Quilt Show 2008
Sadly, my camera battery ran out before we'd been even an hour inside the show. I squeezed as much as possible out of it before the camera had to live in my bag the rest of the day.
The Show was wonderful, although as Mom noted, the quilts didn't seem quite as striking this time. Some of them (like the first one below) were fantastic, but the bulk of the show seemed less innovative. The quality of the work was wonderful, as always, it just seemed to be the same sort of thing over and over, without the kind of knock-you-down amazing works that have been featured in the past.
There were two sections (no-photography sections, thankfully, or else I'd have despaired over my lack of camera battery) that I thought were the best. One of them was themed on Space, and had several gorgeous art quilts based on Hubble images, as well as some inspired works of humor.
One made us think of Keet - it was called, "Once in a Blue Moon, Pigs Fly". Mom was carrying her "Miracle" bag and one of the Quilt Angels saw it and specifically directed us to that quilt. It was beautiful, two ethereal winged pigs flying through a forest in the light of a pale blue moon. Wonderful work with overlapping sheers.
The other section was called Town and Country and had some beautiful cityscapes, countryscapes, and compositions where the two meet.
Another highlight was a DAR exhibit of Quilts of the Early Republic, which had some amazing colors - vivid, bold, and bright. Plus there was a display of possibly the first-ever machine-quilted quilt in Texas, dated back to the 1840s or 1850s, done on one of the first treadle machines in the state. Amazing stuff, really gorgeous extraordinary work, and fascinating fabrics.
Mom wore her Obama shirt from MoveOn and got some good comments on it. We ran into several other folks wearing Obama shirts or buttons as well. We also saw a few McCain/Palin folks wearing their gear, but we mostly ignored each other.
When we were at the Stewart Gill paint booth, one of the ladies from Scotland saw Mom's shirt and squealed, "Oh, we love Obama, can I paint a halo on your shirt?" So she got out the yellow and gold and glitter and painted a halo for Obama. That got some interesting comments during the show as well, and some laughs. It was nice to hear so many people rooting for Obama, although the one common comment was almost always, "Aren't you brave to be wearing that in Texas" and "So where are you from then?"
We're locals! Turn Texas Blue! Turn Harris County Blue! We can do it!
On to the quilts:
"Oh... I KNOW I'LL REGRET this in the morning."
My favorite of the Hoffman Challenge Quilts. (Mom keeps telling me to enter this Challenge - anybody want to try it this year? We can commiserate and encourage each other!)
I love silhouettes, and this one was just amazing from across the room.
Yo-Yo Rainbow.
There was another yo-yo quilt in a gallery that did not allow photography - it was a portrait of W. Really amazing work, plus the humor of W in yo-yos.
The last photo I got before the battery died, at the Patchwork Politics showcase. This particular quilt artist had made several quilts poking fun at W and Clinton and the scandals of their presidencies. This was the first year the Quilt Festival had an explicitly political section on the show floor.
This is the rest of my (small) Flickr Set of this year's show.
The Show was wonderful, although as Mom noted, the quilts didn't seem quite as striking this time. Some of them (like the first one below) were fantastic, but the bulk of the show seemed less innovative. The quality of the work was wonderful, as always, it just seemed to be the same sort of thing over and over, without the kind of knock-you-down amazing works that have been featured in the past.
There were two sections (no-photography sections, thankfully, or else I'd have despaired over my lack of camera battery) that I thought were the best. One of them was themed on Space, and had several gorgeous art quilts based on Hubble images, as well as some inspired works of humor.
One made us think of Keet - it was called, "Once in a Blue Moon, Pigs Fly". Mom was carrying her "Miracle" bag and one of the Quilt Angels saw it and specifically directed us to that quilt. It was beautiful, two ethereal winged pigs flying through a forest in the light of a pale blue moon. Wonderful work with overlapping sheers.
The other section was called Town and Country and had some beautiful cityscapes, countryscapes, and compositions where the two meet.
Another highlight was a DAR exhibit of Quilts of the Early Republic, which had some amazing colors - vivid, bold, and bright. Plus there was a display of possibly the first-ever machine-quilted quilt in Texas, dated back to the 1840s or 1850s, done on one of the first treadle machines in the state. Amazing stuff, really gorgeous extraordinary work, and fascinating fabrics.
Mom wore her Obama shirt from MoveOn and got some good comments on it. We ran into several other folks wearing Obama shirts or buttons as well. We also saw a few McCain/Palin folks wearing their gear, but we mostly ignored each other.
When we were at the Stewart Gill paint booth, one of the ladies from Scotland saw Mom's shirt and squealed, "Oh, we love Obama, can I paint a halo on your shirt?" So she got out the yellow and gold and glitter and painted a halo for Obama. That got some interesting comments during the show as well, and some laughs. It was nice to hear so many people rooting for Obama, although the one common comment was almost always, "Aren't you brave to be wearing that in Texas" and "So where are you from then?"
We're locals! Turn Texas Blue! Turn Harris County Blue! We can do it!
On to the quilts:
"Oh... I KNOW I'LL REGRET this in the morning."
My favorite of the Hoffman Challenge Quilts. (Mom keeps telling me to enter this Challenge - anybody want to try it this year? We can commiserate and encourage each other!)
I love silhouettes, and this one was just amazing from across the room.
Yo-Yo Rainbow.
There was another yo-yo quilt in a gallery that did not allow photography - it was a portrait of W. Really amazing work, plus the humor of W in yo-yos.
The last photo I got before the battery died, at the Patchwork Politics showcase. This particular quilt artist had made several quilts poking fun at W and Clinton and the scandals of their presidencies. This was the first year the Quilt Festival had an explicitly political section on the show floor.
This is the rest of my (small) Flickr Set of this year's show.