Chicago Quilt Fest

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this show was meeting Debi of Dubi Quilts. We had lunch, a good chat, and walked around to discuss our favorite parts of the show. Debi also gave me a package of her hand dyed fabric, which I am delighted to have! Debi has just posted her very large collection of photos at this link. Mine are only a hint.

This is the second year for this Mancuso show, the finale of the World Quilt Show, in the Chicago location, and it is still trying to find its feet, I think. The quilts are excellent, and in my opinion the number of vendors is about right (fewer than the spring Chicago show). The crowd is rather small though--tough on vendors and organizers too. I hope the show will grow and not just fade away.

At the top of the post is the Best in World, made by Patricia Delaney of Abington, Ma. Bad light and difficult to photograph colors keep this from showing up well. The background is dull rose and the compass blocks are in various grayed tones with a machine embroidered flower in center.

Now for a few of my favorites, those I thought were especially striking and unusual:




This is made by Kristin LaFlamme, who's on the Artful Quilters ring, I think. It's called Dream Forest--I love the abstract overall design of a forest, and then when you go closer, you see more forest and a castle drawn with the quilting. I loved this quilt.




Rolling into Spring by Sonia Bardella, Italy. A wonderful photograph style quilt. There's lots of machine embroidery details in this too, everything beautifully integrated into the whole.


Bawa's Door by Lin Simpson, South Africa. Each block is a different door, with embroidered flowers, shrubbery, and other detail, and the whole is a door shape, with hinges and latch. The colors are lovely, and so is the workmanship.


I owe an apology to the maker of this quilt from the Hoffman Challenge collection because I missed her name. It's a great little quilt though. I like the whole Erte looking design, the wonderful quilting patterns, and the brilliance of that fabric choice for the woman's body. I always admire things I would never have thought of in a hundred years!