Greetings.
Today I’m sharing a few more of the quilts from the World Quilt Show that appealed to me.
“Shibori Kimono” won the Best of Country award for New Zealand and appealed to me because the maker, Shirley Mooney, used authentic kimono fabrics to make the quilt and authentic Japanese designs within the quilt.
The next quilt won the Best Hand Workmanship Award for a Traditional quilt and the quilting and embroidery embellishment as well as the applique were all wonderful! It is “Autumn Ablaze” by Kathleen Winsor of the USA.
And here are some close-ups:
I love how the embroidery accents the grapes!!
The next quilt won the award for Best Use of Color in the Innovative category and deservedly so – it’s fabulous! It’s called “Star Burst” by Mieke Apps of New Zealand. You can see in the close up that the basic block is the Kaleidoscope block, but what really makes the quilt is her choice and placement of the fabrics.
Another quilt I really enjoyed was “Autumn Bluster” by Jenny Hearn of South Africa. I love autumn colors and am drawn to any quilt that uses them and Jenny does a wonderful job! She is well known for inserting woven (yarn or other fibers) strips or panels into her quilts within other more commonly used quilting fabrics; this creates extra artistic interest:
You can see the woven area behind the leaves.
The final quilt I have to share from the show, at least for now, is “Winter Solstice” by Sandra Grusd of the UK. What appeals to me is the graphic nature of the quilt – the colors and design work for me and “speak” to me. Art quilts of this type don’t always appeal to me but this one does. She says these are the colors observed during the lunar eclipse she observed on the winter solstice in 2010:
That’s all I’ve got for now! I haven’t forgotten that I said I’d share some antique quilts seen at the Vermont Quilt Show and will try to do that in the next post;
In my limited free time, I am quilting the third of my 3 doll quilts for this year’s Cocheco show in October I am slowly, intermittently paper piecing fans for Spirit of Japan #3 whenever I find a few free moments. When I’m in the mood for applique, I applique a few leaves on one of the Spring Sonata borders. I hope to show pictures next time.
A website I discovered a while ago and really enjoy is “World of Threads Festival.” It is a website for a Canadian fiber arts festival and they have lots of pictures from all the works of fiber art they have had in their festivals, but what I truly enjoy is their artist interviews. Every week (I believe) they add a new interview with another artist. These are in-depth interviews with excellent questions and answers about the artists’ inspirations, work process, thoughts on the art and finer art world, influences, etc. with great links to other information. The fiber art work is incredibly varied – definitely not all quilts, but fascinating anyway. I love checking in regularly to see the newest interview. The one I read recently was about Dolores Slowinski who focuses on thread lines – all hand done on heavy cardboard or paper background – in her art. Her process is very different and interesting. In her interview she says, “Appreciation of handwork has diminished dramatically in our discount conscious, over-consuming, electronic media fixated culture. Ultimately we artists make work because that is what we have to do. It is a creative compulsion. It is a gift we share with a viewing audience so that we can gain some recognition.” It’s too bad, but I think she’s right about the under-valuing of hand work. I agree, too, though, that it’s a compulsion. We can hope that the pendulum eventually swings and hand work is highly appreciated again at some point in the future! Meanwhile, if interested, check out this web site at http://www.world of threads festival. com.
Thanks for stopping by; I’d love to hear from you!
I’m so glad you liked my quilt Flying by the Moon. May I correct you, the waves were cut from coloured fabric, layered in place, covered with black organza and quilted into place. No painting, probably a form of shadow applique.
I apologize for getting this wrong and thanks for the correction. This information makes your piece even more impressive! The bottom line is that it is a beautiful work of art; thanks for sharing it in the show. Gladi