Festival Quilts--Especially for Jo, Sharon, and Rosemary!

My friends Jo, Sharon, and Rosemary share my passion for blue and white china.  (We often threaten to "borrow" something blue and white from one another's homes--borrow permanently, that is!)  I've admitted to this passion in my "About Me" at the right, where I explain the "Alice" wall hanging.  A quilt in Houston made me think these friends.  It was in a section I almost skipped--the quilts in "Merit Hand Quilting."  Having long ago abandoned hand quilting, I thought that was one I could pass by.  But then this quilt caught my eye!  Not only is it totally hand quilted, and beautifully and intricately done, but it features blue and white vases and pitchers, all different, each holding a lovely appliqued bouquet.  The containers were obviously designed by the quilter and carefully constructed and appliqued, not an easy task with those delicate handles on many!  The flowers are hand appliqued.  So above is that gorgeous quilt, which as you see won a blue ribbon, and below, some close-up views of it:

This is a close-up of the lovely border design.

Here you can see close-up views of
the variously-designed containers. 

I studied each one to choose my
favorite, and this one won--perhaps
because I so love tulips!

International Quilt Festival and Kaffe Fassett

One of my true heroes in the quilting world is Kaffe Fassett.  I won't repeat his biography here; you can read it at the link.  He himself doesn't sew quilts, but he designs them.  He also designs out-of-this-world fabric which his able associates use to make his quilts.   This year in Houston there was a special exhibit of his quilts from one of his latest books called "Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts."  This was one of the first exhibits that we saw, and we returned to it several times.  I have many Fassett fabrics; enough, in fact, for two quilts.  I also own many of his books and am eager to get his latest.  Someday I will make these quilts for which I have the fabric--soon, I hope!  Below are some of the pictures of Fassett's spectacular quilts from Houston's Festival.  For some reason, I didn't always take a picture of the whole quilt.  I regret that!  I suppose I chiefly took close-ups as a reminder of how simply many of them are constructed.  Fassett's designs are an outstanding example of letting the fabrics themselves be the stars of the quilt:

This diamond quilt demonstrates the "simple shapes" principle.  The spectacular

nature of the quilt comes, of course, from the spectacular fabrics.

Here's a close-up which better shows his
fabrics, as well as the way this quilt is constructed.
No doubt, after "framing" the diamond-shapes, you sew
this quilt together in diagonal rows.  But this is a guess on
my part!

Again, simple shapes--framed squares, with an interesting and intricate sashing and cornerstones.



This shows the myriad of fabrics Fassett uses in a quilt, and the variety of those
fabrics.  I love the pinwheel cornerstones!



I love the "Indian Blanket" look to this quilt.

Circles, a simple shape, perhaps, but not so simple
to construct!  I'm sorry I took only close-ups of this, so
you can't get the full effect of this one, which I believe is
called Bicycle Wheels!

More Festival Quilts



This pink ribbon winner (honorable mention) had all sorts of charming
farm animals.  See the close-up of the dog below!

A friend expressed that she didn't care for animal portraits rendered in fabric.  I think she said that no cloth portrait could do justice to an animal.  Well, I hope to dissuade her with these animals in quilts that I particularly liked at the recent International Quilt Festival!

I thought the dog was particularly well-done.

I was most impressed with this cat, because NOTHING is quite as hard to render in
fabric as a black animal! 

And now my favorite--a well-deserved blue ribbon winner!