Seen At The Quilt Show (Part 4)

We almost forgot to share a last few quilts. There's a theme to these: trees!


"Ode To The Trees" by Sarah Sharp has none of the expected green, but sparkles in a classic blue and white color combo. It's fresh and modern, yet wholly traditional at the same time.




"De Beem (Trees)" by Lindsey Neil was part of the Best of QuiltCon exhibit and is sublime in it's simplicity. One thing that can get missed in viewing quilts like this online is the small or surprise details only seen up close, like the floral binding that perfectly finishes this lovely quilt.

"Mountain Scene" by Heather Black hits all the right design notes. Circles, triangles, and rectangles read easily as clouds, mountains, and water. Each area has it's own quilting design too. Beautiful.

It's been great fun seeing quilts from all over the country, and as always, we look forward to returning next year. Of course, we've got the Northwest Quilt Expo in September to look forward to as well, so there's always great quilt inspiration at hand!

Seen At The Quilt Show (Part 3)

Probably the best part of attending any quilt show is knowing that there will be wonderful colors, fabrics, patterns, and craftsmanship that will grab your attention and draw you in. The following are some of the beautiful quilts which simply begged us to stop and take notice.

Kristin liked the way "Annie's Birds" by Mary Reynolds showed off a special fabric. Mary had several quilts on display which used a focus fabric in the middle, flanked by strips that draw your eye inward:

"Eccentric Circles" by instructor Tonye B Phillips had it all! There's rich, sophisticated, colors; tiny bias strip appliqué, wool felt circles (don't they make an exuberant border?), and a mix of hand and machine quilting.

"Hang 10 Ombre Style" by Natalie Barnes of Beyond The Reef Patterns has a lot of visual texture. Ombre in many guises has been hot for a while and this is an exciting variation:

Pam Raby, a favorite at The Pine Needle, displayed "Crosscut Blues" in the Teacher's Tent. I hope we get to see more of this one! The limited color palette allows for a broad range of fabrics so it's really fun to look at up close:

Another familiar face, Pinecone Kristin had her quilt, "Me Plus Alison," in the Portland Modern Quilt Guild special exhibit. Kristin made this guild Row by Row challenge out of the last little bits of two fabric lines which she'd been collecting at the shop: 

One of the popular special exhibits was ab*strakt*ed featuring quilts by Maren Johnston, Patty Six, Lou Ann Smith, and Debra Blake. We particularly liked the scale and shapes in this one by Patty Six titled, "New Directions."

"Starfall" by Sally Rogers, quilted and submitted by Corni Quinlivan strikes a lovely balance between the traditional and modern aesthetics. The light but not too sweet colors are refreshing too:

In the more is more category, Sarah Fielke never disappoints. "Night Garden," seen in the Teacher's Tent, is richly scrappy. There were several floral themed quilts with twilight colored backgrounds -- a trend we can fully appreciate!

 

"Desert Bloom" by Sally Frey caught our eye for it's quirky colors and design simplicity with big impact:

And finally, "Rattled" by Tula Pink is just charming. Who knew Drunkard's Path blocks could be so cute? Tula did:

Seen At The Quilt Show (Part 2)

Of course, when we go to shows, in addition to spotting future trends, we're always looking to see what people are making with the fabrics and patterns we stock in our shop. 

We love the Australian fabrics in our shop, so we're always excited to see them in finished quilts. "Australian Clams" by Leilani Seidel organizes the fabrics (which can be a little chaotic), and ties them together with the consistence of cream colored pickle dish-style arcs in complimentary colors. 

A stunner from afar and up close.

"Aboriginal Orbs" by Christine Johnson caught our eye as well. She's chosen purple to unify her fabrics and uses a variety of traditional and "modern" batiks to coordinate with the Aussies.

A new addition to our shop is Twighlight, indigo and mud cloth inspired fabrics by Whistler Studios and Windham. We're inspired by Natalie Barnes from Beyond the Reef patterns' quilt, "Faith Hope & Love" which uses these fabrics beautifully. We've already added the pattern to our shopping list! Since the fabrics are on the heavier side, we're thinking of pillows using just four of these improvisational-looking blocks.

Finding fabrics to represent something in a quilt can be challenging. "Fresh Picked" by Hedda Wright was a beautiful reminded that when depicting something, the mere suggestion through fabric color, pattern, or shape, rather than strict pictorial adherence, is most effective. It's OK to get wild and use polka dots for grass, florals in faces, and stripes for sky as they all have the potential to make the quilt more exciting.

Check out the fun cabbage leaves in not-necessarily-cabbagy fabrics:

Customers will often ask us for help coordinating fabrics (we LOVE doing this!), and the collections are usually based around a desired color or a focus fabric. But what if a quilt were designed around a theme, and any fabric with that theme was fair game, regardless of color?! Kristin thought "Strawberry Sunday" by Marcia Aurdal was pretty fun, and an off-the-beaten-track way to coordinate a quilt. All the fabrics used have strawberries. Of course the red in the berries ties things together, but overall, it's pretty scrappy and free-spirited:

And, speaking of color, the pickle juice background color in "Morse Code" by Lynn Glidden kind of screamed "Geri would love this!" Up close, it also has the Me+You Indah batiks Kristin loves, plus a bunch of Kaffe Fasset favorites for good measure. 

Seen At The Quilt Show (Part 1)

It's been a busy week plus around here. We are blessed to get lots of visitors to our shop as quilters stop in on their way to and from the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and A Quilter's Affair classes. We're always looking for trends and listening to our customers to find out what's hot. Like last year, our Pinecone Kristin went to the show and brought back lots of ideas and inspiration to share.

Overall, the quilts were wonderfully varied, possibly leaning more towards the Modern and the innovative as opposed to strictly traditional designs. There was definitely something for everyone though.

Maybe it's just Kristin, but house themed quilts kept popping up, and what's not to like about that! Some favorites were this large version of Fierce Ladies by one of The Stitchin' Post's employees (that's a part of the iconic collection of employee quilts always displayed on the side of the store's building):

Another quilt on the side of the building was this one by Laura Simmons:

Kristin loved the whimsy of House Party Revival by Tonye B Phillips in the Teacher's Tent:

Also in the Teacher's Tent, and equally charming was Hunderwasser Takes a Walk by June Jaeger.

More bright houses on view in El Vecindario (The Neighborhood) by Hilde Morin: