Love, empathy, tolerance--also puppies, flowers, and laundry

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pacific International Quilt Festival Favorites

Quilts I loved!

This little piggy has personality plus...it's amazing how a mischievous twinkle can be captured in fabric. He puts a smile on my face!



I loved these Mary Englebreit-style flowers on a quilt sent from Japan (because it is the Pacific International Quilt Festival after all). I plan to use this idea in a Spring/Bunny/Easter-ish wall hanging sometime. This whole quilt was unique because many quilters contributed a small finished block of any size or shape that was then assembled into a large creation celebrating the beauty we find in our daily lives.
Which certainly sounds wonderful on a day like today when my job satisfaction has plummeted and I need the inspiration. What would we do without the arts to enrich our lives?!


Goldfinches, or wild canaries, are a favorite in my garden. This little guy is perched on a thistle for a good reason--they don't mate until the thistle down is available as nesting material.

An interesting but fairly useless fact I acquired this summer.





I loved the animal quilts. This almost has a southwestern feel with warm vibrant colors.



Traditional pattern with a colorful twist.





A family tree quilt.

Knowing the revisions that went on our own personal family tree displayed at our family reunion this summer due to various divorces, I can't decide to laugh or cry over the time to embroider names that might later be somewhat unwelcome.

Yummy delicious texture--I love quilts that are almost colorless so you can appreciate the quilting pattern and stitches. Especially if it's hand quilted!

Way too many machine-stitched quilts at quilt shows nowadays (IMHO). I know time is precious but it seems to me that piecing the quilt is only half the equation--the quilting itself is equally as important. Or maybe I've just seen some quilts that were machine quilted to death.


My favorite flower in any flavor...these are Rocky Mountain columbines. They remind me of the ones we saw blooming just below tundra line at Rocky Mountain National Park. Awesome!

Of course we have the real thing blooming in our garden each spring.

Love the overall flow of a good scrappy quilt.

Or the wonderful use of color and design.

But this little border collie had to be my very favorite this year.
It was a wonderful quilt show and it's probably lucky my camera batteries died or there's no telling how many photos I would have on my hard drive right now!


Sadly I'll never show a quilt at PIQF. I'm not quite that creative and definitely not that motivated. My little creations are solely for my own delight; my own personal little quilt show. I'm inspired by all the fabric artists each year though. I owe them a thank you because I know their influence enriches the projects I embark upon.

1 comment:

  1. Must. Have. Piggy. Quilt!!!!

    Seriously, I need that quilt, it is devine and my favorite barnyard animal!!!

    ReplyDelete