Veterans Day 2011

Happy Veterans Day to all our nation's Veterans -- including my own Sister-in-law (who served in the First Gulf War), my Dad (who served in Korea and Vietnam) and in memory of my Father-in-Law, Papa Herb (who served in World War II).
Happy Veterans Day to many many more who have served or who are currently serving in our Military.

This quilt is titled And Our Flag Was Still There and was created by Melinda Bula of El Dorado Hills, California.  It appeared in the 2011 International Quilt Association's show that was open one week ago in Houston, Texas.

And Our Flag Was Still There by Melinda Bula

On the placard near this quilt are Melinda's words:

Attending my son's graduation from Marine Boot Camp in August, 2010, I was moved by the young men who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.  I consider myself patriotic, but nothing prepared me for that day.  This is for all the families like mine, who raised proud and devoted young Americans who have and will continue to protect the United States and what it represents, with their lives.

Melinda, thank you for sharing your colorful quilt and its heartfelt message with us.  

This quilt is an original design by Melinda Bula.  She used commercial and hand-dyed cotton fabrics, 30 weight rayon Sulky thread, and Quilter's Dream cotton batting.  To create her quilt, Melinda used fusible applique techniques as well as thread painting techniques.

To see more wonderful quilts (think lovely flower blossoms), please check out her website at http://www.melindabula.com/

Melinda also has a blog (doesn't everyone these days?).  Her blog is called Melinda's Cutting Garden (great name!).   Read about her adventures in Houston by clicking here.

A First Birthday quilt

A first granddaughter is such a wonderful blessing.  This gorgeous quilt (visually striking up close and from a distance) was made in celebration of the quilter's first granddaughter's first birthday.

Happy Birthday by Harumi Asada

The quilter is Harumi Asada who is from Higashiura, Japan.  What a delightful quilt she has made!

Look closely and you will find photos of her precious granddaughter tucked into many stars circling the quilt.  This baby is truly loved and treasured!

This quilt was in a special exhibit, Hands All Around 2011.  Here are a few more details about the quilt as shared by the quilter Harumi Asada.

Hint:  If you Google this quilter, you will find that she has made many other gorgeous quilts -- but alas, I cannot find a blog or website that I can share with you.  Instead I will share names of her other beautiful creations:

The Breath of Life featured in a 2008 Quilt Market exhibit
Gems of Thirty Years (looks like an Anniversary quilt, perhaps?)
Family, Flower and Music  (happy memories with her family)
Open Up! Your Dream Flower  (inspired by an 1870 Bengali embroidered quilt)

I am sure there are more -- please share any that you know of with me.
Harumi, if you are reading this, please know that you have another true fan - me!

Quilted transportation

You never know what you will see when you attend Houston's International Quilt Festival.

I am guessing that this is a fun vehicle to drive around town in.  Wouldn't you agree?

Of course, in Texas, not everyone travels by motorized vehicles....

2011 IQF Founder's Award

This year's IQA Founder's Award is Flourish on the Vine by Kathy Wylie, who is from Whitby, Ontario, Canada.

Here she is with her quilt -- Doesn't she have a fabulous smile? 

Kathy Wylie posing in front of her quilt Flourish on the Vine.  Her quilt won the 2011 IQA Founder's Award, sponsored by International Quilt Festival.  This is a $7,500.00 prize award, Wow!

Kathy is lovely to chat with and was happy to have her art posted here, on my humble blog.  She is a Canadian quilter and has a quilting blog, http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/ that is linked with her website http://www.kathykwylie.com/
Click here for her own blog post about this quilt, Flourish on the Vine.

Click here for photos of the other award winning quilts from the 2011 International Quilt Association show.

For each quilt in the IQA's judged show, there is a corresponding placard telling about the quilt.  This is the one that accompanied Kathy's quilt.

2011 International Quilt Festival Best of Show

My annual eye-candy feast has ended for another year ... yes, it is true, the 2011 International Quilt Festival has closed its doors.   But I have a few photos to share, beginning with a detail of Harmony Within by Sue McCarty.

This quilt won the $10,000.00 Best of Show Award, sponsored by Handi Quilter.

Here is Sue McCarty talking with her admiring fans about the making of her quilt Harmony Within.

To see a full photo of her quilt, click here.  At this same link are the names of all the award winners, along with photos of the top award-winning quilts.  I have a few more photos I will share here too ... stay tuned.

Click here for a link to learn more about Sue.  She has made other award winning quilts as well.  Click here to see more of her quilts.

Please Look After Mom

I have just finished a great book, Please Look After Mom.

This book is an international best seller by a Korean author who is already highly acclaimed in her native country.  This is her first book to appear in English and I am hoping others will soon follow!

The story is about the family of a woman who is lost in the crowd at the Seoul train station.  One learns of her life through the thoughts, memories and guilt of her adult children and her husband as they try to find her and while they struggle with this new twist in their lives.  It is a fascinating read, delving into the relationships in families: those between parent and child, between siblings, between in-laws, and between spouses.  Click here to read New York Times book review, click here for the Good Reads link, or click here to connect to Amazon.

Early Evening

This is my little quilt that I've made for Kate North's Sixth "Another Little Quilt Swap" (ALQS) which is taking place now (dare I admit that it is the size of a placemat?).  About my little quilt ... a few years ago, at the International Quilt Festival (IQF), I took a class with Jackie Robinson called "24 Batiks".   I love the colors of the batiks I used, so it was an easy decision to put the left-over cuts and blocks together, making a quilt for Kate's little quilt swap.  I call my little quilt "Early Evening" as the colors remind me of the slowly darkening sky at dusk.  Here it is:

"Early Evening"

Note:  I will be re-working the binding as I am not pleased with it's appearance in this photo (or in the actual quilt).

I had fun piecing this little top as I did not follow the original pattern layout of the "24 Batiks" pattern, but rotated my equilateral triangles in a variety of ways.  Quilting this was also a great exercise.  I did free motion quilting on my trusty old Bernina, changing the stitch for the different batik pieces.  Take a look at the following detail views.

And here is a second close-up view.

Later this month, Kate will send me the name and address of the lucky new owner of my quilt and I will mail it promptly to her.  At the same time, a new quilt will be on its way to my home.  I can hardly wait to see whose quilt I will soon own!

I swapped once before, in the Fourth ALQS, trading a remake of my "Big Foot, the Foot" quilt.  Follow the swaps made in ALQS4 to see more wonderful quilts.  The great thing about Kate's swaps is that they are "guilt-free" -- if you sign up, but are unable to finish your quilt by the deadline, no problem!  The swaps are all traded based on who ever does finish by the deadline, and no hard feelings if this doesn't include you.  I like this as I once signed up for ALQS #5, but was unable to finish.  I'm already percolating a few new ideas for the next trade ..... join the fun!

Kate has mentioned that she will host another swap, Another Little Quilt Swap #7.  So if you like sharing your quilt art with others and have no objections to mailing internationally, watch her blog, "Another Little Quilt Swap"at http://anotherlittlequiltswap.blogspot.com/  for the sign-up window and for other details.  The rules are really quite minimal and the joy is tremendous!