Going to PIQF 2012

Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) is a annual, big-deal quilt show here on the West Coast.  I try to attend every year and this year, I was happy to have been able to attend.

In year's past, I would take many, many, many pictures of the quilts .. both award winners and those that didn't.  I'm not sure why I always took those pictures, as I was never intending to replicate them myself nor did I ever find myself looking at them again.  Maybe I figured it was just the thing you did at a quilt show ... take pictures of the quilts!  To be sure, I'd share some of the pictures of the quilts with my friends so they could admire them also, but by and large, it was simply a one time admiration.

So this year, I decided that I would take pictures of specific things that I liked about a quilt.  Nowadays, I'm very much interested in the actual quilting designs (versus the piecing), therefore that is what the majority of my 2012 PIQF pictures are.

Here are some of the things that caught my eye.  I have to admit that I didn't always remember to take a picture of the info label for the quilt, so unfortunately, I can't give credit to the quilter in those cases.

I took pictures of just the quilting in this quilt.  In one of the vendor booths, a lovely quilt was hanging and the quilting replicated some of the appliqued designs.  I asked the vendor if I could take a picture of *just that part of the quilting* for my reference. 

She was skeptical but when I explained *precisely* what part of the quilting intrigued me, she was curious enough to let me show her.  I used my hands to frame the small part of the quilt and then she realized I really did mean a *small* part of the quilt.  Understandably, she was reluctant to have someone take a photo of the entire quilt when she was selling the pattern for it!  But when she understood what I wanted a picture of, she graciously agreed.

The quilt had an appliqued vine, leaves and flowers.  In addition to the outline quilting and echo quilting of those shapes, the quilter also quilted in some *imaginary* leaves in the spaces between the appliques.  I just loved this idea; I don't think I would have thought of a design element like this myself.  I hope I remember it in the future. :-)

This textural quilting design was incredibly subtle.  The entire border was done with it.  It was kinda like Baptist Fan in that there were echo'd arcs but they weren't necessarily always the same distance apart nor were there always the same number of arcs.  It was also like a clamshell in that the arcs were oriented in different directions and frequently different shaped arcs. 

In this picture, I've drawn some of the arcs in red so you can see them better.

This quilt was one of the many exquisite quilts from Japan.  The Japanese *always* do such exacting work; it's marvelous to see.   Each "rope" in this picture is made up of individual segments; I don't quite remember if they were pieced or appliqued.  What caught my interest was not the quilting nor the make-up of the ropes themselves but rather the overall design sense.  I just liked the squiggly nature of the lines. 

I would not even think about piecing those segments!  I have patience for many things, but not this! :-) 

However, I can see perhaps using bias strips to replicate this idea, although bias strips wouldn't come anywhere near the total impact of this quilt.  It's an idea that I might attempt at some point; then again, maybe not. :-)

"Kaleidoscope Weave".  Original design by Susan Lane of Vallejo, CA.

This quilt was unbelieveable.  The actual quilting was minimal straight lines but the PIECING was phenomenal.  My eye was first caught by the *bling!* of the gold lamé but upon a second .. and third .. and fourth, etc look, I realized there was a lot more going on.

Those lamé blocks seem to float over the background.  And what was the background???  Take a real close look ... although pieced, they appear to be woven bands of color.  Now, I've seen patterns available for this sort of optical illusion of woven bands; they are a fantastic design on their own.    But quilter Susan Lane has taken an extra step of PIECING the lamé bits into the pieced woven segments. 

In looking at the close-up pictures, I can almost see where the individual blocks are but in order to achieve that "floating" aspect of the lame, she needed to be *exacting* in fabric placement.

I just love the whole appearance of this quilt .. and the colors are awesome.

 Close-ups:

The quilter drafted her own Mariner's Compass for the center of this quilt.  I believe I've seen the outer arcs before .. maybe from Judy Mathieson?  What caught my eye about this quilt was the quilting done in the blue frame and outer edge of the circle.  Here is the entire quilt so you can see where the close-ups are coming from.

I've also drawn in the feathers in red so you can see them better, since in the quilt itself, they are low-key and subtle.

 This quilt is a pattern called "Rainbow Lollipops" and is from the talented mind of Kelli of "Don't Look Now!" 

The quilt was hanging in a vendor booth and the quilting was just delightful!  The pattern itself is so playful and the quilting in the vendor booth quilt was the same. 

I asked to take a picture of the quilting (before I realized it was a commercial pattern) and the vendor was very accommodating.  I bought the pattern when I realized she was selling it because I've been a fan of Kelli's designs since *forever*!  :-)

 Closer inspection of the background quilting revealed that this was an embellished meander with a 3-lobed flower.  I *KNEW* this design!  It comes from one of Darlene Epp's Freehanding books, *which I own*!  I was delighted because this is actually a quilting design that I've done before.  You just can't do this design incorrectly .... Darlene Epp shows you how to work up to this good-looking background design in easy steps.  I was just amazed at the quilting I was producing when I was working through her books. 

This is one pattern that I can honestly see myself making and replicating the quilting.  While I have all the confidence in the world when it comes to piecing tops, it's the chosing of the quilting designs that scares the dickens out of me.  I am paralyzed with all the choices that can be made, so having a design that I actually know I can do makes me think that when I get back to piecing, this quilt has a very good chance of getting done. :-)