Houston Quilt Festival 2021 -- Part 2

 These photos will focus on my Special Exhibit at International Quilt Festival 2021 in Houston, TX.

It features 23 of my quilts, from early pieces that are pretty humble to the four Best of Show quilts. I told my family it is my "Lifetime Achievement Award" and is a really big deal--in case they didn't know what it means for a quiltmaker to have an exhibit of their work at "Houston".

The opening display: 

A huge "Thank You!" to the fine folks at Quilters Select who so graciously agreed to sponsor this Special Exhibit: 

Sizzle--Hot! pattern by Becky Goldsmith, in a private collection

Joyful Journey, Sue Garman pattern, quilted by Lois Kindley

I took some of these shots before the show opened to the public. The layout was lovely, close to chronological order as I had requested: 

Red and White--By the Numbers got very little attention and that was fine. She was front and center and images of this quilt was everywhere in 2014. She is part of my journey but not the most important part; 

Some of the older pieces: 

If It"s Purple... patterns from my guild in the early 1990's, original layout/design, hand quilted by Lucille Ford, Best of Show, HQH 1995

Devil's Claw, original design, hand quilted by Lucille Ford

                                        

                                      

The oldest pieces were on the back side of the exhibit--the two flying geese quilts are personal favorites: 

One of the oldest quilts in the exhibit, Charm Quilt, 1992. Made with "blocks" from members of my first guild, VA Star Quilters, Fredericksburg, VA. I designed the original quilting pattern. The quilt sat in the frame in a west-facing window for so long the border fabrics are badly faded. The narrow inner border was originally black: 

The ONE quilt that got far more attention than any other is "My Lifetime Quilt". It was in the perfect place for maximum visibilty--facing into the quilt area of the show, and leading to the vendor area. 

These next 3 photos are from my friend Karen K Buckley, who featured them on Facebook--Thanks, Karen!

                                                 

The subtitle of this quilt is Wow! because I hear that all the time when people first see it. This guy came around the corner and yelled "Wow!" followed by "She's nuts!"  As I was standing there I said to him "it really wasn't that hard to  make". He figured out these are all my quilts and said some very nice things about my overall body of work. I asked him to pose, saying "Wow" and he was happy to. Wish I had gotten his name: 

There are many blog posts about the making of this quilt--use the Search box in the upper left for Lifetime and they will come up. Here is one: 

Lifetime Top is Done

I have lots of photos of the backside of lots of people--every time I went to the Exhibit there were people gathered around it: 

I spent an hour a day for 3 days at the Exhibit, listening and talking to lots of people, quilters and their families. Many wanted my business card and I hope some of them are now here following along with the rest of my Joyful Journey. Many members of The Quilt Show took a moment to say "hi" and that was special too.

All and all, it was a great experience I will be forever grateful for. My personal motto is "I am a part of all that I have met", by A. Lord Tennyson, my high school yearbook motto. I feel my connection to all those who are a part of my journey: teachers, friends, students, mentors. I especially felt the presence of two women who have left this world, but not before leaving a permanent place in my heart: Judy Murrah, my mentor, boss and friend for so many years and Sue Garman, designer and friend. I miss them both so much but feel their love to this day.

Let's quilt.

Barbara 

The Journey #7 My Artsy Period

When I started making quilts more than 35 years ago there was a bit of divide between those who made "Traditional Quilts" and those who made "Art Quilts", similar to the Contemporary vs. Modern quilts of today.

While I am most known for traditional quilt designs, over the years I have played with more "artsy" designs. Here are a few of those:

Batik Log Cabin, 1997, an early foray into "artistic" design simply with the use of batik fabric, which were just starting to hit the market with a bang at this time. It was featured in McCall's Quilting, February 1998. Today it resides in the master bath where I see it every day:

 McCall's Quilting February 1998:

Off-Center Mariner's Compass, 2001, original design, machine quilted. I am not crazy about this one, there is something "off" about the design. I do love the batiks. Finished is better than perfect:

Oriental One-of-a-Kind, 2002, begun in a "design your own quilt" class. It has both new and antique oriental fabrics, the beading is the first I ever put on a quilt. This one I like a lot, I hand quilted it with large stitches, another first. Today it lives on a guest room wall where I see it often:

Snake Doctor in Motion, 2003, begun in a Beaded Dragonfly class with Nancy Eha, "Snake Doctor" is a slang term for Dragonfly, my favorite insect. The two rows of hand-made beaded fringe took far longer than I expected. Machine quilted with variegated thread. This hangs in my kitchen where I see it every day.

