California" Barbara Daniel,

"California Beauty" Felisa Lyon (at the far right edge of the photo)

 

 

This quilt is very difficult to photograph!  I waited until all the visitors wearing white moved along.  But I still had to retouch to remove some spotlights that were shining through the leaves.

The bluebird is about a foot in from the top right corner.

The grey owl is about one-third of the way down the tree trunk and the large azalea blossoms are at the bottom.

 

 

I must admit, to me it looks more like Jabba, the Hut.