Field of Flowers

Made by Julie Hirota of California; entered in the category Innovative Applique, Small at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Fancy Iris

Quilt above made by Doris Teixeira of Brazil; entered in the category Art-Naturescapes at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Buttercup

Made by Holly Knott of Marcellus New York; shown in the judged show (category: Art-Pictorial) at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Happy green day, or something like that

Here's a couple more quilts with a lot of green in them for your St. Patrick's Day edification:



Quilt above, "Rhubarb", made by by Karen Hampton of Indiana; entered in the category Art-Abstract, Small at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.



Quilt above, "Nebraska's Rising Sun", made by Sandi McMillan and Laura Franchini of Albion, Nebraska; winner of 1st prize in the category Two Person at IQF 2006.

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I went to the one-day version of the quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago - that is, other people stayed longer, but I just went for the one day. I was really glad I went at least for that long, because instead of taking those same blocks I've been stalled on, I took the not-quite-finished quilt of my mother's that I've been meaning to put the binding on for ages. I got that all cut and pressed and sewn on, and now I'm doing the hand-sewing on it, and it should be finished soon. (I'm usually quite good about doing the hand-sewing once I get to that point.) And then I got finished with that around lunchtime, and I spent the rest of the day cutting pink fabric. Remember that pink quilt I've been saying I'm going to make? Well, it's no longer a pile of uncut fabric; now I have a pile of squares instead, which should eventually become a pile of triangles. We'll see how long it takes me to get to that point.

I wish I'd stayed longer at the retreat, really, because a lot of people were there that I hadn't seen in ages and I didn't feel like I got to talk to all of them for very long. (Oh, and also? You ought to see what Cynthia England is working on. It's a long way from being finished, but what she has finished is absolutely gorgeous.)

Strata Garden

Strata Garden, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Scott Murkin of North Carolina; winner of third prize in the category Mixed Technique in the judged show at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.

The Calico Cat brought home a picture of a (very) different quilt by this same guy from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago - this one. Man, oh, man. (I like the one above better, though.)

Peace

I'm on a green kick!

Quilt above made by Suzanne Marshall; from the Faculty Showcase at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Web of Life

Web of Life, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Ann Horton of California; entered in the judged show (category: Computer-Aided Machine Embroidery) at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Everyday Best

Everyday Best, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Made by Becky Goldsmith, Sherman, Texas. From IQF 2004.

Becky Goldsmith is one of the Piece O'Cake ladies so I bet this is in a book somewhere.

Seagrapes - and quilt shows

"Seagrapes" (above) made by Sarah Louise McClean of Fort Lauderdale; entered in the judged show (category: Art-Naturescapes) at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.


I was thinking about making a list of upcoming big quilt shows, and I haven't really gotten very far yet (and you don't know with me whether I ever will!), but FYI, here's the ones for this year from the quiltfest.com people:

Feb 21-24: Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton, Virginia
Feb 28-Mar 2: Quilt Festival of New Jersey, Somerset, NJ
May 1-4: Denver National Quilt Festival, Denver, CO
Sept 4-7: Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, Harrisburg, PA
Sept 18-21: World Quilt and Textile on Tour, Manchester, NH
Oct 16-19: Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, CA
Nov 13-16: Greater Chicago Quilt Expo, Schaumberg, IL

I seem to have the jones to go to a quilt show. I actually went so far as to look up how much the fare would be to fly to Norfolk on the 22nd. (The cheapest on Southwest was $357 round-trip, which isn't TOO too horrible, but I'm not sure how my husband would react if I decided just to fly halfway across the country all suddenly like that!) What I think I'd really like to do is to plan something for this summer. Then I'm like, do I want to ask my aunt to come with me? Do I want to go by myself? I don't really mind doing stuff like that by myself. Sometimes it's easier - you can just do what you want to do and not worry about pleasing anybody else, you know?

Anyway, that decision can come later, if I ever even get that far. I came up with summer because we're going to Ohio in April already and I don't want to schedule myself too heavily. What quilt shows are in the summer? I know Columbus is, but my mother-in-law would kill me if I came to Columbus and didn't go see her. What else? Sisters, but that would be awfully expensive. And I guess there's that new Quilts Inc one in California, too. Is there anything else I'm forgetting? (Is there someplace where there's already a calendar?) I may have to do some more research!

Vacation

Continuing with the water theme. (I can go on a good while with this by the way, I have quite a few even if I limit myself to ones I haven't shown here before!)

Quilt above made by Keiko Kitamura of Hyogo-Ken, Japan; shown in the judged show (category: Art-Pictorial) at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Leaving Ireland

Another very nice quilt of the watery persuasion.

