PIQF-Part 1: Abstract and Wholecloth

I had about 4 1/2 hours to see the vendors and quilts at Pacific International Quilt Festival this year so my photos will reflect that meager time frame. There were entire sections that I missed.

What surprised me was how drawn I was to the abstract work! I don’t do abstract…yet. But especially after looking at the ab-strakt-ed group’s work and the Mountain Art Quilters, I think I’m a fan and future compadre! Who knew? So this post will include abstract pieces as well as wholecloth work.

I don’t generally take a lot of photos of the winners-I figure there are all sorts of photos on-line that are better than mine. Much of the time I find the winners to be less interesting than the non-winners. You can find the winners and photos of their work here.

Wow. Just wow. This was long arm quilted by the maker, Jocelyn Atkinson. I neglected to take a photo of the sign-I don’t know anything about this quilt. When I searched on-line I saw it has garnered many ribbons. I LOVE this quilt-so soft, so beautiful and it does not have a long arm look at all-I would have bet good money that this was done on a domestic machine had I not seen that it won the “Best Long Arm Machine Workmanship” ribbon. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

No words.

Art and quirky worked well together in “Red Dot Metamorphosis”. This was both charming and artful. There’s something about the repetition of such an ordinary subject that I find intriguing.

Out of focus photo, but I wanted you to be able to see the detail. She fabric printed all 400 dots.

Loretta was inspired by the ordinary details she sees on the little ranch she lives on in northern California. I LOVE this piece. It is so edited yet full of details that intrigue. It’s simple and elegant.

Lovely details throughout to delight the observant viewer.

Jean Wells wanted to capture all of the imagery of the beauty of nature around Sisters, Oregon. This lovely piece just kept drawing me back despite my tight timeframe.

Delightful details abound. Jean hand carved stamps to create some of the imagery on the quilt.

Ann Long from the UK used a sun bleached color palette, gold paint, modern quilting motifs and simple piecing to create this gentle beauty.

So easy to look at and so full of detail.

There was no detail given on the card about this piece. There seems to be some painting, piecing and lovely quilting going on.

One of the many abstract pieces that caught my eye. The “Red Moon” title relates to the recurring wildfires of Southern California where Maren lives. The sunsets and moonrises can be spectacular during the fire season.

This piece celebrates the beauty and diversity of Hawaii. We had recently had a SAQA on-line discussion about whether “the grid is boring”. When I turned the corner and saw this piece, I laughed out loud, thinking that the answer to that question is obviously NO!

This was inspired by an old ceramic plate. I love the colors and design of this piece.

Claudia gathers with a group of friends each year in Harmony, Ca for a quilting retreat. This piece resulted from a block swap, a challenge to go modern and disassembling and reassembling the result. There is some really nice balance, color, quilting and movement here.

Jody made this piece in response to the joy she gets from taking classes at Asilomar. She has done a beautiful job of combining different colors and values in this fun abstracted piece.

My photo of the card on this one was blurred. Melissa won Best of Show in Houston last year. I know she tends to work with a variety of commercial and hand dyed fabrics and adds detail and shadow with inks. I love her use of color here!

What a strong, bold piece-didn’t get the dimensions but it’s huge! It was inspired by the enormous Live Oak trees that line the streets of New Orleans. Brilliant use of color, shape and movement. I think I just have to try abstract!

I still have the rest of PIQF, my trip to Houston, the Houston show and my Poppy quilt to post so stay tuned!