1/31/12

Stitches in Bloom Quilt Show: Final Group



This is the last group of pictures from the Stitches in Bloom Quilt show at the Oregon Garden.  If you missed the first two batches, you can see them here and here

This first quilt honors the "hobos" who ride the rails.  One of my favorite books of all time was The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.  Reading that book was one of the things that motivated me to become a social worker, and so I was taken by this quilt.

The train cars contained many quotations and warnings that these humble folks might have said to one another.  Here is just one detailed image:


I was surprised by the number of Halloween quilts at the show.  I'm assuming it's because the show is held annually in January, and so these were quilts recently finished by entrants for Halloween a few months earlier.


You know I love the cats.


I wish I had gotten better focus on this next detail.  This quilt was a combination of applique and machine embroidery.  One of these days I want to make a quilt that has spider webs quilted on it.


Here's one for you woofie lovers.


I love the fabrics she used in this quilt, and the prairie point borders.


This next one was very pretty and done with a fabric process I'm not familiar with.

Here's the accompanying tag so you can see what the quilter said about it.

There was a woman standing explaining to another woman about this process.  After listening for quite a while, my eyes started to glaze over and I moved along.  In any case, I thought this was very pretty.  Maybe I would be interested in knowing more about it some time . . . although I really just like sewing.  Painting . . . not so much.



This next quilt wasn't one of my favorites.  I thought it was rather dull and lifeless . . . not enough color for me.  But I was very impressed by the piecing and the quilting.



From here, I moved into a different, smaller building where the true art quilts were housed.  You may recognize these mountains from some images I included on my blog recently.  These are Oregon's Three Sisters mountains.
I loved the details and thread work in this.



This next one was unique and interesting to me.  It's hard to tell from this two dimensional image, but the quilt was very three dimensional.  I'm hoping the two detailed images that follow will give you a better idea.




I'm not a native Oregonian, but I've lived in Oregon more than half of my life.  I only bring that up to say that I'm fond of anything having to do with the Oregon Trail.  This quilt was called "Women of the Oregon Trail."  I love their expressions.  They all appear so stern, and if you've done any studying of what those travelers endured along the trail, then it only makes sense that these would be stern women.  They have my admiration.  I doubt I would have wanted to embark on such a journey.



This one reminded me of hikes Mike and I have taken in our travels.


And I loved the thread work detailing.  Very effective.



This one was just too precious.  It's called "Coop with a View."


Just look at the detail in these chickens!



And like I said . . . anything Oregon Trail, especially if it includes the Conestoga Wagons.  This was a raffle quilt, and I bought two tickets.  The woman assured me they were winning tickets.  I'm just waiting for the phone to ring now.


Here is the detail of the wagon:

This quilt was made by the women of the Northwest Quilter's Guild.  The woman explained to me that they always include a rose somewhere in their quilts.  This time, it was included by way of these tiny ribbon roses.  Very sweet.

The Northwest Quilters will be holding their annual quilt show at the end of March.  I can't wait!  It's a can't miss show (at least for me), and I'm excited to see the quilts they'll have on display.  They always have a good group of venders too.

I hope you enjoyed the images I shared with you from the Stitches in Bloom quilt show.

8 comments:

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

I just enjoyed all three of your posts on the quilt show. Thank you for thinking of me with the cross stitch quilt. There was a cat quilt just like the one you showed in our show but made in brighter colors (my picture turned out fuzzy). What is your opinion of the painted quilts? I love all the thread work but I'm not crazy about the use of paints instead of different pieces of fabrics (but that's just me). Love the dog quilt "I Shed, Therefore I Am". Reminds me of my house :)
Thanks you for sharing all of those wonderful quilts. Perhaps you should write a letter to the sponsoring guild with your suggestions - it couldn't hurt.

Sarah said...

Such inspiring quilts. I also enjoyed the hobo quilt - do you think it's from a pattern or just research? I also really liked the raffle quilt that transitioned from a quilt hanging on the line into the wagon trail. I'll file that idea somewhere in my brain for another day :)

Rhonda said...

Love the quilts, and Super Love the chickens. What fantastic work.
Thanks so much for sharing these.

Dirt Road Quilter said...

Gorgeous pieces! I am always fascinated by the scenic pieces and the thread work is just stunning. I am also very intimidated by them. The lady that created Nature Walk blogs here: http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/ . I recognized that piece because she wrote about her process. Thanks so much for taking the time to share these amazing pieces of art with us!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Thank you for sharing all your photos - it was a wonderful show that I didn't have to travel any further than my sewing machine to my computer. Love quilts that tell a story and certainly the area is steeped with history and stories - great inspiration for a quilt.

Mhairi said...

Thanks for sharing these quilts. The Nature Walk one reminded me of sun prints we used to do as children. I can't remember the exact process but it involved hot days and a lot of waiting around. I think it was something like paint, put on objects and leave in the sun for the paint to fade. Then you had to paint them with something to stop the process. I think they must have been special paints. You used to be able to get special paper that did it too.

KatieQ said...

Thanks for sharing the quilt show photos. I wish I could have seen the Conestoga Wagon quilt in person. It is one of the most amazing quilts I have ever seen. I have to admit, I like some art quilts, but in general, don't I love them. It's a lot like my feelings toward abstract art. I usually prefer realism.

Rosetta said...

Bellissimi.
Ciao