The wall quilts at this show were outstanding!  To me, it was the amount of and detail of quilting, in addition to the creative designs that set these apart from more average cousins.  With the advent of longarm machines, just about every quilt, even those quilted by hand are heavily and intricately quilted.  I still remember back to the 1980s when I purchased my first unbonded batting from Mountain Mist.  The batting said it needed to be quilted no more than 2″ apart.  At that time, I could not even imagine quilting that closely together.  Today, some of the quilts have no more than 1/4″ between quilting lines.

I hope you enjoy this selection as much as I do.  Some were prize winners while others are quilts that I found really interesting.  BTW, there were 57 quilts entered in Wall Quilt – Art.  So, If you are wondering about the competition, it is really stiff in this category!

Wandering ‘Round my World, by Beth Schillig, Columbus, OH

You have likely already seen this masterpiece by Beth Schillig.  It has won awards throughout the country and was judged to be the Best Wall Quilt at AQS Chattanooga.

The wall quilt categories, traditional and innovative/art, were an amazing array of diversity, never-ending eye candy for quilters!

If They Were in P.E.I., by Hiroko Miyama Chofu City, Tokyo, Japan

Hiroko used Cynthia England’s picture piecing and original precision applique techniques.

The Shell Collector, by Bethanne Nemesh, Allentown, PA

The Shell Collector was one amazing piece of work and design!  Bethanne Nemesh, used silk dupioni and her designs were inspired by a perfect beach day.  All motifs were free drawn and free-motion quilted from her own photography.

The Shell Collector – Detail

Upper Body Workout IMproved, by Laura Trenbeath, Pavillion, WY

I found this quilt by Laura Trenbeath to be fascinating.  It is a whole-cloth quilt done on black fabric and entirely stitched with gold metallic thread.  According to the description, she has never before used metallic thread and wanted to try it out! Amazing!

Upper Body Workout Improved – detail view

She then used metallic brass studs to embellish the top.  Another incredibly impressive quilt!

Twisted Sisters, by Pam Clark, Bogue Chitto, MS

Pam Clark’s vibrant use of color spoke to her expertise of color knowledge.  Although this is a traditional design, I found her colors made this quilt dramatic.

Red Velvet, by Lisa H. Calle, Pottstown, PA

Wow!  Red and white with a touch of gray!  Add in some of the most detailed quilting ever seen and it all works together in this amazing quilt.  I just loved this one by Lisa H. Calle!

Red Velvet – detail view 1

Red Velvet – detail view 2

That’s all for tonight!  Check back tomorrow for the rest of the wall quilts that I photographed.

Oh, my!  These were nothing short of amazing!  I cannot believe the quality and creativity embodied by these masterpieces.  There were others, of course, and I couldn’t photograph them all, so I hope you enjoy the selection below.

Greg’s Song by Cheri Meineke-Johnson and Linda V. Taylor, Corinth TX

Hadassah, by Audra Rasnake. Meadowview VA

Hadassah Detail

Not only was Hadassah intensely quilted, it was quilted by hand.  Amazing!

Fire and Ice, by Kimberly Einmo, Manassas VA

Isabelle, by Kathi Carter, Vineyard, UT

Magnolia, by Claudia Clark Myers, Duluth, MN, and Marilyn Badger, St. George, UT

Big Bertha, by Margaret Solomon Gunn,Gorham, ME

Blue Rhapsody, by Carolyn Rider, Portsmouth, OH

A Splendid Display, by Cindy Seitz-Krug, Overgaard, AZ

A Splendid Display detail

One of the most noticeable commonalities in all the prize-winning large quilts was the amount of quilting in them, both those quilted by machine and those quilted by hand.  To me, it seems that one of the biggest changes in quilts of today is the quilting!  Touche to everyone whose quilt was accepted into this prestigious show.

Stay tuned!

What a terrific state Maine is!  It’s so very different than my home in New Mexico and chock full of adventures waiting to happen.  It just so happens that I am here to teach at Maine Quilts, the annual statewide show, hosted by the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, and held in Augusta each year.  Augusta is the capital of Maine. The city’s population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital and the eighth-largest city in Maine. The show takes place in the August Convention Center.

It is a welcoming group, friendly and helpful!  We got a sneak preview of the quilt show last night before classes began today.  I was full of anticipation to see the quilts of the far northeastern United States.  I was not disappointed. Here is a small selection.

