Full of Soup

I went to the Quilt Fest of New Jersey on Saturday and FORGOT my camera. I took some great shots last year, so I was really disappointed when I walked into the show and had that forehead-smacking moment. I had my phone which has a pretty terrible camera. HYPE.

Trike Quilt! This buddy was two sided. Did I take a pic of the other side? Nope.

That tree is looking pretty mean.

This quilt was called, “Ten Year Odyssey” because the woman who created it made it during her commute back and forth from New Jersey to New York City over ten years. I’m so inspired.

This quilt was my favorite. It looks so simple, but there’s stars inside of stars inside of stars. The points are perfect. The colors are lovely.

Maybe my next quilt will be stars…

The back.

The front. This quilt was enormous and the photo doesn’t do justice to those circles at the top. They were around the whole border of the quilt and gave it a really dreamy effect.

Cats and hearts and houses. I have a kindred spirit out there.

I love samplers.

This quilt looked so different from every angle

Right? The quilting was beautiful, but you had to be there. Reminded me of this guy.

Here was a show stopper!!

A gorgeous, accurate replica of the Dear Jane Quilt. My mom was feeling inspired to start one. Then we laughed.

Crazy Quilts are made up of silks and velvet fabrics and the stitches are much more ornamental. If you are too lazy to click on the link, at least know that it was popular in the 1880’s.

Most “Crazy Quilts” do not use traditional patchwork blocks and I’ve never seen one like this. I love the nod to both styles. Again, this is another one for me to bookmark. I’ve fallen into some beautiful fabrics and this would be the perfect venue, but that’s a story for another post.

The dolls!

Nice Frock!

Teeny, tiny stitching!

This quilt was designed to commemorate the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The red circles are falling off the Japanese flag and pictures of the disaster were incorporated. It reminded me of this powerful quilt tribute to 9/11 I saw at the Brooklyn Quilter’s Guild Show.

Details..

Zoomed Out.

There it is!

Lemon Grass.

I thought the use of color and greys in this quilt was so interesting.

But it was her quilting that stole the show.

This is a blurry detail on a big, beautiful quilt. You can see each patch is a separate hexagon cut from a different fabric.

To give you an idea of how tiny the hexagons are, I put my hand up. They were about the size of a nickel!

The back was all pieced too.

Holy Bananas.

JACK!

Best in Show! I don’t know how anyone could decide that. My mom thought the hexagon lady was robbed.

Hello, ladies.

There was a whole corner of the show devoted to quilts that were designed to look like specific tile floors. I really liked that idea.

This quilt is one of the ones that looks so different in a photo. I think seeing it through the “lens” actually helped me see how cool it is. The background fabric is made from a photograph, and the circles on top use different fabrics for a more colorful interpretation of the fabrics. I love the Warhol-style flowers and the striped fence in the back.

Great use of color.

There was a vendor at the show selling antique lace doilies and I was wondering how a quilter could use them. Here is a fabulous example. This quilt was breathtaking.

It was a great show, and I think the quilts were a little more diverse than they were last year. My mom and I spent six hours walking around and spending dinero. I am getting SO excited about working on my pinwheels.

On November 5th and 6th the Evening Star Quilters Guild of Mineola had their annual guild show. It was a small show, but there were many inspiring quilts.

If you look closely, you can see these are all batik fabrics. I think some quilts that use these fabrics become all about showcasing the prints, but her subtle use really lets the pattern shine through.

My camera was incapable of capturing this lovely tone of lavender, so enjoy this sub-par version.

I love the use of near-solids in this quilt. It’s so colorful without feeling like a rainbow.

Can’t go wrong with a scrappy log cabin.

Something modern! And beautiful quilting.

Double Irish Chain. Really perfect version of this classic pattern.

This woman purchased all of the handkerchiefs from eBay. I was thinking this would be a great way to zip up a simple quilt, but then she went ahead and intricately quilted each block.

I love this pattern.

Love. I think I’ll make something very similar someday soon.

Cathedral Windows.

This is sorcery to me.

Oh HANDS DOWN my favorite of the show.

Delilah’s Doll Shoppe!

Beads on the trees.

Apparently the bought the pattern at City Quilter. I hope it’s still there!

This was my take home from the show. I’m psyched.

I think “extravaganza” is actually fitting for what I witnessed at this show.

This was an enormous quilt. I felt like I was looking through a window and had to turn my head to see it all.

Love these colors.

This quilt, from Japan, was made up of 61,000 pieces. For reference, my Trip Around The World quilt was about 1,500.

These quilts, also from Japan, were incredibly intricate their effect was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

I love the way this one is framed. I love how it looks realistic, but not so much that you forget it’s a quilt.

This was a total show stopper for me. I love this painting and had just visited it at the MoMa the day before, so I really appreciate the startling accuracy.

Okay, this BLEW my mind. The next three quilts are made from the same pattern:

I forget where this one is from. I need to take notes.

I love this one. Can’t describe why.

This quilt is from South Africa.

This quilt was so stunning in person. It reminded me of the “crazy quilts” from the 20s.

Detailed fabric flowers were a recurring theme in this show.

Loved this! I can’t even figure out how this was done. And this is just one square!

On the right there is a 3-D spider crawling out of the quilt!

There was a section of the show that was for quilts that address racism. This artist feels that the current US flag is too clear cut for the layered history and the many different cultures represented in America.

