Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Detail of Quilting from Quilt Shows Past

Quilter's are a very aspiring group.  We aspire to master our craft from the first piece cut to the last stitch of the binding.  Mastery, it is a lifelong journey I think.  My life's philosophy is "learn something new everyday".  I do that with quilting . . . learn something new with each quilt.

Machine quilting is a particularly vexing part of quiltcraft to master.  These pictures are all masterful. The quilting is not necessarily the right quilting for a quilt in everyday use . . . but they inspire, and I aspire.

The pictures are all detail pics of larger quilts that were shown at quilt shows over the years. I apologize to the quilters who made these quilts that I cannot give you credit because of course I did not record such details as we wandered through the show. If you recognize a quilt, please let me know so credit can be given!

Hearts, Feathers and Pebbles oh my!

Quilt body of the feather heart motif border above


For a border.  Heavy background quilting
gives the feathers a trapunto effect
I LOVE this!


McTavishing . . . 
with a butterfly amid the background swirls


A very simple pieced piecing pattern
made spectacular by the mix of
traditional feathers and erratic pebbles


I would put this quilting in the category of
thread work.  This would be very fun to try.


Wow. Just wow.


Pebbles take FOREVER.  Midway you think you're
nuts for doing them.  Ah, but the end result!


Fanciful thread work with a structured background


Free hand. Something for the quilter who is
loathe to take the time to mark!


The background pebbles are all under 1/2 inch!


This one is hand quilted.  Isn't the block darling?


Tesselating fish!


Free hand.  No marking, but forethought needed.


More free hand.


The fern fronds are amazing.
Bet they took a long time!


Background pebbles with applique.


Free hand, no marking.
(Guess who doesn't like marking!)


Texture!  Bead work! Thread Color!


The applique is so free and fluid . . . all that is needed
is a free form background to set it off.