Calculating

I was nosing around over at Quilt Channel and Planet Patchwork after Christopher from Quilt Channel commented just below, and I found a review for a fabric calculator. Now, if this is something you think is a great idea, I don't mean to make you feel bad. I think the fact that this is something I would never use says more about me than about anybody else! I know that a lot of people seem to figure the yardage for their quilts very exactly - but to figure the yardage you have to know exactly what you're going to do, and I rarely seem to know that going in. It's (partly) why I make scrap quilts - if I run out of fabric, I just use something else. But it's also because I don't think I would ever finish a quilt if I tried to do it that way; if I knew exactly what fabrics I was going to use, and exactly what the border was going to look like, I would just get bored and quit. If no two blocks are ever completely alike and you really have only a vague idea what your quilt is going to look like, it's a lot harder to get bored.

I guess you could call it the ADD approach to quilting.

Zipper quilt update

31 zipper blocks
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

A bad picture, but that's better than no picture, right? (I realized later that I'd bumped the camera in the wrong place and the settings were screwed up.) Anyway, I have almost 4 rows done, which makes me a little less than halfway finished. I haven't had time to get much done this month; I'm going to have to get on the stick if I'm going to have this - and another quilt, is the current plan - done by the end of April.

(Oh, and I counted this as 31 blocks because the 32nd one is just a rectangle slapped up there and not attached to anything. And that's because I'm not sure that particular color is staying there. Somehow I keep hating anything I put in that spot.)

Kaffe Fassett Hourglass Quilt

Hourglass Quilt
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Turns out the pattern - or the instructions, really, since there's not much pattern needed - for this quilt is in the November Quilter's Newsletter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom - cornucopia
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.


I think this quilt is from this book (see picture below), which seems to be out of print.

What am I thankful for? I am thankful that I have finished downloading quilt show pictures. (And once again, somebody please remind me next year not to take so many pictures!)

Hi-ya!

Action Karate Quilts

(Credit for this one goes to Lyn Never over at TUS.)

Sunny Girls

Sunny Girls
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Pat Durbin of California; 3rd place winner in the category Art-People, Portraits, and Figures at IQF 2005.

Made postage-stamp-style.

She also made this quilt, which I linked to down below. It's made in the same style.

A Moment in the Shadows

A Moment in the Shadows
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Deborah Sylvester of California; entered in the category Art-People, Portraits, and Figures at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Ladies in Waiting

Ladies in Waiting
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Marcia Stein of San Francisco; entered in the category Art-People, Portraits, and Figures at IQF 2005.

(I believe the notes said the quilter saw these ladies on a bench somewhere in France.)

The Colour of Mud

The Colour of Mud
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Pauline Salzman of Florida; entered in the category Art-People, Portraits, and Figures at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

I really love the quilts in this category. There are some more great ones coming up - as soon as I get them uploaded.

(I am actually getting toward the end of the pictures, finally, though - believe it or not. I don't quite believe it; I have been uploading pictures forever, and I will continue to upload pictures forever. Or so part of me thinks.)

Quilt TV

Quilt TV
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Linda Taylor and Cheri Meineke-Johnson of Texas; 3rd place winner in the category Two Person at IQF 2005.

Apparently Cheri Meineke-Johnson did the piecing on this - which is complex but only covers a small amount of the quilt, you will notice - and then let Linda Taylor loose with the colored thread to quilt whatever she wanted on the rest of it. I bet that was fun.

Miniature Pineapple

Pineapple Flambe
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Judy Spiers of Mississippi; winner of an Honorable Mention in the category Miniature at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Compare with the one below - they're practically identical, except this one is on a really, really tiny scale. She specifically mentions Jane Hall as an inspiration.

The Ultimate Pineapple

The Ultimate Pineapple
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Jane Hall of North Carolina; from the exhibit "In the American Tradition IV" at IQF 2005.

(Now look at the one above.)

Morning is Coming (detail)

Morning is Coming (detail)
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Michiko Shima of Japan; entered in the category Innovative Applique, Large at IQF 2005.

Thistles

Thistles
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Renee Caswell of Arizona; entered in the category Traditional Applique at IQF 2005.

Shimmering Foliage

Shimmering Foliage
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Frieda Anderson of Illinois; winner of an Honorable Mention in the category Innovative Pieced, Large at IQF 2005.

