This one was best of show in the special exhibition, Welcome Spring.
This was my favorite. I love the New York Beauty block, and the thing that makes this special is that it is all dotted fabrics and around the border is embroidered the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, "Pied Beauty", one of my favorites.
Glory be to God for dappled things--
For skies as couple-colour as a brinded cow
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
There are appliques of butterflies, trout, and other "spotted" creatures mentioned in the poem, as well as the "couple-colour" sky.
This is just plain beautiful. I like slightly abstract images from nature, and the colors are glorious. The log cabin block making the sky is very effective.
One of the parts of the show that I liked best was the quilts from the Husqvarna Viking challenge, and no photographs were allowed of those. These were very innovative and interesting contemporary quilts, some by well known quilters. No photographs were allowed of Men of Biblical Proportions either.
This show has the drawback of being extremely crowded. Some parts of the vendors section are almost impassible, and I lost patience with that quickly. I bought what I came to find: Misty Fuse, Paint Stiks, and Bo Nash, none of which I can get here, and then left the vendors. (Well, I did buy just a LITTLE bit of fabric--) That meant I went back and looked at the quilts again. It was interesting to discover that some of the people on our bus barely saw the quilts. No one saw the Viking challenge quilts. "I didn't have time to look at them all." We were there over 7 hours! So if you only buy patterns and kits, and don't even see the work of outstanding quiltmakers, what will your work be like? The answer to that is pretty obvious, I think.
3 comments:
Thanks so much for the report and the pictures!
You never know what is going to hit you at a show like that. Last year for me (I did travel all the way to Chicago from Portland last year, and went with a friend to the show)it was the Journal Quilts...I had never heard of the project or seen any before, and there were hundreds of them. I found the whole thing incredibly moving, so many women's voices all together, so personal but anonymous, too.
Everyone comes away enriched from an IQF show, whether it be with inspiration, new techniques, or a fabulous new kit that will make it's new owner so happy.. ;-)
Gee did you see my friend Kathy there? (only kidding), I wish I could've been there, it's so close to my hometown (4 hr drive from Muskegon). I'm surprised about the Husqvarna challenge not allowing photos. They allowed them when my quilt was in the Feel Free exhibit. Maybe it's to encourage book sales. It's always fun to see quilts of such quality all hung together.
Thanks, Kay! Isn't it beautiful? I think this may be one of my favorite quilts of all time!
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