International Quilt Festival 2013--continued

I have some more gorgeous works of quilters to share.  Hope you won't mind indulging me!  All photos were taken at the International Quilt Festival Long Beach 2013. 

 Incredible large hand appliqued and quilted quilt that must have taken hundreds of hours, if not thousands!

 Amazing and incredible detail everywhere. 

 The artists' comments are so fascinating at times!  What a way to start a challenge.

 Yet another large hand quilted and appliqued quilt with exquisite workmanship, along with some machine piecing. 

 Aren't the colors fun? 

 It wasn't until I got very close up that I realized the background fabric is a multicolored dot print.  Love it.

Artist credit. 

 This darling quilt was of a quilt show surrounding a quilt shop.  All the miniature quilts were amazing.

 Those Sunbonnet Sues were no more than a couple of inches tall.  The clothesline pole was about 1/4" wide and look at the tiny birdhouse on the top!  Astounding detail.

 The yo-yos were about 1/2 in diameter at the most.  See the bunny, too?

 This photo is just about life-sized.  I put my fingers in the shot so you can tell how tiny those hexies are.

 

 Artist credit.

 Detail first on this set of photos--I just loved the big-stitch quilting on these Kaleidoscope blocks all in solids.

 Artist credit.

Ta-da!  She sure did create an explosion of color on this very large quilt.  It was definitely one of my favorites at the show.  I have a few more to share in another post, with more favorites!

A New Title

Time sure has flown since twenty-six years ago on August 11th when we added a new member to the family.

 Here is our brand new daughter Elaine with her big brother Nick (who was not quite two himself). After a difficult early pregnancy for me due to hyperemesis, Elaine was born healthy and vigorous at just over 7 lbs.

This is my beloved Grandma, who came to stay with us when each of our babies were born.  Elaine was her first great-granddaughter and she loved on her a lot whenever she could. 

Elaine with the love of her life, Chris, on Mother's Day 2009...

...and on the day in February 2011 that they announced they were engaged.

 

 Just after Father's Day Elaine and Chris came over to give Grant a belated Father's Day gift box....

..with a special surprise note inside the indicating a new title for him, and, naturally, for me!!  I have finally been given permission to announce our impending grandparenthood in February 2014.  What an anniversary present that will be!  We are all beyond excited and happy for the new parents-to-be, and rejoice in our new titles.  Happy Birthday, Elaine!  You're going to be a wonderful mommy.

International Quilt Festival 2013

Another whirlwind busy weekend and start to the workweek--although Mom and I went to the IQF in Long Beach on Sunday, this is my first chance to sit down at the PC and upload photos to share.  This is the last year for the show to be in Long Beach--only 1.5 hours from home--versus next year a few hours by plane to Portland, Oregon--where the theme will expand to include crochet, knitting, and other fiber arts. Mom and I spent most of our time in the quilt exhibits rather than the vendors.  Note:  All photos were taken at the International Quilt Festival 2013.

 This was one of my favorite pieced quilts.  I just love those swirly blocks surrounding the feathered star.

 All of which were a grand mix of Civil War repro fabrics.  Yummy!

 Artist credit.

 The overwhelming impact of a single shape repeated in an extra large way!

 More great prints and colors all mixed together.  Love it!

 Artist credit. 

 There were many many fine applique quilts.  I really liked this one for its whimsy and primitive flavor.

 Gotta love a bright blue elephant. 

Same artist as above.  I like that she included how long it took her :)

 Mom asked me to get a photo of this quilt.  I liked it too! Probably about 50" square.

 Very inventive and lots of fun to explore all the detail. 

 Artist credit.

More pics on another post--it is getting late and I've had too many of those nights recently!  Goodnight.

Fiesta and Fair Sights

It was a very busy week, starting from moving DD Erica and her two cats back home on Sunday followed by a late dinner out with my brother and family, a frantic workweek, and attending Fiesta in Santa Barbara to see my husband play in his band on a big stage. 

Pretty nice gig!  My honey is there on the left playing rhythm guitar and singing classic rock n'roll.  There was lots of support from the crowd, singing along and moving to the music, as well as one very enthusiastic dancer:

This Sombrero dude was a regular wind-up monkey, and he got plenty of attention of his own for his vigorous moves, kicks, and near running in place.  Lots of people were taking videos, a few characters jumped in to dance along with Sombrero dude and high-five him at the end of a number.  After the show we enjoyed some Fiesta food and drink and headed home, another late night, but happy!

At the Ventura County Fair on Friday, Mom and I wandered through some of the competitive exhibits of a different type.

 I certainly couldn't resist a polka-dotted chicken!  

And look at this beautiful hen.  Stephanie got a photo of the rooster of this species at her Ohio State Fair visit, but the feathers are striking on both sexes, I think. 

