adventures of a quilting diva

On May 17 Citrus Belt Quilters held their 2008 Quilt Festival and Vintage Home Tour. Here are a few highlights from the quilts displayed in Smiley Park, Redlands, CA. As you can see it was a gorgeous day. These four quilts all happened to have such charming labels on the back I wanted to share them here with you as well as the beautiful fronts.

by Natalie Andrews

Muffy’s Quilt

by Marguerette Tate

Spin Cycle

by JoAnn Woods

Summer Porch

by Janna Waller

You can see more quilts and vintage home photos at the Citrus Belt Quilters website. Next year’s show will be May 16, 2009.

Glendale Quilt Show 2008
Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Glendale Quilt Show at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center. Here are a few highlights for your enjoyment:

“Swimming Upstream”
by Glendale Quilt Guild member Bobbie Moon
This quilt was inspired by Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran, two of my favorite quilters. Check out their book “Collaborative Quilting” for some eye-popping eye candy.

“Peony Dream Melody”
by Molly Y. Hamilton-McNally
Prize winner: Best of Show Professional. That’s some beautiful needle-turn reverse appliqué.

“Paradise Pineapples”

“Three Sheets to the Wind”
made by Glendale Quilt Guild member Lorelei Snee
pattern by Barbara Lavallee
(click on the link to see more of Barbara’s designs)
A fun raw edge appliqué quilt.

wearable art vest
by Leah Bessey
2nd place winner. I would definitely wear this.

I also found just the right fabric for the border of my April basket Quilt of the Month, which I’ll photograph and post for you sometime this month after I actually attach the border to the quilt. My DD Annika found herself quite a cute stash of cat fabric and will be planning and making a cat quilt in the near future.

Quilt Every Day update

For all of you who are quilting every day with me, email me the link to your post or put it in the comments for quilt every day. I’ll compile the links and post them by April 10. I’m quite pleased with my progress and hope you are happy with yours as well. Stop by after April 10 to check them out and be inspired.

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!

Want to see more of the 2007 Redlands quilt show? Check out the slide shows on the Citrus Belt Quilters website!

Jody (The Carolina Quilter) and others interested in miniature quilts, stay tuned for my top ten tips on making miniature and 1:12 scale miniature quilts.

happy quilting!

May 12 Citrus Belt Quilters put on a quilt show in Smiley Park, Redlands, CA. It was a gorgeous day for a quilt show and the quilts were wonderful too! Here’s a quick tour:

This Valentine quilt by Robin Grube was one of Annika’s favorites.

Quilt artist Cindy Rinne challenged the guild to make miniature art quilts with a botanical theme. Here’s one of Cindy’s.

At the children’s activity center, kids of all ages fluffed chenille on tote bags and community service quilts.

This year’s show featured miniature quilts and homes (dollhouses) rather than the usual Victorian home tour.

You might recognize two of my miniature quilts here. Penny for a Spool of Thread won a first place for its size category!

There was also a fun wearable art display and vendors of all sorts. A marvelous time was had by everyone!

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!