Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Quilt show

Today was a cold and blustery day, a good time to check out the quilt exhibit at our local Minnetonka Art Center. This show included quilts from 1830 to contemporary ones. The theme was Star Power- quilts with the always popular star motifs. This antique one is from 1850:
This blue and white one is a contemporary one, I love the asymmetry of the design.
This one has won awards at numerous quilt shows and is inspired by Paula Nadelstern's kaleidescope quilts.
The piecing is amazing- the photos don't do it justice.
This one is from 1945 and you can tell it uses lots of leftover fabrics, some from the 30's.
Many of these have come back as retro fabric patterns.
This one, also contemporary, is one of my favorites, especially the soft, subdued parts.
I love how the colors flow together.

The bolder, brighter areas are beautiful,too.
This is another stunning, award winning quilt. There is alot going on in this quilt.
The birds and feather appliques just jump out at you,
and I love the saw tooth look to the stars.
This antique one was started by a mother and finished by her daughter, a wonderful example of crazy quilting.
Being someone who does so much embroidery this one was really intriguing.
It dates from the late 1800's- early 1900.
This one is described as a strippy quilt made from long strips of polished chintz alternated with pieced star strips and was probably made in England.
This is a modern example of a Baltimore Album quilt- beautifully done.
The next two are examples of antique star patterns:
It is surprising how vivid the colors are in these older quilts.
Imagine piecing this one!
It was interesting to note that the contemporary quilts are almost all machine quilted and usually by someone other than the person who pieced the top. Of course, the antique ones were hand quilted, probably by the woman who had pieced it or maybe at a quilting bee.
Naturally one can make so many more quilts when you send it out to be machine quilted, but I've always enjoyed the feel and look of a hand quilted one. I know the process is slow and that I will never make many quilts,but the ones I do will be special.
This final one is a small, contemporary one, another award winner and so much fun. The black and white checkerboard border is a favorite design of mine- I think it complements almost anything. I hope you enjoyed the show!

1 comment:

Lululiz said...

I am so in awe of the women who can produce works of art as beautiful as these quilts.