As promised, here are a few of my favorite innovative quilts that competed at the Pacific International Quilt Festival XX last month. With over eight hundred works of textile art showing, it was difficult to choose.
The quilters drew inspiration from boundless sources. Roberta Deluz did not have to go far to let her imagination go wild. She designed It Came from Beneath the Sea as a tribute to her father who instilled a love for classic monster movies in her.
I will never be able to look at the clock of the San Francisco Ferry Building without wondering what might ooze up the tower from the bay below.
I can related to Janet Fogg's Magic in Times Square, her interpretation of her first cab ride in New York City .
Other quilters were inspired from faraway continents. Pat Rollie's thirty years of quilting experience is evidenced in her original design depicting a tender scene from the Serengeti. As I saw this quilt, I longed to go back to Africa and encounter a mother giraffe and her calf once again.
My 85-year-old mother made a small wall quilt for an Indian friend featuring the Taj Mahal...
...and exotic creatures.
Nancy S. Brown deservedly won the best hand workmanship ribbon for her wonderfully composed penguins of South Georgia in Antarctica.
It wasn't until I took a closer look that I noticed that the penguins were navigating between mounds of elephant seals.
In contrast to the cold of the South Pole, Hilda Koning-Bastiaan chose to depict the warm hues of a blooming desert.
Sherry Reynolds honored her beloved Wyoming with this cowboy quilt. She made five variations of the traditional Wyoming Valley block pattern in the upper right.
In another warm desert scene, Kathleen Malvern of Colorado celebrated the majestic saguaro cactus...
... while Kimberly Buzolich celebrated the Sierra Tiger Lily. I like how she produced the soft-focus feeling of the background with the pools of greens and the swirled quilting.
Pat Durbin used every scrap of her twenty years of quilting experience to render the larger-than-life interpretation of Begonia Picotee Lace...
,,, in exquisite detail.
While Pat Durbin zoomed in on her subject, Jo Bauer took a panoramic view in Reflections of Mt. Shuksan.
Other quilters turned to fine art for inspiration. Megan Farkas mimicked a Japanese woodblock print...
...and Kim Butterworth's Cherry Blossoms reminded me of Van Gogh's almond blossoms.
Ellen Wong embraced abstract art by piecing together strips of commercial fabrics...
...and quilting a grid pattern that gives the work a pleasing uniformity.
Kathleen Collins's fascination with 18th century European court paintings of women in headdresses inspired her to create original paintings on cotton cloth...
... which she then incorporated into a pair of elegant quilts.
Nancy S. Brown had productive year. In addition to the penguin and seal quilt above, she finished this poignant quilt of a grandmother at the San Francisco Zoo.
Sue Anthony found a wonderful way to preserve her grandmother's dress...
... and Giny Dixon showcased her father's silk ties...
... set in wool flannel pinstripe resulting in a true work of art.
Congratulations to all the quilters here. I am inspired by your creativity and sewing artistry.
