I’ve always loved the idea of a quilt made up of numerous little “quiltlets” so I was thrilled to find two of them at Road this year. Here are two neat versions of the quiltlet concept:

This lively portrait quilt is Hanging by a Thread by a group of 10 quilters (Penny Abnet, Audrey Prothero, Norine Jones, Ann Zabriskie, Margie Smith, Phyllis Lund, Nanine, Bonnie Keller, Marie Kaiser and Mary Fran McClure). Yes, it is done in Kaffe Fassett fabrics

—what a fun way to use your Kaffe collection! Below is a detail showing how the quiltlets were connected, solid black fabric strips with novelty yarns for embellishment.

Sorok by Melisse Laing has 40 blocks connected by torched chain. Sorok is 40 in Russian. I love how the light yellow fabric glows. Below you can kind of see the chain connectors.

Finally something new for me … yarn at quilt shows! Maybe it’s always been there and I’d just never noticed before, or maybe it truly is new. Either way, finding delicious fabric, beads and yarn all in one place, what could be better?

This Olympus Silk Bijou Saya is a yummy hand-dyed silk-cotton-rayon blend. It even shimmers in the photo. The 3 mini balls of yarn were too cute to resist. It is a little thinner and shinier than regular sashiko thread, thinner than sock yarn, and says “Knitting Yarn” on the package. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with them, since “knitting” in Japanese could mean anything from actual knitting, to crochet, to embroidery, basically anything you might do with yarn. I don’t think it’s thick enough for amigurumi, but you never know. Maybe I’ll try it out and make a really tiny doll. Or I could use it for big stitch quilting. Any ideas?

This vintage quilt (maker and date made: unknown), Love in a Tangle, Snowball, Windmill, was part of an exhibit of orange quilts at Road to California 2009. It is believed to have once been all the same shade of orange. I like the spontaneous, carefree feel that uneven dye fading on old quilts gives, as well as when the quilt-maker ran out of one particular fabric and finished the quilt with whatever she had on hand.

I have fond childhood memories of snuggling under quilts at my grandparents’ farmhouse in northern Minnesota, and although I can’t recall the shape of the blocks themselves, I distinctly remember noticing that some fabrics “didn’t match”. Today, this mismatched casualness is one of the things I enjoy most about quilt-making. Of course, since I’m not into matchy-matchy, this necessitates a larger fabric stash, but that’s part of the fun!

I bought this marvelous assortment of vintage silk kimono fabric pieces, 22 in all, at Maeda Importing. Opening the package, I felt like a magician pulling an endless string of silk hankies out of a hat because there only appeared to be half that many pieces in the bag. These will be fun to play with when I want to make special little treasures from my Kumiko Sudo books.

Kahn Fagan was a new Road vendor this year where I got some wonderful vintage beads. Above, left to right, 1st three strands: West Germany, post World War II, probably Berlin glass; 4th strand: Bohemia, Post World War II; 5th strand: Japan 1940s-1950s, possibly Cherry brand. I’m planning to make earrings with these beads. Below, Czech seed beads, 1950s-1960s for embellishing quilts and making jewelry.

Still more Road adventures to come! =(^_^)=

Today at Road, Annika chose her favorite quilt, which was of course a cat quilt! =(^_^)=
This is Dave’s Cat Quilt, made and quilted by Trudy Smith. While we were admiring the kitties, Trudy herself came by to say hello. I love it when I get to meet the actual quilters of the quilts at shows. It’s just like a mini show and share where you get to hear the inside scoop! Annika confided in Trudy that she was collecting cat fabric to make a cat quilt of her own.
I like this kitty the best. It’s like he’s reaching for the stars!

Everyone couldn’t help admiring Last Dance in the Arctic made and quilted by Kathy McNeil. Her artist’s statement read, “This grand old mother asks for your help as her life and children literally melt away.”
A closer look at the bear cub.

