Each year, the Springville Museum of Art (Utah) has one of the best quilt shows in the country. It features award-winning quilts from Utah, a state blessed with an abundance of accomplished quilters. Here are some highlights of this year's show (the Finale!)
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Wooly Finale by Sharon Aposhian Wright (Woodland Hills, Utah)
Sharon Wright won a special award for this beautiful applique quilt. Amazingly, it was made from old clothing. She says, "Over the past five years I have made 13 quilts from repurposed wool. As I was sorting the many items of clothing, I saved the navy, cream, reds, and greens for what I knew would be my final wool quilt. When I saw the Reaching Out pattern by Edyta Sitar, I knew this would be the finale to my wool period."
Sharon quilted Wooly Finale on her home machine and big-stitched in the trellis areas. Her grandchildren helped her design the flowers.
Nature's Chorus by Ann S. Larsen (Riverton, Utah), quilted by Shelly E. Dahl
We truly admired Nature's Chorus, which features 42 Baltimore album-style blocks featuring flowers, animals, birds, and other lovely motifs. Ann S. Larsen won a Judge's Choice Award for this incredible heirloom-quality quilt. Ann says, "I started this in 1999 and had about 30 blocks done. During the pandemic I decided it was time to finish some of my unfinished projects."
The Nature's Chorus pattern was by Jeana Kimball (now out of print.) Ann adds, "It has been a fun quilt, but also a challenge. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue learning." (As the card next to the quilt reveals, Ann was born in 1946; by our math, she is 76 years young!) The expert machine quilting was done by Shelly E. Dahl.
Star Garden by Julie Saville (Mapleton, Utah)
The combination of star blocks and elegant floral vines are a real standout on this quilt, with flowers, leaves, and pieced blocks done in richly colored batiks. Julie Saville says she made the quilt "backwords", working on the border strips over a 3-4 year period, then sourcing the right blue fabric for the center. The end result was simply lovely. (We'd love to know the design source; we're still searching.)
Never a Blue Heart by Lisa Johnson (Provo, Utah)
Lisa Johnson won a Judge's Choice Award for Never a Blue Heart, with its triangle heart border and appliqued hearts throughout. The title reflects Lisa Johnson's philosophy. She says, "I always try to look to the bright side, enjoy the world around me, and feel all of the love that abounds." The Heart's Garden design, by Elizabeth Eastmond, was a 2022 quilt-a-long at OccasionalPieceQuilt.
Posies and Roses by Yvonne Carter (Highland, Utah)
Yvonne Carter says she fell in love with Kim Diehl's design in her book, Simple Whatnots. Yvonne changed the design somewhat to give it "space to breathe". She says, "These are some of my favorite colors and I love to do scrappy quilts." It is beautifully hand appliqued and hand quilted as shown below.
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 Springville (Utah) quilt show.
"Star Garden" is a pattern by Edyta Sitar called "Dreamcatcher". I bought my pattern as a kit; not sure if it is available as just the pattern alone.
ReplyDeletegorgeous thanks for sharing.........
ReplyDeleteI loved the first one, but then scrolling down through them all, I sure would have a hard time picking the best. That must have been an astounding show.
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