2010 Chicago International Quilt Festival

Last weekend was the 2010 International Quit Festival/Chicago. I did a review article for Craft Critique. Read it HERE. Go to that Craft Critique post to see my photos of some of the winning quilts.

Because I went as a reporter, I had a press pass! Which means all my photos this year are totally kosher. Everyone takes pictures, though.. I am supposed to disable any way that you can steal my photos to use them on items for purchase...okay, readers, please don't do that.

I take nice, but slightly blurry pictures some of the time, but you really have to come and see a quilt show in person. The details are amazing..


"Foxy Sisters" by Ann Horton


"Emerald Treasures" by Barb Forrister


The following photos were from an amazingly detailed quilt from Japan:




This is "My Quilt Room" by Yasuko Ito and Oharibako. Every detail is done by hand including the quilting. The quilt shows their quilt group members enjoying making a quilt in each member's room.

The show has a section of beautiful vintage traditional quilts. I love this graphic one. This is "Sunburst" by Unknown Quiltmaker c. 1800:


I will share more photos in another post later, but you can see my set from the 2010 International Quilt Festival/Chicago on Flickr HERE.

More of Quilts from the Village

These are quilts shown at the Lake County Fairgrounds by the Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest, IL.

"Stars in the Night Garden" by Kathy Stuart. This one was one of several of my favorites. She has crystals adhered here and there adding to the beauty.





"Sisterly Flower Celebration Quilt" by Ginny Moore. These are watercolor quilt bocks.


A whole wall of Sudoku quilts:




Three Roman Stripe quilts:



Another wall of quilts done in the same pattern. I don't know what pattern this is!


Amazing! I still have more photos from this show, so stay tuned! It's an icky rainy day here, perfect for cutting up fabric and making something new of my own.

Edit: I never got to that quilt, although I am planning it in my head. Instead, I have a migraine and am going to nap.

Quilts from the Village 2009 Show

There was a great quilt show right here in my town! This one was put on by a local(ish) guild: Quilts from the Village XI by the Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest, IL. That guild is a little bit far for me, but I think I really should join a local quilt guild.

"Stephanie's Quilt" by Sandra Lewis

"Museum Rose Sampler" by Caren Pfaff. Hand quilted by Nancy Pederson. This quilt was a finalist at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. It was on the cover of Quilters Newsletter Magazine and it made their 2004 calendar too.

"Savannah Sunshine" by Linda Warren

"Dreamcatchers...A New Beginning" by Wayne Sneath. This pattern is called "Montana Cartwheel"

"Erica's Snuggle Quilt" by Kris Johnston. It's all flannels and I think the border was that very soft snuggley stuff. My daughter and I really had to restrain ourselves from handling it.

I have more pictures that I will share later. It's a good thing I am not a professional photographer, I always come home from these shows with blurry photos. I take the pictures really quickly because I don't want to get in anyone's way and I don't want to draw attention to myself, although I did check and photos were okay at this show. Once my mom told a booth operator at a quilt show that I have a blog and the woman got very pissed off about bloggers. I calmed her down, but I don't like confrontations when I'm just trying to look at pretty things. I was going to buy stuff from her, but I hightailed it away after making nice-nice. Attention Bloggers! Make every effort to credit artists! Also, that lady needs to get with the times...

Also, What what the heck, Safari? Why do you always mess up my font sizes in Blogger. This is super irritating.

More from Paducah

I'm still here! Arent' warm weather colds awful? First I thought it was allergies, but well.. whatever.. I also couldn't locate my camera for awhile.. While I have been away, I built and planted a raised vegetable garden bed. We've already had salad from the lettuce we started from seed.

My children are in the last waning days of the school year and I fear that my daughter will be way more busy than my son during the summer months.

I didn't share enough of the quilts I saw in Paducah. I'm sorry these photos turned out so bluish. I thought I fixed it, but now they really don't look quite right. Here is a beautiful one that is all done with fabric markers. I neglected to note the artist so if you know, please email me or let me know in the comments!

EDIT: Quilter Linzi Upton wrote to tell me that she suspects this quilt is by Irina Bluhm.