At first glance, Rhapsody at First Light made and quilted by Bonnie Keller is not an animal quilt at all…
but if you look closely you can find animals hiding in the exquisite machine quilting. Stay tuned for Road to California, chapter 3!

happy quilting! =(^_^)=

Yesterday I went to Road to California. It was simply amazing this year. The quilts were outstanding, there were wonderful new vendors, and of course favorite old ones. In addition, harpist Bronn Journey was there at the show, playing LIVE music. Imagine that, live harp music accompanying the quilts. Now I can say that I am TRULY spoiled. Bronn said that this is actually not the first quilt show he has played at. We both agreed that the quilts and the harp music go together quite splendidly. You can listen to samples on his website.
I’ll share a few photos for you to enjoy here tonight and more in future posts. I thought that leaves would be a nice theme to go along with the harp music.
Foliage in Transition, above, made and quilted by Carol Taylor won second place in the Innovative Mixed category. Below is a detail for you to see her beautiful quilting and satin stitching.
Windfall, below is also made and quilted by Carol Taylor.
And a detail. Carol uses such lovely color palettes in her quilts!
Finally, Paul’s Magnificent Treehouse, below, made and quilted by Helene Blanchet is such a lively, fun quilt. This quilt would make a darling children’s book illustration.
I love the way she used buttons for the kids’ faces stitched on with seed bead eyes.
Consider this the first chapter of Road to California 2009. More outstanding quilts, as well as shopping news to come. =(^_^)=

Here’s some more of my favorites from Road to California 2008. Enjoy!

Twinkle, Twinkle (17″x17″)
by Birgit Schüller
A fun little miniature and well done too. You know how hard it is to make even just one of those itty bitty stars.

Cascading
by Janeene Herchold
More fun! There’s so much to look at in this art quilt from beading to painting to hand stitching.

Cascading, detail
by Janeene Herchold
I know you’ll want a closer look!

Here’s a delicious jacket from the 2008 Faculty Exhibit.
by Lesly-Claire Greenberg

Secret Garden in the Starry Night, Best of Show Wearable
by Rami Kim
I always enjoy seeing Rami Kim’s beautiful artistic clothes.

happy quilting!

Postcard from Guatemala (top) by Sherry Davis Kleinman of Pacific Palisades, CA and Raspberry Sorbet (bottom) by Phyllis L. Green of Tustin, CA

HOT STUFF: The Chicago School of Fusing Faculty Exhibit: Dancing Trees by Frieda Anderson of Chicago, IL

MEN OF BIBLICAL PROPORTION Exhibit: When It Rains, It Pours, OR It’s 3:40, Do You Know Where Your Daughters Are? (Lot) by Jim Gatling, Merrilton, AR

There was way too much to see in the short time that I had. I should have come prepared with a list of everything I wanted to see, because I missed quite a bit. It was great to see quilts in person from the 2006 $100,000 Quilting Challenge winners, Men of Biblical Proportion, and Alzheimer’s Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibits that I’d only seen in photos before. You can see the 2007 showcase winners on the Road to California website when they post them, I wanted to share a few you might not see otherwise. Citrus Belt Quilters‘ own Don Beld was a featured artist this year. He is the founder of the Home of the Brave Quilt Project and also pieces and quilts all his work by hand. If I had written notes on who made each quilt I photographed, I could have shown you even more.

I took the class, Fine Hand Quilting from Cindy Walter and can now hand quilt forwards and backwards! (but not in my sleep yet). Backwards was easier for me. Below is what I worked on in class and practiced on every day since:

There was also great shopping! My favorites were Azuba-Ya Japanese fabrics and Cheri’s Crystals.

I received only positive comments from the showcase judges for Zéphirine Drouhin. At first I was actually slightly disappointed, as I was hoping to discover areas where I need to improve. After the shock wore off and the comments sunk in, I celebrated! Since there were no major problems with Zéphirine Drouhin, now I can dig right in to the second in my Old Garden Rose series, Reine des Violettes.

happy quilting!