Springtime in the Geisha’s Garden by Margaret Solomon Gunn

Springtime in the Geisha’s Garden, by Margaret Solomon Gunn won Best of Show.  It is an amazing quilt set apart from the others by the fine use of color, the detail, and the quilting.  “The fabrics and original design are reminiscent of an Asian Garden.  The quilt has accents of silk fabric and silk embroidery.  The quilting designs are free-handed and the quilt includes hand applique, hand and machine piecing, hand embroidery, embellishment, and is machine quilted.

Geisha’s Garden – Back View

Here’s a look at the back of this magnificent quilt.  Except for this quilt, the others in this post are all bed-sized quilts and winners in the juried show.

Lotsa Lemoynes by Daniel Perkins, Rangeley, ME

Lotsa Lemoynes was created by piecing the center section, placing it on point and then filling in the corners.  Daniel Perkins says that the quilt was created using Studio 180 design’s Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool and techniques.  It is an original design, machine pieced and quilted by Daniel and Carol Perkins.

Lotsa Lemoynes – detail

The quality and intensity of quilting in all of the award winners was simply astounding.

LZ8 by Sharleen Fields, Buxton, ME and quilted by Margaret Solomon Gunn,

Sadly, the aisles in the show were not wide enough to capture the entirety of the large quilts, so these are cropped.  LZ8, by Sharleen Fields, was named for the landing zones used in Vietnam to ‘dust off’ the troops.  Sharleen writes, This looks like 8 birds (i.e. helicopters) heading in to land.  My husband, a Vietnam veteran, helped me pick out some of the colors.  The source is “Amazon Star” workshop taught by a certified Judy Niemeyer instructor.  It is paper pieced, hand appliqued, and  . . .

LZ8 detail

professionally machine quilted by Margaret Solomon Gunn.  Lovely!

Nantuckety Day by Wendy Coffin, Rye, NH

Wendy Coffin writes this about her quilt, Nantuckety Day.  “Blue and white are quintessential Nantucket colors and, in my quilt, remind me of a perfect summer island day with gorgeous blue skies and water, blooming hydrangeas and blueberries, white caps and clouds.”  The source is Weekend: Quilts and Projects by Barb Adams and Alm Allen, “Lazy Morning”, Blackbird Designs.  It is machine pieced and

Nantuckety Day Detail

professionally machine quilted by Margaret Solomon Gunn.

What struck me most about these first quilts was the way the quilting complemented the designs, enhancing the the piecework and applique.  As I was processing these images and looking them up in the show catalogue, I noticed that three of the four were all quilted by Margaret Solomon Gunn – she is one heckuva great quilter!

Stay Tuned . .  .

Turtle by Alexis Mongeau, Perth, Ontario

Without a doubt, my email box is better than checking the mail box outside!  I’ve just returned from Ontario, where I taught for the Lanark County Quilters in Perth, about an hour south of Ottawa.  Check out the first three quilts in this post!  Alexis Mongeau is new-ish to freezer paper foundation piecing and look what she created in less than three weeks, a marvelous, original design.

Valetta Hudson, Ottawa Ontario

Valetta was in the same class in Perth, also new-ish to freezer paper foundation piecing.  She chose to use the free-form fillers to feature and enhance the oriental woman in one beautiful piece of fabric.  It’s gorgeous!  Then, just today . . .

Valetta Hudson, Ottawa, Ontario

Valetta sent me another photograph!  This time, she made one block of the Wheel of Fortune pattern in my book, Flying Colors.  Simply Superb!

But, I also have received several more images of student works.  Check these out below!

Carol Hesse, Annandale, MN

Carol Hesse took my class at Quilting in the Desert in Scottsdale, AZ this past January.  I just love the contrast in her pieced filler strips, particularly the Mountains and Valleys filler.

Mary Kay Eklund, Payson, AZ

Mary Kay Eklund took my class in Payson, AZ about a year ago.  She has this to say about her project and the class: “Thanks for the encouragement on my quilt….it was fun and I hope to do more using your techniques.  Remember if/when you have a chance to come to Payson, you have a place to stay!”

Vivian Pinto, Brazil

Vivian was in my class at Houston’s International Quilt Festival a while back.  I love the movement that she got with the strategic placement of fabrics.

What a joy it is to see where you take the techniques learned in class!  Some of my best friends in the world are people I meet in quilting classes! Keep those pictures coming!

Don’t Worry – Be Happy by Marianne Wiltse, Calgary, Alberta

What a thrill it was to be included as a faculty member of Quilt Canada, their national show.  Hosted by the Canadian Quilter’s Association (CQA), it features some amazing quilts in several different exhibits.  The quilt above, “Don’t Worry – Be Happy” was created by Marianne Wiltse and it was her first entry into the juried show. It is published here with her permission.  Sadly, the rules of the juried show preclude cameras and the images on the DVD  which can be purchased cannot be used except for personal use.  So, I can’t show you any of the other beautiful quilts, but you can see the winners on the CQA website.  In upcoming posts, I will show some of the other exhibits that can be photographed.

