International Quilt Invitational Exhibition 2019 - Part 2 of 2

"Out of this world" quilts from around the world are presented each summer at the Brigham City Museum of Art and History in Brigham City, Utah. We think you'll agree that each of these quilts is a masterpiece.

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Esfahan by Megan Farkas (New Hampshire, USA)

The inspiration for this quilt captured Megan Farkas' imagination two years before she felt she had the skills to actually attempt making it.  The design was inspired by a tile mosaic in the Jameh Mosque, Esfahan, Iran, and was based on a photo by Sebastia Giralt (used with permission). Completing it took three years of intensive work; Megan estimates it took at least 3.000 hours.

At first, Megan thought she might be able to draft a pattern based on the underlying geometry; she says this was overly optimistic.  She ended up creating one set of floral filigree templates for each block type. The completed blocks were reverse appliqued into a single piece of fabric. Esfahan was beautifully hand quilted by Megan herself.

Once There Were by Kathryn Harmer Fox (South Africa)

This quilt is a magnificent tribute to rhinos, which are an endangered species. Kathryn Harmer Fox used several photographs of both rhinos and birds to create this image. She says, "These glorious thundering behemoths are on the brink of extinction - the unreasonableness of it all saddens Kathryn to the core."

The quilt was created with assorted dress materials and sewing threads, using free motion machine embroidery, fiber embedment using scribble stitch, and quilting. The layering of fabrics and threads creates a gauzy, artistic image.

Zoologist's Quilt by Karen Miller (Oregon, USA)

Karen Miller's passion for Japanese stencil dyeing (katazome) is matched only by her love of nature.  Originally a marine biologist, she transferred her love of the natural world to art 22 years ago when she learned this amazing technique, used in Japan for 600 years. She hand cut a paper stencil and used it to apply a rice paste resist before indigo dyeing.  This quilt was made for an exhibit in Japan, thus the names of the animals are in English and Japanese around the border, as shown below.

The Trouble With Magenta - Hot or Not by Annelize Littlefair

Annelize Littlefair was inspired by the color magenta.  She asks, "What color is a car that is described as hot magenta?" That is the question she sought to answer, asking her friends to write on a piece of paper what color they thought it was.  She made the quilt using all the colors they suggested. She says that it took longer to stitch out the background of the outside border than it did to stitch the center section.

The materials used were radiance silk and kimono silk threads.  This stunning piece was created with machine quilting and freehand needlework. The whole quilt took around three months from start to finish, working on it most days.

Choose to Bloom by O.V. Brantley

Choose to Bloom is a delightful folk art sampler quilt made with an array of brightly colored fabrics and an impressive amount of detail: flowers, baskets, trees, leaves, animals, birds, fruit, and more. About the name, "Choose to Bloom", O.V. Brantley says: "I believe life is about choices.  We can choose to accept our circumstances or we can get busy changing them. We all bloom in different ways. How will you bloom?"

The quilt, based on a pattern by Kim McLean, was lovingly appliqued using a wide variety of fabrics to convey the diversity of choices.  The African fabrics give the quilt its uniqueness (see the closeup photo, above.)  It was custom quilted by Ina Sanders.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the Brigham City Museum.