A Subjective Selection of Quilts from Houston 2010

On my third trip walking through the exhibit at Festival, I took pictures of some of the quilts that really grabbed me. It's a pretty eclectic mix. I'll post them so you can see....Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Legendary Ladies & Fabulous Fans
Barbara Warner

Legendary Ladies, detail

Barbara cut out this lace feather and used it as a motif....great, isn't that? Neat that the cross stitch was pieced in there, too.

Om Ma
Teresa May

I love how she covered this with a mantra. Here is her artist's statement about that:

A very beautiful sentiment....

Cabbage Patch
Sandra Werlich

Cabbage Patch, detail

As a vegetable grower, I found this quilt irresistible.

The White Garden
Akiko Kawata

Spring
Eun Ryoung Choi

A Symphony of Love
Kiyoko Ishihara

Icing on the Cake
Linda Roy

Icing on the Cake, detail

I wish my photography was better...sorry, folks! What I want to show here is how Linda embroidered over some of her quilting lines with perle cotton. I've never seen this done before and I really like it.

Orphan Blossoms
Timna Tarr

Fashion in Motion
Diane M. Dempsey

The Girls of Tyrone Farm
Beth Miller

As a former dairy farmer, I can really appreciate the way Beth captured these Jersey Girls. Their dehorning job wasn't so good though... ;-)

After the Rain
Dianne Firth

Paisley Peacock
Pat Holly

This was a major award winner, for Machine Artistry. I like how Pat used trim for the binding and that embroidered rick rack in an inner border. I saw her in a vendor's booth buying some jacquard ribbon, too...nice to see those elements in a mainstream show quilt.

Paisley Peacock, detail

She definitely has achieved mastery of her machine!

Kirara's Walking Road in the Wood
Ayako Kawakami

This was in the "Made by Hand" category, which was entirely filled by Japanese women. Their utter commitment to their craft felt like a blow to the chest to me.

Kirara's Walking Road in the Wood, detail

Glory of Ancient Remains
Hiroka Goda

Glory of Ancient Remains, detail

This is also in the Made by Hand category.

For a look at all the winners, click here.

My overall take on this year's competitive show was that there was less emphasis on art quilts and more on tradition and excellent craftsmanship. And I must confess this was a welcome change for me.

My next post will show some of the antique quilts I snapped photos of in the vendor's area, or details of them. They are the ones that rock my world these days...not a function of my age, I hope!!