There were several special exhibits displayed at the AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines. One was The World Painters Challenge. In 1995, a group of quilters from Japan formed the Nihon Heritage Quilters Guild. They participate in an annual quilt challenge and every few years, the challenge is extended to include other nations. A list of 30 world-famous painters was chosen for 30 quilters from Japan, France and USA. Each quilter was assigned an artist and challenged to design a piece of fiber art either representing a work of their painter of making a design of their choice in the style of that painter. Here are photos of four of the quilts that particularly appealed to me. The famous painters are easily recognizable in these creative pieces.

Benedicte Hanot from France made the Salvador Dali piece. She painted plain white fabric with acrylic paints and machine and hand appliqued a variety of textiles including leather. There is embellishment with embroidery, pearls, driftwood, sequins and machine quilting. The Vincent Van Gogh piece was made by Nancy Kibbey from OR. Her inspiration came while sketching a lawn chair which reminded her of Van Gogh’s painting of The Chair and the Pipe. She included themes from other paintings too, including The Harvest. She used cotton fabrics, both commercial and hand painted, which are fused with raw edges.

Joan Miro’s work is represented by Ginny Steller from OR. Although much of Miro’s artwork is childlike with a sinister twist, she chose a lighter moment depicting a cat in a garden. Dark lines and solid colors define the shapes. Jae McDonald, also from OR, interpreted Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Jae writes, “I’ve often thought of Klimt as a very “quilterly” painter, with his peculiar use of shape, pattern and color.” This is made from hand-painted cotton and lamé, and commercial fabrics embellished with acrylic inks, fabric paints, metallic threads, gold-plated paillets , beads and wire.

The judged AQS show at Des Moines had almost 200 contestants. Here is the quilt that won Best Original Design. It is Ewe Are My Sunshine, 63″ x 72″, by Janet Stone from Overland Park, KS. This quilt is one in a series of alphabet quilt designed and made by Janet. Her goal is to make 26 alphabet quilts and she is now over half way. Many of her previous quilts have also been major award winners and I have admired them over the years.

Janet’s design sense and attention to details are incredible. She uses vibrant colors in this quilt, beautifully combining applique, piecing and free motion embroidery. The quilting is exquisite and all done on her home sewing machine. Each block is a little master piece. Here are some detailed shots that give you a taste, but the pictures don’t do it justice.

Our 4th Annual Bainbridge Island Quilt Festival took place recently on Saturday, 10th September. This is the fourth year in a row that we have been blessed with glorious sunny weather for hanging all these quilts outdoors for the day. There were 190 quilts displayed and they made a colorful show along our main street in Winslow. We had a good attendance and the public were very appreciative. Here’s an overall view and I’ll post more pictures in the coming weeks. My Original Octangles quilt is the black, white and red one in the center of the top left picture.

This Festival was initiated in 2013, by Barbara Kirk, owner of Esther’s Fabrics on Bainbridge Island. Barbara was inspired by the joy and beauty of the annual Sister’s Quilt Show held outdoors in Sisters, OR and wanted to put on a similar but smaller venture on Bainbridge. The Bainbridge Island Modern Quilt Guild collaborated with Esther’s Fabrics and other local businesses make this happen.

Here are two of my favorite quilts.

On the left is Temperance, by Marybeth O’Halloran. Marybeth writes, “I am a Leo, so of course this pattern spoke to me. It is entirely paper pieced, with almost 200 individual paper pattern pieces.” The pattern is The Lion by Violet Craft. On the right is Chromatic Hex Flowers, also by Marybeth O’Halloran. “This project was done long distance with my creative friend Jenn Rhoads. She moved to New York State, and so we mailed fabric and finished blocks back and forth. This is my finished quilt from those exchanges. I modified the pattern, Hexie Garden, by Atkinson Designs.” Marybeth is an accomplished long-arm quilter on Bainbridge Island – here’s her website.