Quilt above made by Robin Haller of Carbondale, Illinois; shown in the judged show (category: Art-Naturescapes) at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.


(This picture won't be back, since this is one of the ladies who felt that their copyright had been violated. However, she was very nice about it - unlike some others. I really liked this quilt, though, and I'm sorry you can't see it too.)

Renaissance Revival

Renaissance Revival - detail, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I had dinner with Anjea last night, and in the course of conversation this quilt came up. I had practically forgotten about it (I said, "Oh, yeah, the one that looked like a tapestry!"), but I always did like it a lot, myself. (Here's the whole thing.)

"Renaissance Revival" (above) made by Mariya Waters of Melbourne, Australia; winner of a Founder's Award (along with a $7500 prize!) at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Totems

Totems, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

"Totems" made by Pat Doyle Mikrut of Illinois; entered in the judged show (category: Art-Pictorial) at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Exercises in perspective

"Roman Patience" (above) made by Dena Bauer of Indiana; entered in the judged show (category: Art-Pictorial) at IQF 2007.

Not quite as dizzying as that one, but still interesting:


"Up Up and Away" (above) made by David Taylor of Colorado; winner of an Honorable Mention in the category Art-Pictorial at IQF 2007.

Shadowland

I love black and white quilts.

"Shadowland" (above) made by Liz Jones of Herefordshire, UK; entered in the judged show (category: Miniature) at IQF 2007.

A Decade of Doing My Block

A Decade of Doing My Block, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Jan Mullen of Fremantle, Australia; from the Faculty Showcase at IQF 2007.


So I washed a ton of fabric, yesterday - everything I've bought for practically the last year. It took 4 loads in the washer and 3 in the dryer (big commercial machines, too). I sorted everything light to dark and put the reds in with the darks because I was afraid something would run. If anything did I can't tell it. By the time I did that I was exhausted so I just smoothed everything out and stacked it up instead of trying to iron and/or fold it. Actually I made two stacks, one for FQs and one for bigger pieces, which was mostly half-yards. (If it was bigger than a half yard then I folded it down to that size.) I am not ironing anything right now, instead it's all on the couch and I'm working on folding it all nicely. I figure quilt fabric gets ironed so much later that it doesn't matter if it's perfectly ironed to begin with. If it seems to need it when I get ready to cut it, I'll iron it then. Because this is such a huge amount of fabric I'll never finish otherwise.

I'll have to take pictures when I'm done. You just would not believe the fabric. (Actually I'm sure there are people who bought this much just at quilt festival, although if they did they'd have to buy another whole suitcase just to get it home! anyway, it's a lot of fabric.)

Rhapsody in orange?

This is not a Ricky Tims quilt. It does look like one, which makes sense because it was made in one of his classes, the "Rhapsody" class, which is also what his new book is about. I doubt that this is entirely a coincidence. (I took a different class of his - it was called "Caveman-Style Quilting" or something to that effect - a few years back. If you ever get the chance to take one of his classes, go. Not only is he a good quilter, and a good teacher, he's just a hoot to be around.) The Rhapsody book was all over the place at quilt festival - I guess it's newly released. I flipped through it, but applique is not really my thing so I can't say I looked terribly closely. I'm not planning on making one, after all. But they're very pretty quilts, anyway.

"Regalia" (above) made by Susan Webster of Minnesota; entered in the judged show (category: Innovative Applique, Large) at IQF 2007.

The last breath of autumn

After Thanksgiving, we're not going to be in the mood for autumn-y quilts so much (even if it's still technically autumn for another month), so here's a sampling.



"Autumn Orchard" (above) made by Kathie Briggs; from the exhibit "Small Wonders VIII" at IQF 2006.




"Fall Into Spring" (above) made by Cheryl See of Virginia; winner of first prize in the category Innovative Applique, Small in the judged show at IQF 2007.




"New England Stream" (above) made by Linda Creagh. From the 2004 Dallas Quilt Celebration.



"Country Roads" (above) made by Nancy Prince; from the Faculty Showcase at IQF 2006.


And possibly my very favorite:


"Autumn" (above) made by Noriko Endo of Chiba, Japan; entered in the judged show (category: Art-Naturescapes) at IQF 2007.

The Eyes Have It

These two make me giggle.



"Black Eyed Susans with Fruit" (above) made by Pamela Allen of Canada; from the exhibit "In Full Bloom".



"Flowers of Curiosity" (above) made by Akiko Shiraishi; from the exhibit "Prize Winning Quilts from Quilt Week Yokohama".

Losses

Losses, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Elaine Quehl of Canada; from the exhibit "Sacred Threads" at IQF 2007.

This is really beautiful.