So Much More to Say About Quilt Festival! First Paper Piecing

Wowza! I had such a blast at The Houston International Quilt Festival. I met some wonderful people and bought some amazing things! I have so much to share, I will break it up over a few posts; I want to do the sharing justice. 

I love to try new creative things and after the sneak peek day, I returned on Saturday to take a class in paper piecing. I have shared that am not a quilter, but appreciate the art. My recent joining of Instagram has further sparked my interest. I follow many quilters and and quilt shops there.

I signed up for a class called "Serendipity: No Fear Paper Piecing" taught by Peggy Martin. I have completed a paper piecing project before, but the process of sewing on paper and backwards was really maddening for me. I finished my project, but was still confused about the process. I hoped the live class would help me understand the steps.

After a few hiccups with my fabric prep, I was able to dive right in.

Getting Expert Instruction

That just seems a bit insane to me!

We sewed each strip segment on four blocks at a time.

 

Work in progress on one block.

The great thing about Serendipity is that the four blocks can be positioned in several ways.

One way:

Another:

Yet another:

Here is the final orientation I chose. The light green center creates a pinwheel. I love the pop of color in the orange band.  I will not likely make an entire quilt, but I think this may make a good bag panel. 

  

 Here I am with Peggy. Take a look at the wonderful quilts in the background!

I had a blast! It was so much better for me to see what needed to happen in each step. It made so much sense! Can you believe I have already designed a series of blocks for my own quilt! I do not know how to make the patterns yet, but...

Happy Sewing,

Bianca

It is Quilt Festival Time and I know an Artist!

It is once again time for the Houston International Quilt Festival. I have gone for the past several years, though I do not quilt, I go to be awed by the wonderful creations. This year I am happy to say I know an artist with two modern quilts on exhibition! I apologize for the quality of the photos, they were taken on my phone. The subjects are so wonderful, I hope you will be able to appreciate them nonetheless. 

Let's start with the quilts I came to see. Hillary of Entropy Always Wins has made this bit of wonderfulness with her Life in the ER Quilt

   

and this 5/325 Quilt.

The links above will take you to her posts about these profound and meaningful quilts. I cannot do her meaning justice. I was hoping to meet Hillary in person at the festival this year. Life interrupted and she was unable to attend. In absence of her, I promised to "meet her quilts" instead. Her I am with one of them and my little quilt show buddy.

While were we posing for this photo, I overhead other attendees discussing Hillary's quilt. I was so pleased to hear good words on her work I did the unthinkable, I introduced myself.  I said "I know the artist and she is great." The response was, "I know Hillary too!" Turns out, I was chatting with Stephanie of Spontaneous Threads, and Kathryn of Upitis Quilts. These are people I am familiar with through Instagram posts involving Hillary. Recognizing the serendipity of the moment, we immediately decided to take a photo to commemorate our meeting.

Here we are in front of Stephanie's (next to me) quilt. The quilt is made with a photo reflective fabric that illuminates when exposed to the light of the flash. It is pretty amazing to look at the quilt in real life then see the lit areas exposed. 

After those thrills, Little Miss and I  took advantage of the light crowds of the preview night to see more quilts. We did not get through all of them, but we had a good time. Did you know a quilt show is an awesome place to play "I Spy"? Little Miss was the only child I saw and she got really excited about the shapes, colors and textures of the quilts.

 

 Here she is amazed at all of the piecework that went into that and this one:

I love that she wanted to come to her conclusions about the quilt, then she would read the artists' thoughts. The quilt she is reading about is made with many circles of fabric. It wasn't until I looked at the photo at home did I see the word "dot" in the design. 

I feel so bad that I could not capture the real beauty of these pieces.  I plan to return this weekend with my better camera to do these quilts justice. I also wished I was better at crediting the artists; my apologies to the artists. 

 The quilt above is made using fabric yo-yos!

 Look at the scale of that quilted mural!

 This quilt makes me rethink my stack of old denim! 

If you get a chance to go to one of these shows consider going. Years ago, I assumed it was just for quilters and would not appeal to me as an apparel sewist. This however, is an art gallery of fabric and inspiration. This year I have even signed up to take a couple of classes. I am skeptical of my ability, but we will see...

Happy Sewing,
Bianca