Here is a beautiful Burgoyne Surrounded quilt in red, white and blue. I recently visited the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum and saw the latest exhibits. On the ground floor, there is a display of Colonial Revival Quilts made by members of the American Quilt Study Group. Participants create a quilt which is copied from, or inspired by an existing antique quilt.

This example, (32” x 46”), was made by Anita Loscalzo from Dover, MA. This traditional pattern reflects historical events during the War of Independence. The British Army led by General Burgoyne was surrounded at the Battle of Saratoga which resulted in their surrender in October 1777, and convinced the French to ally themselves with the Americans. Anita used red in the large and small squares in the center of each block to symbolize the surrounded British army of redcoats. This quilt exhibit also includes several beautiful appliqué Colonial Revival quilts. On the upper two floors of the museum (where photography is not allowed), there are many exquisite hand-pieced and hand-quilted Japanese quilts made by Sachiko Yoshida and her students, utilizing antique kimonos. The display of Colonial Revival Quilts runs until the end of August, 2016 and the Japanese quilts will remain until early October, 2016.

My local quilt guild, Kitsap Quilters’ Guild, recently held their annual show at the Kitsap Fairgrounds in Silverdale. Last week I posted about our featured artist and this week I’m giving you a small sampling of quilt show entries that particularly appealed to me. Our annual quilt show always has a great variety of quilts, ranging from traditional to contemporary and encompassing many techniques. This year there were over 200 entries.

On the left is Desert Knock Off pieced by Honora Dunkak and machine quilted by Marybeth O’Halloran. The quilt pattern is by Valori Wells. This quilt won first place in the Large Pieced Group category. Chromatic Hex Flowers, pieced by Marybeth O’Halloran and Jenn Rhoads and machine quilted by Marybeth was inspired by the Hexie Garden pattern by Atkinson Designs. Both of these quilts have a fresh, modern look and the colors really pop against the white backgrounds.

Here’s another stunning quilt on a light background. Metro Scope in Kaffes, was pieced and machine quilted by Marybeth O’Halloran. The pattern is Metro Scope by Sew Kind of Wonderful. Check out the beautiful quilting especially in those oval white pieces. Marybeth works magic with her long-arm machine.

Birds on Steroids was hand appliqued using wool and a variety of embellishments, embroidered, machine pieced and quilted by Carol Olsen. It took her over a year to complete while she was recovering from back surgery. These are such whimsical delightful birds and the attention to detail makes this a magnificent quilt.The pattern is Bird Dance by Sue Spargo. Carol is teaching a class on this at the quilt shop in Port Gamble, Quilted Strait.

Gladys Schulz and friends made the Log Cabin blocks and Gladys assembled them and machine quilted this Log Cabin Sampler. I love the creative way that Gladys has set these Log Cabin blocks and the wonderful sampling of quilting patterns really enhances the piece.

These last two are the quilts that I entered into the show. My Original Octangles won first place in the Innovative Art category. Heather and Jeff’s Star, made as a wedding gift, took second place in the Large Pieced Group category. Both quilts were machine quilted by Wanda Rains. More on these two in upcoming blogs.

My local quilt guild, Kitsap Quilters’ Guild, held their annual show this Friday and Saturday at the Kitsap Fairgrounds in Silverdale. The show featured over 200 entries from our members, and a special exhibit show casing the work of guild member Jaxine Anderson. Here’s a tour of Jaxine’s lovely display.

Jaxine is a traditional quilter. Her work is predominantly pieced, but you’ll spy a small amount of applique too. She began quilting in 1989, after spending many prior years doing a variety of handwork. A co-worker introduced her to quilting and her first project was a wall hanging using a Debbie Mumm pattern. Then she began taking classes at a local fabric store and became hooked. After retiring from teaching elementary school, Jaxine owned a quilt shop for 10 years in Juneau, Alaska. In 2007, she sold the store and moved to Poulsbo when she became active in our guild.

The quilt with the bars, a more contemporary design, was quilted by Marybeth O’Halloran with a different quilting design in each block. You get the gist of this wonderful quilting sampler from the detailed shot. Thank you Jaxine, for sharing your beautiful quilts.