Now, if you click on this photo, it will send you to Flickr.  There you will see the name of this quilt, and the name of the person who did this top.  I did not have a list that included actual quilters, so I can’t give you that info.  If the number of the quilt ends in “s,” that means that the quilt top was built and the quilt was quilted by a single artist.  If the number ends in a “c,” that means there was a second artist who did the quilting.  That’s the info I did not get.  But on the show website, you may be able to find that info.  Also, when you click through you’ll be able to see this full size, and appreciate the detail work involved.

A modern traditional approach.  Folk Baltimore.  Fun.  Pleasing shapes.  Clean applique.

This fresh green in the same style way really pleases me.

Whimsical choices of fabric and shape yield charming flowers and frames.  The quilting is joyful.

Now – whatcha think, Rachel, Wabi, Debbie and Jenn – does this speak to us?

Applique is my personal favorite.  I did a quilt a little like this one years ago.  It belongs now to Melanie Hoffman.  It is Amish style to work in fabrics that are not patterned, and often against black.  In this quilt, you’ll notice that the “solids” are slightly batiked.

I never attempted this kind of pictorial applique.  Notice how the quilting creates movement and texture.  She has used a number of shades of fabric in the coat.

I love these quirky characters.

Here you see both machine piecing and applique.  I love layering applique, as she did with these leaves in the border.  When they are judging a quilt, they look at the corners – like these diamond shapes – how perfectly do the seams meet?  How sharp are the points?

Notice the quilting, creating the stones and bricks of the walls.

This was a family Christmas Tree quilt, featuring the kids’ art.  I adored this angel.

Complicated piecing; triangles create points and points must be sharp.  It’s hard my dears, getting the points sharp.  Love the colors.

Never get tired of this colorway.

This quilting is so much fun – the edges of the geometric shapes.  The over-all effect of the piecing suggests weaving.

Note the heavy, complex, Celtic quilting in the black areas.  Color on color in negative areas is daring and bold.  And these points are terrific.

Love the batik color layered over the dark in the leaves and stems.

Points, applique, scalloped edge to the quilt – scallops are hard.

3D applique is not my fave, but this quilt is so – daring.

Good use of batik for texture.  And you can see how masterful you have to be to choose to quilt with contrasting thread.  Nothing is hidden.

This one includes machine embroidery.  I love the bright colors.  Do I see a little Bargello effect?

We are moving into my really, really favorite bits.  Again, wonderful use of batik in texturing.  And layering the batik of a black, allowing the black to become the detail.  The quilting gives you the feeling of the western sky.

I just enjoy this one.  The color, the black background, the detail, and the delightful simplicity of the central medallion. The cherries are just cool.

Nice relief work and interesting shading in the fabric.

This quilt, if I am seeing right, features a South American, African, Middle East technique of cutting away the top to reveal color underneath.  This, I see in the horse block.  The colors are bold, the quilting complex.

More almost primitive work.  But the applique is so evocative.

If can get close enough in, these bugs have faces.

This is done with applique and TONS of quilting/embroidery.  The birds’ wings show fabulous control over color and shading.

Wild

Isn’t this a great horse?  Look at the feathering in the sky – and the spirit horses darting out of the clouds.  Nice layering of color to create muscle and bone groups.  Notice the tension in the reign – a wonderful illusion of energy.

I want to talk to this artist.  These characters are straight out of the watercolor work of Rie Munoz.  I don’t know whether this quilter drew from her images, came to the same design choices from the original source or used Rie’s character concepts in her own original compositions.  I only know that the applique is stunning and playful.

Note the quilting in the clouds over the whales.

Yeah.  This one is a knock out.  If you click through, look at the guy in back on the right.

This was best of show.  What you see are broad areas of plane fabric overworked with gold quilting – and applique, sparse and tasty, preserving the Asian taste for simplicity in detail and tight patterns of color.

The translucent blue in this dragon is all thread.

I don’t even know what to say about this.  I have NO idea how she put this fabric together.  But she painted with thread.  I find it astounding.

Same with this.  See the layers of fabric, overworked with threads to create a whole creature?  And the texturing of fir, bark, grass – all done with thread.

But this one.  Holy cats.

This is another absolutely fabulous piece of work.  Note the photo “corners.”  But of course, the piecing and embroidery – design and texture – astonishing.

As with the seals, there is a smoothness here of shape and shade we don’t expect from fabric.

This is a funny subject for a quilt, and includes 3D elements I’m not that hot about – until I see past them and notice the stunning details behind.  This is another click through one.  The hieroglyphs are cool.  But the camel faces beat all.  And the element that FLOORS me is that stair case – all done in shades of fabric and quilting.  The dimensionality of it had me creeping closer and closer till my nose was almost against the fabric, and it STILL looked like real stone steps.

I love the colors and shapes in this one.  Joyous and magic.

But this was my favorite.  Her layering and blending and fusing of fabrics to create texture, shading and character just did me in.  I gave this my Photographer’s Ribbon for the visuals.  It’s playful, full of personality, speaks of the land and a love for the animals that live on it.  I just loved it.  I’m finishing up here with a few detail shots of the blocks.

Do click through – you have to really get in there to see how amazingly she put the pieces together.

I mean, really.  These animals are absolutely alive.  That horse is more horsey than anything I’ve ever seen rendered in cloth and has more horseness than most horses I’ve seen in paint – in museums.  Each of these animals is a character, and you recognize the personality of each.

And here is the end of the tale.  This little bit actually hangs right off the quilt – not evident from this shot, taken on the flat with another quilt’s back behind.  Such humor and joy – married to fabulous technique.

In all the years I spent making quilt after quilt, I never came anywhere close to the masterful touch of these quilters.  There were also some quilts made by men – and I may have referred to one of them here as “she” simply because I never ran across a male quilter in my years of doing it.  I like to tell myself that these quilters are great because this is what they do – their focus, their art, their fascination and discipline.  As though they work in no other medium.  And I envy them when I think that, running from thing to thing as I do and never mastering anything.  But I’m willing to bet than any of these quilters do a thousand other things at the same time.

It’s just brilliance.  And this is my bow to them for it.