Quilt Fiesta! The annual Tucson Quilters Guild show (1)

It's quilt show time!  The annual Quilt Fiesta, held last weekend by the Tucson Quilters Guild, is an outstanding show. We're rolling out some of our favorite photos from the show.

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Abuelita Scrappy Quilt by Millie Burgheimer

Winner of an award in the thread painting category, Millie Burgheimer created a lovely portrait as a tribute to grandmothers who quilt. She says,  "Our grandmothers (abuelitas) often made quilts by hand or [with an] old sewing machine.  They used old scraps and feed sacks. [This was] a fun project to create by thread painting and fabric that was given to me." 

Southwest Sunrise by Luanne Wood

This stunning quilt was based on the 2020 Southwest Sunrise BOM (block-of-the-month) by Reeze L. Hanson.  Luanne Wood says, "I learned a lot about New Mexico's Zuni Indian tribe from this pattern.  I added thread drawn motifs of Arizona's Sonoran Desert in the corners of the main section and revised the outer border with more Zuni thread-drawn motifs." The quilt won Judge's Choice plus an Exemplary Machine Quilting award.

Bienvenidos by Tami Graeber

Bienvenidos ("Welcome") won the 1st place Viewer's Choice award. Tami Graeber says, "I love painting Mexican tiles; this is my 5th tile quilt. It was inspired by a stairway at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The stairs were painted one row at a time and machine appliqued into place."

Southwest Lone Star by Kris Neifeld

This beautiful Lone Star quilt was based on the book, All-Star Quilts, by Helen Frost and Blanche Young (available at Amazon and other bookseller sites). We loved the combination of coppery oranges and reds with turquoise and teal blues. This classic Southwest color combination was achieved with batik fabrics.  The top was made and quilted by Kris Neifeld.

Monument Valley by Richard & Shari Thompson

This intriguing digital quilt was a collaboration between Richard and Shari Thompson.  Creating the border from a Navajo rug purchased by his grandmother in 1935, Richard used Photoshop to blend 40 of their Monument Valley images into a single file.  When this was printed on fabric, Shari quilted and embellished the scene. The detail was outstanding, as shown in this closeup photo of the sheep.

Tree of Life by Kay Walen

This wonderful foundation-pieced quilt was based on a design by Lisa Fryxell at the PreFurred Quilt Shop. Kay Walen says, "This quilt is entirely paper pieced.  I needed to improve my skills [with this technique]... I had a large learning curve and lots of reverse sewing opportunities and wasted fabric." The result, as you can see, was outstanding! This Tree of Life was quilted by Double T Quilts.

 

Image credit: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2023 Tucson Quilters Guild show.