Inspiration Sunday (10) - via the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach

I can't believe we are on our tenth post from the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach!

:( Unfortunately, I am out of pictures, so this will be my last post from this particular quilt show.  DON'T WORRY, though!  I like bringing you inspirational things on Sundays, so until I go to another quilt show, I think the next few Sunday's will be book reviews.  I have accumulated a bunch of quilt books lately, and some have been well worth the money, and others not so much.  I know, I know..."Blah, blah, blah, get to the pictures, lady!"

Here they are:

This one is called "Floral Flipper" by Lana Sundheim of Boseman, MT.

Besides being a very striking fish, this quilt interested me because of the way she used batiks as a background.

I have a few batiks in my stash and I am always unsure of how to use them.  I like this idea of piecing them together in a graduated manner for the background.  Oh, and those bubbles and seaweed - painted onto the fabric.  Cool!

Here is another example of brilliantly pieced fabric - one of my favorites of the show - called, "Cypress Sentinels by Mary Ann Hildebrand of Comfort, Texas.  It is "scrunched fabric", paper pieced, fused applique, and overlayed.  I think I saw this quilt at the Road to California show last January too, and I stared at it for a while back then too!

I think I like this quilt because it reminds me of the swamps of Northern Florida near where I went to college.  Beautiful.

Just look at that piecing - amazing!!!

Here is another quilt that pieces fabric together nicely, "Spring Blossoms by Terry Aske of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.  It is machine pieced and free motion quilted.

I just love the one little strip of tree fabric to make it look like a row of trees in the distance.

Here is a one block wonder by Cathie Ugrin of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, called, "I know where summer goes".  It never ceases to amaze me that one of these quilts makes it into every quilt show I attend.  Now, that isn't really the amazing part.  The amazing part is how great this technique can look with the right fabric.  Obviously, the two I have made, did NOT, use the right fabric!

Finally, this quilt called "Empire Star" by Anna Faustino of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania.  It is painted, woven, couched, printed, embellished, and machine quilted.  Evidently she uses a weaving technique in most of her quilts to give the impression of a traditionally pieced quilt.

I don't know about you, but sign me up for that class!  The results are stunning!


Sometimes I hear people say, "what's old is new", meaning that some of the old techniques are being rediscovered and become popular all over again.  Here is a quilt with the ancient art of Sashiko.  Something that was part of my Handstitched class this summer, and a project that I still haven't gotten to yet, but really want to!  It is called "Sashiko I"  by Helene Blanchet of Calgary, Alberta and features twenty traditional varied Japanese patterns!

Those stitches are so amazingly even!  Hmm, makes me want to dig out those Sashiko coasters that have been put aside and give it a try.

Well, which one did you find most inspiring?

Jen