The quilting is incredibly detailed. I think I remember reading that she thought it would be easier to do a whole cloth quilt like this and then it ended up being this epic masterpiece:

I've been looking at paint to redo my bathrooms and green is really catching my eye. I want a bright green and white bathroom... This quilt, "Botannica Kentucii" By Linzi Upton, was an eye-catching and fresh colorway in oranges and greens.

She used these charming thread crochet motifs with buttons. I love this!

Rick-rack and vintage style feedsack prints! *swoon*

Anyone know why it is that when I switched over to my iMac from our PC, the little window on Blogger that I use to compose my posts got really really small. Also my font sizes go wonky. Usually I sort of embrace wonkiness, but this is bugging me.

More of the Chicago Quilt Show

Here are some more quilts from the recent International Quilt Festival/Chicago 2009.

This one is a detail of "Three Guinea Fowl" by Pamela Allen:



She used some velvets and satins in this charming quilt:


This one is "Polka Dot Eden" By Luella Morgenthaler. All the fabrics are polkadots. I should have gotten a detail pic of it...


This gorgeous masterpiece is "Hawaii Sunset - 1845" by Linda Wilkey and quilted by Dana Goyer:


"Leaf Motif" by Laura Wasilowski:


"Red Owls" by Karin Pierce


"Winter to Spring" by Kathy York:


We couldn't tell if the fabric was striped or if it was pieced in these tiny stripes. In any case it was beautiful and textural:


This is "Overcrowded World" by Irene MacWilliam


I'm leaving for Paducah tomorrow! We have quite a drive straight south from Chicago. I can't wait to get away! My mom and I travel well together and have fun. I hope the weather is warm and pleasant. We just can't seem to shake off winter here in Chicago.

Quilt Show 2009

Posting has been kinda slow for me lately. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm trying to focus more on house projects and cooking rather than crafting lately. I am still crafting, but I'm not really getting anything done..

This week my Mom and I are going to the BIG quilt show in Paducah, KY. We've never been, but I've heard good things!

This past weekend was the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. This is the first year I took my daughter and she was super excited to get to come along. My friend Donna also brought her crafty daughter and we had a great time.

Here the girls are coloring quilt squares with fabric markers at the Project Linus booth:

We went on the last day and were racing around a bit to see everything. I didn't notice until I got home that I had some blurry pictures. A large part of the exhibition doesn't allow photographs so I really recommend that you try to attend and see things with your own eyes!

I don't even know where to begin! I think this quilt was one of the most impressive that I photographed. This is "The Breath of Life" by Harumi Asada:

I love this one called "After the Rains" by Betty Busby. each stone is a gorgeous batik:

Traditional patterns are really wonderful. This one is "Two-Color Pineapple Quilt 2007" by Anita Grossman Solomon and Miriam Janove, Quilting by Janice Petre. Red and white is somehow always seasonal:

I'll keep posting my pictures, but I'll be away from my computer for several days when I'm in Paducah.

Chicago International Quilt Show 2007

Quilt Show2007 052, originally uploaded by IamSusie.

I've uploaded my photos from the Chicago Quilt Show onto Flickr. Click here for my photoset. I only took about 40 pics and there were hundreds of quilts exhibited. Next year I'm making better notes of the artists too. I'm supposed to name each artist if I post photos.

This beautiful quilt is called Little Cities by Kathy York

Here's a detail of that one: Here's a really unusual one called Tsunami by Margarete Steinhauer
The stunning effect on this one was from a very successful use of unusual handyed fabrics



This one is Colorplay II by Anne Lullie. I love the color and the mosaic effect. The squares are fused to the surface. I seem to be drawn to blue and orange color combinations and the large flower motifs, especially if they have some reds or pinks. Mom and I have a favorite vintage notions vendor who arranges her things by color in a rainbow. I rarely feel that I can spend money at art shows, but this year, I allowed myself to buy a quilt kit. I think it may be about 2 years since I made a quilt top, so maybe having the kit will jump start me again. Not surprisingly that quilt was blues, yellows and orange...

Yesterday I made a super cute vintage style half apron. I left the laundry in a huge pile (it is clean), but I look the part of a happy housekeeper in my new cute apron!