Marianne Wiltse, Calgary, Alberta

Marianne hails from Calgary, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  She and her mom were both students in my two-day Goose is Loose Class. What creativity they have!

Luana Rubin, owner of E-Quilter

Luana Rubin, owner of E-Quilter, one of the coolest online quilt shops ever, and I drove down to Niagara Falls for dinner.  We supped at Four Brother’s Cucina a charming spot where the pasta is homemade daily. Family owned and operated since 1964, it was a good choice.  Then, we headed back to Brock University, host for Quilt Canada 2014.   It was show and tell night.

Birgit Schuller, Riegelsberg, Germany

Fellow teacher, Birgit Schuller, showed the incredible quilted dance dress she had designed and stitched.   She and her husband like to do ballroom dance and other types of dance at home in Riegelsberg

Birgit Twirls

and she even did a little twirl to show off the skirt of the ensemble. I took a lot of photos during show and tell but was off to the side so everything was photographed at an angle and I was unable to get the names of the makers.  I’ve included just a few here.

CGA Show and Tell

CQA Show and Tell

CQA Show and Tell

I also brought the Hawks Aloft raffle quilt for Show and Tell so I could share the story of our quilt-in-a-day quilt retreat.  Afterwards. several ladies came up to examine our handiwork.  What a great start to a terrific show.

Hawks Aloft 2014 Raffle Quilt

Stay tuned  for more . . .

Kingston Stars in Progress

This is another of my favorite classes to teach.  By the second morning of class, almost everyone showed up with a nearly completed star.  Then it was time to design the borders.  Above, by using two different colors as the background of the geese, it creates a saw-tooth edge around the center star.

Sensational All Stars

Above is a selection of stars in progress from class.  Aren’t they beautiful?

Sylvie Poulin

Sylvie, who had driven the 8 hours from Val-D’or, Quebec, had brought a second finished quilt from the class she took with me in Phoenix.  She gets a lot of quilting done up there in the far north!

Fused Glass Plate by Ann Oastler, Kingston

At the end of class, I was surprised by the gift of a fused glass plate and a card signed by everyone in the class!  What fun we had!  Ann is a professional glassmaker and has a website, “Sawdust and Glass” where you can see more of her work as well as that of her husband, Ron, who specializes in wood designs.

Sensational Stars in Kingston, Ontario

Thank you Limestone Quilters, for showing me how much fun we could have in class!  I love your designs and your hospitality!

Each year the Thimbleweed Quilters hold a weekend-long retreat at Hummingbird Music Camp in the Jemez Mountains.  That’s the camp where my girls attended every summer until they were just too old and it is less than two miles from my cabin.  Last fall, Thimbleweeders invited me to be a teacher at their retreat.

Thimbleweeders at retreat

And what fun we had!  We gathered at the primitive accommodations just as the clouds were gathering in the west.

Storms A-coming

It looked as if rain were iminent and it was much needed.  New Mexico has been in the midst of a long-term drought that has lead to severe fires, like the 2013 Thompson Ridge Fire.  There were grave fears about the aftermath.

Water roaring in Jemez River

And, then it happened — a downpour!  Water roared through the canyon, threatening to wipe out the only bridge that lead to the reclusive retreat area.  Dark brown water raged downstream.

Donna Barnitz, Suzi Campos, and Anne Townsend posed for one last photo as we crossed over the bridge heading toward the cafeteria.

But the bridge held, and shortly thereafter, we were back in the classroom, working away.  My buddy, Donna Barnitz posed with Suzi Campos and Anne Townsend on the rustic bridge spanning the raging brown waters.

Working in the classroom

Laughter was everywhere despite the rising torrent outside!

Lucy Greene’s Pile of Fabric

Lucy Greene brought a giant pile of fabric in case she had trouble making fabric selection choices.  Others brought less, but still created fun designs that they stitched up.  The storm never did wipe out the bridge and the next day delivered sunnier weather.  We finished our Goose is Loose class in style.  Check out the projects in progress below.

Sue Harris and Glenda Crowley

Sue Harris opted for a simple design and brought a pre-printed panel to which she added goose strips applied with flat piping.

Selina Farington

Selina Farrington opted for a more complex design.

Mary Moya and Anne Townsend

Mary Moya worked in her usual bright colors, while Anne Townsend explored pine trees.

Kathy Sublett

Kathy Sublett opted to work on my Little House of Geese pattern so she could learn the stitching tecnhiques.

