10/20/12

MQX West 2012: First Batch

Oh my goodness!  What a gorgeous day I chose to attend the MQX West quilt show.  My plan was to do my grocery shopping after the show, and so I knew I had a long day ahead.  I started my day with breakfast at my favorite little breakfast cafe, the South Store Cafe, which is just a mile or two from my house.  They make the best oatmeal.


I paused before going in to take a couple of pictures of these little repurposed toasters, coffee pots, and sifters planted with annuals.  Cute.



After eating my oatmeal, I headed off to the Oregon Convention Center in Portland for the quilt show.  I love the Oregon Convention Center as a venue.  It is a fabulous structure.  I've lived in Portland long enough to remember when the convention center was built.  Its twin glass spires are visible all over the city and they have become an iconic part of the Portland skyline.  I tried to find some articles about this, but I was unable to verify my memory of the events.  As I recall, however, the original intent of the spires was simply to house the cranes used to construct the convention center.  When it came time to remove them, the spires had become a popular part of the skyline, and so they were incorporated into the design of the building.


Here are a couple of closer-up images I took, and look at that blue sky!



But you want to see the quilts, don't you?  Well, I'm just about to show you.  I took so many pictures, I couldn't possibly show them all...especially in a single post.  So, as is my usual way of doing this, I'm going to show you a few each day until I've run through all my favorites.  The quilting was nothing short of amazing.  After a while, my eyes glazed over staring at it.  A complete stranger was standing next to me and said aloud exactly the words I was thinking, "Not only do I not have the talent to do this, I don't have the patience!"  So true.  Some of the stippling was so tiny that it was practically microscopic.  And wait until you see the quilt that won best of show at the bottom of this post.  Simply amazing.  So with that intro, I'll get to the quilts.  This is just a tiny preview of what is to come over the next several days.

There were more whole cloth quilts at this show than I've seen at other shows.  I enjoyed them very much, and the quilting really stood out.  By the way, these pictures are not in any particular order...other than the order they were in when they came off my camera.


Trying to give you some scale on the tiny stitching.



I love quilts that have little quilts mixed in with them.  These were three dimensional, as if hanging on the clothesline.  I would like to try this some day.




Look at this pretty border and the beautiful applique...another thing I would like to try.


These next several quilts were made as a part of a challenge that you can read about in the image below.  Sorry for the glare.  I tried to minimize it as much as I could.


As you look at these, be sure to notice the color card the quilter was working from.  I think they all did an amazing job getting the quilt to "read" as the colors on their card.  






Some people are so clever with their embellishments.



His hair was nappy!





This next quilt won best of show, which it well deserved.  As you look at the quilting, keep in mind that it is completely hand-guided.  Amazing.  And I have just two words for the quiltmaker:  "Show off".  Actually, no.  "Gorgeous work".  I suppose that seems more friendly.









So that's all for today.  I'll show you a few each day.  Stay tuned.

15 comments:

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

wow.

unbelievable, no ?

Rachel said...

Some pretty awesome stuff there.

sew.darn.quilt said...

something to aspire to, I hope in my lifetime!
Those miniquilts within a quilt are amazing hmmm might make for a DQS theme of the month???? ;O)

WoolenSails said...

Really beautiful quilts and I love the one with the little quilts. Seeing the quilts close up is so nice so I can enjoy the beautiful workmanship and stitching, thanks for sharing.

Debbie

evelyn said...

OMG Unbelievable. Thank you for sharing. Such eye candy!

Quilting Babcia said...

Wowsa! Beautiful quilts, great photography - love your close-ups! Thanks for sharing - looking forward to the next installment.

Diane Wild said...

Awesome. That word doesn't even do it justice. Thanks.

Catherine said...

Fantastic quilts! Your pictures are great! Can`t wait to see your next post.

Sheila said...

Wow, what beautiful quilts. I have no idea of where you would start on the "whole cloth quilts"? Thank you so much for sharing.

SewCalGal said...

Oh Barbara, I'm so happy you were able to attend MQX. What a perfect day. Great post. I so enjoyed hearing about your day, the cute re-purposed toasters & coffee pots, as well as seeing all the beautiful quilts and spectacular free-motion quilting.

I've been to Portland many times, but never to the convention center. Beautiful.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Celtic Thistle said...

Fabulous quilts Barbara, what a great day out. I love the colour wheel quilts especially although those teeny, tiny quilts on the line are pretty special too.

Debbie said...

I'll probably never be able to go to a quilt show, so this was a wonderful blog post for me. I'm so glad I recently discovered your blog.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Debbie

Snoodles said...

I've never been to a show like this, so it's fun for me to "go along with you" like in this post. I appreciate your giving us perspective on how large or small things are, too.
With that said, these are just amazing photos. I enjoyed looking at these....and I'm getting a kick out of how many quilters now are using 3D embellishments! Cool!
Thanks for taking us along for the ride! :)

quiltzyx said...

WOW! I can barely imagine being able to do that kind of quilting. Absolutely breath-taking.
Thanks for taking us along.

Teresa in Music City said...

Euphoria is an absolute eye popper!!! That tiny stitching would put me in an insane asylum!!! I'm so glad there are people who enjoy doing that kind of thing and do it beautifully so I can enjoy it but not have to do it!