Seven-Petalled Squash Blossom

Seven-Petalled Squash Blossom
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Amy Bright of Arizona; 3rd place winner in the category Art-Naturescapes at IQF 2005.

Yummy!

Agate Beach

Agate Beach
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Pat Durbin of California; entered in the category Art-Naturescapes at IQF 2005.

The Big Apple

The Big Apple
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Therese Bliss of Arizona; 3rd place winner in the category Art-Pictorial at IQF 2005.

This is one of those where you scratch your head and say, "Only 3rd place?"

It didn't look quite this photo-realistic when you were standing up close to it. I guess you need distance to get the full effect there.

Also, pull up the big version and look at how it's constructed - it's somewhat different, but obviously it works!

(And it's not a great picture, but there is another of her quilts here. It's constructed the same way, but it's not as complex.)

Mi Casa, Su Casa

Mi Casa, Su Casa
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Grace Errea of California; entered in the category Art-Pictorial at IQF 2005.

Cuyahoga Bridge

Cuyahoga Bridge
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I must've been tired last night, it looks like I didn't get the maker's name on this one. I will add it later.

(A last name made it onto the tags, I just noticed - it's Callahan. Later: Kathryn Callahan of Missouri, to be exact.)

Sweet Heart

Sweet Heart
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Noriko Kobayaski of Yokohama, Japan; 2nd place winner in the category Handmade at IQF 2005.

I think this is a lovely, lovely quilt. I really just love everything about it.

I also think it's interesting that the Handmade category is completely dominated by the Japanese. Are they more into handmade quilts than Americans?

Heart's Desire

Heart's Desire
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Karen Luman of Maryland; 2nd place winner in the category Traditional Pieced at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Details

Stitches of Life (detail)
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Crazy quilts are all about the details, don't you think? That's why I'm posting the detail picture of this one rather than the picture of the whole thing (which is here). There are also more detail pictures, including one corner, which I love, with the spider web. As I understand it, most crazy quilts have a spider web in them somewhere, it's traditional.

Ebb & Flow

Ebb & Flow
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Adrienne Lindsay of Colorado; 1st place winner in the category Innovative Applique, Small at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Sometimes I quibble with the award-winners - often not that I think the winners aren't good, but that I think other things are better. (Of course, I don't judge by the criteria judges go by, either.) But this is a 1st place winner I won't quibble with a bit. I love this quilt.

My Rooster Called Ivy

My Rooster Called Ivy
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Anna Faustino of New Jersey; entered in the category Innovative Applique, Small at IQF 2005.

This didn't win a ribbon? I can't believe that. Because I think this one is fabulous.

Interlude

22 zipper blocks
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

A pause from quilt festival quilts to show off my own - here is the progress on the zipper quilt. I haven't had much time to work on it, but I do think I've made some progress since the last time I've put up a picture.

(Boy, that bright yellow block really stands out. I need to make sure there's some more of those scattered around.)

Best of Show (detail)

Best of Show (detail)
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Best of Show

Scarlet Serenade (Best of Show)
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Here's the "best of show" quilt, finally. I was thinking I had a picture without the light pole in front of it, but that one doesn't come anywhere near showing the whole quilt. (There are a couple more pictures of it in the Flickr set.)

By the way, I am uploading the big versions of these for most of the quilts, so if you click over to flickr and look at the big version you can usually see quite a lot of detail. (I love my new camera.)

Happy Day of the Dead!

Catrina Leaves for the Party
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Leslie Jenison; from the exhibit "QuiltArt at 10" at IQF 2005.

Omega 3 Boogie

Omega 3 Boogie
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Marjorie DeQuincey; from the exhibit "QuiltArt at 10" at IQF 2005.

Note the name of the quilt.

Hansel & Gretel Meet the Witch

Hansel & Gretel Meet the Witch
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Paet Burcham; from the exhibit "QuiltArt at 10" at IQF 2005.

(This seemed to fit in with the Halloween-ish theme I've mostly got going the last couple of days, even though it's not strictly a seasonal quilt.)

Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Brenda Smith of Arizona. From the exhibit "In Full Bloom II: Floral Quilts Honoring Helen Pearce O'Bryant" at IQF 2005.

I think this is adorable. I don't think I've ever seen kaleidoscope blocks specifically worked into a quilt as flowers.