Diane Bourg

And, Diane Bourg was fascinated by the sun.

Ardith Alumbaugh

Ardith was into evergreen trees, of which there was many at this getaway in the Jemez Mountains.

Donna Barnitz and Colleen Konetzni

While Donna and Colleen, the head honchos of the group, stitched up their newest project, a raffle quilt for the Farm and Ranch Association.

Overlooking Jemez Canyon

It’s one of my favorite place on the planet.  Although I won’t be a teacher at Thimbleweeds 2014 retreat,  I hope I still get to stop by to visit.

I love being a part of my local quilt scene.  That includes two different quilt guilds, the New Mexico Quilter’s Association and Thimbleweeds Quilters of Rio Rancho, which is where my home is located.  Perhaps because of my proximity to Thimbleweeds (2 miles away) or my relationship to my longtime friend, Donna Barnitz, who is one of their founders, this small group holds a very special place in my heart.  A long time ago, about 15 years or more, I used to publish quilting patterns.  At that time, I was known for my applique designs.  One of those patterns was called Homecoming and featured 12 blocks with houses that might be found anywhere in the U.S.

Homecoming, by Gail Garber (c) 1990

I got out of the pattern business not long after this one was published.  It was a lot of work and I wanted to be free from pattern-making to pursue new interests.  Homecoming was one of the last patterns that I produced for the general quilting marketplace.  A while back, when I was cleaning out my garage, I came across boxes, many of them, all containing the parts to this pattern.  Two choices confronted me:  1) throw them into the recycle bin, or 2) find a good home for them.  Donna volunteered to take them off my hands and drove away with her newly discovered treasure.

Fast forward to 2014 when my phone rang a couple of weeks ago and Ann Driscoll asked if I would like to attend their April meeting. They had a project to show me.  Wow!  They outdid themselves in creativity!  Check out the variations below.

Lorraine Barksdale Quilt Blocks

Lorraine created a unique feel to her blocks by adding southwestern embellishments. 

Check out the cactus and black-tailed jackrabbits, the desert cousin to the cottontail.

Colleen Konetzni quilt

Colleen, head honcho of Thimbleweeds, is known for her beautiful hand-dyed fabrics.  She opted to use only her own hand-dyes in this rendition.

Mary Moya Quilt

Mary Moya’s blocks stood out because of the bright colors she used.

Mary Moya detail

Mary loves bright yellow and lime green.  She opted to machine applique her blocks using a zig-zag stitch.

Ann Driscoll Quilt

Ann Driscoll viewed the design as an embroidery project.  Each block was beautifully executed with floss and handwork.

Anne Townsend Quilt

Check out the sashing on Anne Townsend’s quilt !  She told me that the block repeat in the border print didn’t quite fit, so she had to trim down the blocks to fit the sashing.

Ardith Alumbagh Quilt

Ardith added several unique touches to her quilt, both in embellishments and in fabric selection.

Ardith Alumbaugh detail

The use of the fireworks fabric in this block literally makes it glow and reverberates with its Independence Day theme.

Ardith Alumbaugh detail

Aridth also added a kitty to each of her blocks, a little surprise.

Judy Aronow Quilt

But, surely one of the most elaborate quilts was the one made by Judy Aronow.  Hers was packed full of incredible ribbon embroidery and other goodies.  Check out some of Judy’s blocks!

Judy Aronow Detail

It goes without saying that this block “Quilts for Sale” is far beyond what I had envisioned in my original pattern.  And, then .  . .

Judy Aronow detail

the tiny little flower garden is nothing short of incredible!  Wow!  I had never imagined this.  Finally,

Holly Plugge Quilt Blocks

at first, it might be easy to overlook these charming blocks by Holly Plugge, but look closely!

Holly Plugge detail

Each and every block featured dinosaurs!  How fun is that!

Holly Plugge detail

And the simple little house that I designed (the one that reminded me of the brick homes dominant in the area where I grew up – Cheyenne, WY) morphed into a castle, replete with dinosaurs!

The Homecoming Queens: Anne Townsend, Ann Driscoll, Lorraine Barksdale, Joyce Johnstone, Holly Plugge, Colleen Konetzni, Mary Moya, Judy Aronow, and Ardith Alumbaugh

What a creative bunch of Thimleweeders!  I never imagined all that they could do with one old pattern.  But, it was not quite over yet!

Anne Townsend and Ann Driscoll

The two Ann(e)s had one more surprise in store for Thimbleweeds – Each participant won a prize for their creation.  It was one of the most fun mornings I could imagine,  far better than hanging out in the office!

Thank you Thimbleweeders!