Diablo Valley Quilters' Guild Show Day 2

The 2017 Diablo Valley Quilters Guild show was recently held in Walnut Creek, California. Here are some of our favorite quilts!

Note: For great deals on quilt books and fabric, please visit our eBay store.Also, we're posting free patterns continually Quilt Inspiration's Twitter page !

Pacific Fisher by Nancy Tietz

Nancy explains about the cute little animal depicted here in her original design: "Fishers belong to a family of mammals that includes weasels, minks, and otters. They live in low-to-mid elevation forests and require cavities in trees to safely rear their young. This quilt was made for my daughter-in-law who just received her Ph.D. from U. of California, Davis, using the data she collected from the U.S. Forest Service for her dissertation.
I learned this applique technique from David Taylor, a well-known applique artist that taught classes at The Cotton Patch in Lafayette, California. Kerry Reed did the longarm quilting for me. "

Modern Plaid by Sally Socolich

Sally notes, "This pattern projects a more modern dimension to traditional plaids. Please see the other side of the quilt (shown below)  for my take on making the most of leftover plaid units for an even simpler modern effect. "

Back of quilt, Modern Plaid

Quilted by Sally herself, this could be a wonderful way to re-fashion plaid shirt fabric into a wonderful, cozy quilt.  The original pattern was created by Mabry Benson and published in a Quilters Newsletter magazine from 2001.  You can see a photo of "Plaid Stars" by Mabry Benson in an article at eQuilters.

Winter Stars by Karen Michaels

Karen notes, " This quilt began 24 years ago, with a photo in a quilt magazine. It contains blocks made by 9 members of my guild's block exchange group. I named the quilt early on, and every winter, I'd wonder where where it was. Over the years, it morphed from the photo's simple straight set with no sashing, to the current look. "

Detail, Winter Stars

Karen continues, "I quilted it myself, though it was really too large for me to handle. I'm certainly happy that this was the year to finally finish my winter quilt!"  We admire the excellent workmanship and lovely en pointe setting of these star blocks.

Rainbow Ride by Janice Spahn

Janice says, " A few years ago, during a quilt shop-hop with some very dear and fun friends, we challenged each other to make the quilt "Four Play."  It is a four patch scrappy pattern with a fun name and one inch strips." The pattern is found in the book .Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts, by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms.

Detail, Rainbow Ride

Janice continues, "When I started my quilt, I decided to add discipline to the blocks by using a rainbow color concept. Once I made the smaller blocks, I just had to add more blocks and change the layout of the blocks. The result is the quilt before you." Janice quilted this work herself, and Kathe Hayden and Annette Biggs helped with the block positioning.

Out of the Blue by Diane Chambers

Diane writes, "Out of the Blue" was assembled from a Craftsy kit of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, bought to nudge me out of my comfort zone. Much to my surprise, I had to fight my controlling tendencies with some of the print combinations. I liked the end result; so I dubbed it 'Out of the Blue.' "

Detail, Out of the Blue

Diane quilted this work herself, and she adds, "I used the expertise of published quilters
Angela Walters, (triangles), Lori Kennedy (straight and curvy juxtaposition) and Sally Terry
(feathers without backtracking) to inspire me in my choice of Free Motion Quilting motifs.
 More details can be found in my April 20, 2017 and August 15, 2017 Blogspot posts at Diane Loves 2 Quilt.


Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.