Highlights of the Pacific International Quilt Festival ! (part 2)

The Pacific International Quilt Festival is the largest quilt show on the west coast of the U.S.A. Many thanks to our good friend, quilt artist Bonita McFadden, for her excellent photos. Let us know which quilts are your favorites !

Note: For quilt patterns, vintage jewelry,  and other treasures, visit us on E-Bay - We're Top Rated Sellers! And for continuous listings of free quilt patterns, please check us out on Twitter !

The Musicians, 76 x 62, by LeAnn Hileman, Arizona

LeAnn explains, "The Musicians is my interpretation of my photo of these two gentlemen playing classical music on a rainy day in San Diego [California]." LeAnn's original design is hand appliqued and sewing machine quilted.
LeAnn has done an excellent job of using very subtle neutrals to depict the lighting on the musician's faces and the shadows behind them.

Coming Through by Cindy Brown (California), quilted by Sheila Connolly

Cindy notes, "This quilt is paper pieced using the Elephant Abstraction pattern by Violet Craft.
Orange is my favorite color. I want to thank Dawna Harrison for helping me pick out the material and Sheila Connolly for the machine quilting. I love that you have to get close up to see all the beautiful quilting. " All of these shades of orange provide a beautiful contrast and highlight the strong geometric components of this fun pattern.

Jazz Sax, 63 x 50, by Colleen Pelfrey (California), quilted by Sandra Bruce

Colleen writes, "I always wanted to play saxophone. When I was in the fifth grade, I told my dad I wanted to play saxophone, and he said, 'Great, we already have a clarinet you can start on!', so I ended up playing the flute into adulthood. The whole time I thought, 'That'll be the day when I can play saxophone!"

Close-up, Jazz Sax

Colleen continues, "When my fifth grade son wanted to play sax, I said, 'Let's buy two saxophones!'. Guess this is the day!" Colleen's original design is machine pieced and longarm quilted. These gold and cream tones work perfectly against the dark background, where very cute musical note symbols were quilted by Sandra Bruce.

Log Cabin Courthouse Steps Quilt, circa 1900 (Unknown Maker; San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles)

From the time of 1900-1910, this lovely antique quilt was a gift of Jennifer Berthold to the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. The pieces were hand-stitched to a foundation, then machine quilted.
The notes from the museum say, "At first glance, this quilt appears typical in every way to quilts made around the turn of the last century. However, a closer look will reveal quite a bit of interesting 'restoration' work. A variety of very contemporary fabrics have been systematically and carefully appliqued over a number of the 'steps' throughout the design."

Don't Worry, Be Happy by Colleen Granger  (California)

Colleen remarks, "I started with a pile of hand dyed fabrics from Always Unique, and I used my Ninja Star paper piecing pattern to create the rings.  Finally, I just had fun quilting. "

Close-up, Don't Worry, Be Happy

To us, these pretty shapes look like bright spinning wheels of colorful candy ! We appreciate the sense of motion and energy in Colleen's quilt.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Bonita McFadden for Quilt Inspiration.