Beaded Dragonfly Detail:

Fringe Detail:

Circle Play, 2004, based on quilts in a book by the same name by Reynola Pakusich. I used some of my beloved oriental and batik fabrics, learned to do machine applique' with decorative stitches, and played with pieced borders as a design element. I have taught this several times, students enjoy the freedom to "play" with their fabrics. One of my favorites and it has the honor spot above the mantel in the living room: 

Strips 'N Curves top that was started in the early 2000's in a class with Louisa Smith. It hasn't come out of the drawer for many years, some day I will finish this, it is about 42" square at the moment:

Black and White and Red All Over, 2007, this pattern was featured in McCall's Quilting June 2007, called High Definition by Beth Bruske. I knew it was the perfect quilt for my photographer/musician son, Joshua--who most often shoots in black and white. Many of the prints have musical notes. The back is deep red. Queen-size. Machine quilted by Lisa Marshall. Here it is at the HQH 2007 quilt show, with a ribbon:

 Color Play, 2011, the pattern was in McCall's Quilting, February 2006 where it was called Art Affair, designed by Jan Douglas. I made two of these, the first with 10" blocks (62" square) and the second with 5" blocks, (35" square) from the leftover fabrics. The large one was longarm quilted by Deanna Plotts:

The smaller one I quilted by machine myself. Both of these are favorites just for the big, bright, bold use of color:

That's about it for my "artsy" quilts. Today I focus on traditional quilt blocks and designs, using different types of fabrics. I still love batiks, Oriental designs, 1800's reproductions, and today's bright, happy prints.

I think having a granddaughter to quilt for made me look at contemporary fabrics in a new way. I am already planning a bed-size quilt for Sam--which he won't need for at least three years, of course. Good to plan ahead.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

The Journey #6

A bit more of a look-back at some of my early work:

The Journey #1
The Journey #2
The Journey #3
The Journey #4

The Journey #5

By the turn of the new Century I had two young men in college and was working full time during tax season, and part-time at several jobs, mostly quilt-related, the rest of the year. A lot of my quiltmaking involved making class samples--if I wanted to make it, I would create a sample to teach it.  Another passion that was developing--replicating antique quilts, in my collection or those I saw in publications or exhibitions. 

Yuletide Elegance, 1997, an original design for a simple Christmas quilt. One 12" block, a Carolina Lily, set on-point, with beautiful quilting designs on the large white alternate squares makes this an easy quilt and one that says "Christmas!" each December when I hang it in the living room. I have taught it several times. It was thrilling to have it featured on the cover of McCall's Quilting, December 1997.

Devil's Claw,  1999,  a replica of an antique quilt I bought. This taught me how much I love scrap quilts, those using lots of fabrics. I call it "Planned Scrappy" because each block has one fabric in common with all the rest and the star points, squares and rectangles in each block are the same, though different from every other block. It is hand quilted and one of my favorites:

Living in the Past, 2005, 70.5" square, based on a pattern by Alice Berg published in American Patchwork and Quilting, October 2000.  I hand quilted this quilt, using a feathered wreath in the large squares--which you cannot see because those are print fabrics. One of my most favorite quilts that I  made completely myself--and today it looks like a great Fall quilt:

A-Symmetrical Six-Pence, 2005. 93" x 109", made in a group swap of 13 quilters. We traded "units" with each other, specifying what colors we wanted, each person then cut the units to the size she wanted and created her own quilt design. This one spent a lot of time on the design wall as I worked to get the design flowing in one direction, then making a turn to the opposite direction: 

Bountiful Blocks,2006,  the pattern is Summer Rose by Glad Creations. Another quilt with lots of fabrics, long-arm quilted by Lisa Marshall. This hangs in my living room and brightens it up:

These are just a few of the many quilts I made in those years. At least another 12 bed size quilts and many wallhangings, crib and throw size quilts. Over the years I  have given away or sold many of the old class samples, there just isn't enough space to store them all. But I have lots more to make so stay tuned...

Let's quilt!

Barbara