In the Home Arts building at our fair the ceramics, carved items, knit, sewn, crocheted, painted, quilted, scrapbooked, baked, preserved, beaded, embroidered and any other type of handcraft you can think of are all there to enjoy.  I thought this vintage trailer cookie jar was hilarious.  I want it!

 Of the quilted items, this unique family tree I thought was especially striking.  

 A terrific combination of hand and machine quilting, raw edge quilting, hand embroidery, bold colors and prints.  Love it.

 The traditional side had its devotees as well.  Love the ribbon border.

 Modern funky trees and great free motion quilting won this entry a blue ribbon.

This gorgeous Oak Leaf and Reel quilt hanging from the ceiling was a beauty.  I think it was hand quilted.  Wish the lighting were better!

After a pleasant cruise of the Home Arts building and the professional artists exhibits, Mom and I had some fair food--since our fairgrounds are on the beach it seemed appropriate to seek out the fish taco truck.   I suppose other fairs must have palm trees but I found the underside of this one near the food area particularly pleasing, soaring 30-40 feet above the crowd.  A couple of special effects were added in Picasa.  

As we exited the Fairgrounds, the Mounted Sheriff's patrol was coming in.  One deputy saw me taking the photo and I caught his wave in the shot.  Don't you love the horses' reflective ankle bands?  DH and I will make another trip to the fair together next week--there is lots more to see and do! But tomorrow I'll be at the Long Beach Quilt Festival, again with Mom, for its final appearance at the Convention Center before moving to Portland next year. 

Five at the Fair

So how did my five entries do?  I was dying to find out, and since my office closed early today in honor of Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara, I was home by mid afternoon.  My mom and I caught a ride from my dad instead of fighting the traffic to the parking lot, and once we paid for our tickets, headed for the Home Arts building.  I spied one of my entries right from the door, hanging up on the far wall, and we scurried to see whether it had a ribbon.

There was a sticker on it saying "Honorable Mention".  Not the color ribbon I would most have enjoyed seeing, but recognition anyway in a very crowded division/class of entries.  We prowled the rest of the building looking for the others.

Although the hideous fluorescent lighting turned the Baby Houndstooth to green and pink rather than its true brown and raspberry, the red ribbon sticker meant it earned a second place award.  Nice!  Further searching brought us to the Chevron Tablerunner.  I may never have shown it finished on the blog. 

 

A lovely blue ribbon was attached to the runner.   DD Erica wondered why they put a rock on top of it.  Good question I had no answer to!   It took a while to locate the fourth entry, but finally we spotted it in the farthest glass case along the opposite wall. 

Another blue!  Very exciting! (Sorry for the reflection of my legs and shoes from the glass) The hunt for the fifth entry was high and low but we did locate it at last in an entirely Halloween-themed booth. 

Another blue sticker on the entry tag!  What fun it was to share the excitement of the hunt with this cowgirl:

 Thanks, Ma! 

Design Wall Monday

On my design surface is another long term project that, happily, saw some small progress yesterday while I was awaiting return of our youngest chick, returning to the nest after college graduation from Arizona State U. 

These six wool appliqué blocks have been making the bus trip with me for far too long. The butterfly got her head and and antennae, the peach its stem and leaves, the bird her beak. I cut the tiny stars and stripes for the watermelon but they await stitching. The pansy only needs its center, and the apple got a leaf. I'm undecided about putting seeds on it, they are so tiny!

E

DD Erica arrived in late afternoon with her uncle and cousins, and all her stuff, so now my sewing room looks like this:

But that's ok, it's temporary :). See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Tuesday's Orts

Tuesday's Orts--bits and scraps of thoughts and events that land here semi-regularly.

• The past two work weeks have been pretty brutal--one of our team was out for two weeks' vacation and by last Thursday and Friday I had spent my entire 8 hour shift each day working on STAT charts.  Now that she's back, it's gone down to 2/3 of the day on STATS.  I'm aiming for 1/3 by next week!
• Auto correct is a useful feature, however has its flaws that can amuse.  For instance, whenever I misspell "motion", IEspell gives the suggestion "Motown".  Makes me want to break out in song--Temptations, anyone?
• The increased summer traffic is affecting my commute by at least half an hour every day, but since someone else is usually doing the driving as I take the bus, it isn't too painful.  It's also easier to stitch when the bus is going slow.
• DD Erica is moving back home soon.  Thankfully we have one last Saturday to get her room cleaned out, as she extended her stay in AZ by a couple of days at the request of her host family--my brother and his wife and kids.  They have all grown very attached to each other.
• I have so enjoyed watching all the flora, fauna, and folks on my walks around Santa Barbara these last four months.  There are so many neighborhoods with charming abodes.  This is one of my favorites:

 This "storybook" cottage catches my eye every time I see it.  Isn't it adorable?