Let's Go ! Pacific International Quilt Festival Day 5

Are you ready for more quilting loveliness from  P.I.Q.F. 2012?   Let's go !

Four Voice Choir With Soloists, 51 x 49, by Annette Bamberger,  Germany

Annette designed these vibrantly colored,  textured, dimensional panels to symbolize vocalists.The letters on the top of each panel are abbreviations for the various vocal parts choral music :  Tenor, Soprano, Alto, and Bass.  She writes, "The voices of a choir are building altogether with their different acoustics, a unity that is completed through the voice of the soloists. Colours are underlining the voice types, pearls are reinforcing the festivity. Fabrics are cut freehand and are free motion machine quilted. Every "voice" is is referenced with a block of loose fabric strips. On top, a loosely sewn strip : the soloists voices are getting one with the choir. On the bottom, I hand embroidered 36 steps from Caligavearunt oculi mei  ( a classical liturgical piece) by Tomas de Victoria."

Eastern Elements, 80 x 81, by Linda Steele, Australia

Blue ribbon winner for "Best of Country",  Australian quilter Linda Steele writes, "I was inspired to design a contemporary Crazy Quilt with an Asian theme. I used a free motion, thread painting technique and quilted it on a domestic sewing machine."  Linda's scenes of traditional Asian cultural symbols include a pagoda, koi fish, cranes, panda bears, and a classic tea garden.

Close-up of Eastern Elements

We were fascinated by the bottom of Eastern Elements, which includes a breathtaking embroidered dragon, complete with flames from his mouth, all done in metallic gold thread.

A Truly Feathered Star, 74 x74, by Karen Sievert,  Gainesville, Virginia.

A Truly Feathered Star won the blue ribbon for Best Traditional Quilt in last summer's World Quilt Show, so it came on tour to California with the PIQF show.  Karen notes, "Quilt making is a journey...sometimes reflected by our fabric and pattern choices, that's the road we take. Sometimes we hit bumps in the road or detours and have to learn a new way to get to our destination. This quilt was a journey for me! It started with an idea, and like all of us, I learned a lot along the way.But, piece by piece, stitch by stitch, I finally got to my desination. "

Close-up of A Truly Feathered Star

We were very impressed with the exquisite and artistically designed long arm quilting patterns that formed their own diamond medallions in the center and sides of this work.

 Pretty in Pink, 50 x 50, by Karen Litvinchuk, Gridley, California

"I loved the quilts my grandmother made from the scraps of dresses........she taught me to sew when I was young", writes Karen." My memories of happily sewing with her are the sources of my quilting energy. I drew the flowers and cut them mostly from hand dyes. I thread embellished the top before doing the quilting, so the flowers would be dimensional. Then, I designed the quilting to fit...and I hand painted the background ( a pure, delicate pale pink)."  As well as being "pretty", this original floral wreath design also has such a romantic, charming look to it.

Cassidy,  Chase, Mashatu, and JasPurr,  31 x 34, by Nancy S. Brown, Oakland, California 

Nancy has done an outstanding job of capturing the very expressive, soulful faces of these clearly beloved pets. She says, "The source of my quilting energy and my inspiration are all of the wonderful animals of this world. This quilt depicts the happy family of Cassidy and Chase ( Rhodesian Ridgebacks), Mashatu ( a Savannah cat), and JasPurr ( a grey and white cat). This quilt was understandably very popular with the many viewers, including us, who stopped to admire it. We were impressed with Nancy's artistic idea to extend the intricately collaged leaves and sky background into the border of her original design.