Pine Tree Quilt Guild Show 2016

It was a beautiful weekend for quilt shows-I hit two in one day! I started at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild‘s show in Grass Valley and then drove 115 miles to the Vallejo Piecemakers show. Yes, I know that was a little insane, but I had one day and two shows-what’s a girl to do? It was a fabulous day for me, filled with lots of quilts and quilting friends. The Pine Tree show was perhaps their best show I recall:

Pine Tree holds their show on the Nevada County Fairgrounds. The show is spread out over two buildings with a short walk in between the two. What a shame-you have to enjoy the beauty of the fairgrounds during the short walk.

As I entered the main building, I was greeted by this gathering of tuffets-I must make a tuffet for the “new” house! Aren’t these fun?

I really enjoy the work of Sandra Bruce-she captures the essence of people and animals with her Material Matrix method. This is Chuck Close Two because Sandra gave Chuck Close her first one!

Sandra worked from a photo of a Great Dane for this one-look at those eyes!

This self portrait was made by one of Sandra’s students, Trish Norris-Plise. I especially love the hair. This self-portrait seems to capture both the image and essence of the maker.

This was a fabulous quilt to see in real life. Each member of the mini art group took a section of downtown Nevada City to represent in fiber. It was a fun one to study as each artist used very different techniques to create her quilt.

Ruth made this quilt to depict the final scene in the French movie “The Red Balloon”. I haven’t seen the movie but the quilt is charming. I loved the black outlines of the foreground. I’m guessing there were some hand-dyed fabrics in there too.

Bobbi Finley’s Tile Quilts book inspired Susie to create her own tile quilt. The technique utilizes big hunks of fabric that are appliqued to create each block. This is one of the best tile quilts I’ve seen-love her large scale print and color choices.

This quilt is a log cabin variant, made from 7600 logs and over 200 fabrics! Four makers worked on this quilt over 6 months to complete the top. Yes, they did get tired of green but report they are still friends and enjoy working together on donation quilts. It was so spectacular in person.

It was hard to get a photo of this quilt without visitors in front of it. It was exquisitely hand quilted in the Hawaiian tradition and Trish noted that this was one of the most difficult of the traditional Hawaiian patterns. Gorgeous!

Trish developed her interest in traditional Hawaiian quilts when she lived on the Big Island. It took her 9 months to complete this hand quilted beauty-only 9 months!

There was no write up on this striking piece. I loved the whimsy, the color palette, the expertise in construction.

There was a whole lot of piecing going on in this gentle piece. Joan saw it as a study in values and I love how it “shimmers” as the values flow across the quilt.

Carolyn used a snow dye and a discharge process for these two pieces. I love the color and I’m intrigued by the whimsical branching in the background.

There was a lot of excellent wearable art this year. This embroidered jacket was just so simply beautiful and feminine. The “fur” was actually feathers and the design was machine embroidered.

Coat by Mary Boalt

I could not get enough of this coat! I was smitten by the design and clever details. Mary self-drafted the coat and utilized decorator fabric as well as fabric from her quilting stash.

Is that not the coolest thing? These inserts are on the back of the coat and allow for more movement. Can’t you just see how this would look as she walks?

The combination of the on-trend zipper with the exquisite couture hand-picked installation is divine! I swooned over this coat-guess you can tell.

Welcome Home; Joan Mosley

Joan created this to reflect the spirit of her new home. She adapted the design from a pattern. I love the variety in the pieced background and the echo quilting.

Carol made this quilt for her 7-year old great niece as a welcoming gift to her new home. The colors are just so right on this-how fun and happy!

Yes, the photo is blurry but I had to include this piece by Christine Barnes. I love the interest that the “swizzle sticks” add to the glorious color.

Jeanie Ferguson, Featured Quilter

Jeanie was the Featured Quilter for the show. Jeanie has been sewing for over 60 years and is talented in many different types of genres and techniques. It was hard to capture the breadth of her display.

And coincidentally her quilt, “Colorful City Series” won Best of Show. The quilt consisted of 12 small quilts that each represented 12 cities around the world, with all of the work done by hand! This piece represented Marrakech, Morocco. It was an amazing quilt, filled with detail.

I forgot to take a photo of the card on this one so I’m calling it the “Butterfly Quilt”. It was beautifully appliqued and her color choices really made the quilt.

This was the best tie quilt I’ve seen. Jeanie’s Dad was a Safeway manager and some of his ties are in this quilt. And I love this-this quilt is used daily in Jeanie’s basement-yes!

It was dimensional too-so much gorgeous color and texture to this piece.

I don’t know what’s up with this. I happened to look up to enjoy the beauty of the day and found this guy. There was no sign or anything. How fun is that?

I’ll be posting to Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday-you must check out the links. There is always something wonderful each week. And stay tuned for the Vallejo show-I’ll get it up as soon as I can.