This was her version.

This quilt was another stunner in person. It reminded me of Elizabeth’s “Touch this Quilt” piece. There white spaces are newspaper articles about racism in the US.

This one’s for my sister- these animals are felted!

This quilt really stretches the definition of quilt. I love seeing the unexpected at these shows.

This quilt, titled “Bathing in the Ganges,” won Best in Show. I really like it when more modern quilts make a nod to the traditional. The detailed log cabin blocks that border this piece really brings it all together for me.

And bling!!

I realize I didn’t take a picture of this whole quilt, but the embroidery on this one was off the hook.

What?

Again, really amazing details here.

There is no photo that can do this quilt justice. If you are still scrolling through all these pics, click on this twice to get the biggest image you can.  Please note that “white” is not a background fabric, but actually an embroidered pattern. Also, every flower, bee and butterfly is embroidered.

I hope this can give you more of an idea.

It took us 5 hours to get through this show and all the vendors and I took many, many more pics, but I think there’s only so many times I can use the word “love” in a single post. It was such a freaking blast. I also bought a bunch of fabric for my next project! I’m so inspired!

I bought a few things at the Quilt Show.

At Somers, I got this animal print that I ‘d like to make something for my niece with. She has a play kitchen so I’ve been thinking about an apron or some hot mitts, but I’m not sure how much use she’d get out of that. I think she’d love a bag, but the print is pretty large and I’d like to use all of the animals. I’m just not sure what to do.

I also purchased these prints at the quilt show for myself:

These actually go well with what I have leftover from my Mug Rug project. I just wish I knew how to make clothes.

I like the bold colors in this print. I think it would make beautiful kitchen curtains.

The last weekend of April, the Northern Star Quilters Guild had there annual show in Somers, NY.

It was a beautiful, cold spring day.

The raffle quilt was a take-off on Kaffe’s Bounce Quilt. Instead of snowball borders, they used pinwheels. I loved the look in pastels. It still doesn’t make me want to go back to that project yet though.

The halls of the high school were lined with vendors and the library was transformed into a “boutique.”

The quilts made by the guild members were displayed in the gym.

I’m planning to make a quilt with a few mariner’s compass blocks next. I was inspired by this sampler of them. I think the bottom center one seems the most reasonable for me to try.

Applique!

I love this quilt! My big plan is to make a quilt with all the mariners flags, which this quilter used as one of her borders. There are 26 flags and I want to make the four corners of the quilt mariners compasses. This quilt made me want to start immediately.

These cranes were 3D. Ill!

This quilter and her friend make the same quilt together every year. This was her version of their 2009 quilt. I love the idea of doing a complex project like this with a friend. I’m sure doing something like that would help me keep pace. Or at least keep sanity.

The women with white gloves! For you non-quilters, you have to ask these ladies to show you the backs of the quilts.

Love these colors and the thin sashing.

I’m forever impressed by tiny piecing.

Yes, this is a quilt. All those tiny black lines are strings of fabric. Mind blowing!

The first Seven Days of Christmas!

The rest of the days of Christmas. I want this.

Stars! Reminded me of the quilts from the 70’s I saw at the Folk Art Museum.

I purchased one fabric to make something for my niece, but I haven’t decided what to make yet.

Joanna S. Rose has been collecting red and white quilts since the 1950s. For her 80th birthday, her family decided to give her something she has never seen: all of her quilts hanging together at once. They also decided to give a present to New York City: a free exhibition of these quilts at the Park Avenue Armory.

The results were stunning.

I admit, after my first loop around, I was pretty overwhelmed.

But then I made a second loop. And the next day, a second visit. And the third day, a third visit.

I could see how someone could get attached to quilts like these.

There was no way to choose a favorite or even a favorite style. I just felt a deep sense of admiration for all these women who did this craft before me and the countless hours that went into creating all the quilts in that room.

When I think about the designs of my own quilts, I tend to put more time into choosing the color and shades of my fabrics rather than being picky about the pattern. What was so moving for me, is that these quilts take color and shade out of the equation and show the strength of the patterns and quilting alone. Although choosing the colors is one of my favorite parts, I feel inspired to challenge myself to make a quilt with more limited colors.

Last Saturday I went to the Quilt Fest of New Jersey and saw some beautiful things.

Each year Hoffman fabrics sends out a package of challenge fabric and asks contestants to use the fabric to make entries in three categories: quilts, clothing, and dolls. The dolls were phenomenal.

There were some really striking red & green quilts.

I just love these Santas.

Tea themed:

Detailed quilting on the border:

Many of Kaffe Fassett’s quilts were being shown. This is one I had been considering working on until I saw it up close and in person.

I couldn’t believe the detail that went into this ship quilt.

Not to mention the borders:

This quilt could never be done justice in a photograph. I have no idea how it was made.

I definitely enjoy looking at the patchwork quilts more than the art quilts, but I am drawn to anything witchy:

The quilt show in Somers, New York was beautiful.

I loved the examples of applique and embroidery and was inspired to give hand quilting another try.

The Winter Trees quilt was one of my favorite quilts. Trunks of three trees were embroidered on a pale blue fabric and white and blue iridescent beads made up the snow-covered branches.

This weekend I’m headed up to Somers, NY with my mom to check out the Quilt Show!

This weekend, the Quilters Guild of Brooklyn had a quilt show.