#Is that a quilt? Amazing, isn’t it.

It was 31F this morning which means it’s the season to pile blankets and quilts on your bed. Keeping that in mind I went to the Tucson Quilt Fiesta on Saturday at the Fair Grounds. It has been years since I attended a quilt show and I’m very glad I didn’t miss this one. It was excellent! And huge. I took more than 100 photos, but here are just a few that seemed to highlight some of the more interesting and best of quilting today.

Full disclosure: Both my grandmothers were quiltmakers and made quilts for everyone in their families. I still use the ones they made decades ago. A while back I pieced together a quilt top but never got around to quilting it which I would have had to do by hand. These days most quilting (sewing together 2 layers of fabric with a layer of padding in between) is done on sewing machines. After seeing this show I may be inspired to try quilt-making again.

Creating portraits with fabric

Now to the photo at the top of this post.

Yes, that portrait of “4 Little Cowpokes” in ranch clothes by Lisa Fryxell is among the best quilt portraits I’ve ever seen. She pieced together small bits of cloth to create the expressive faces of 4 boys squinting into the sun as if having their picture taken on a bright, sunny day. This is definitely an heirloom quality quilt. And I would have given it the Best in Show prize.

Another quiltmaker, whose name I have misplaced, did a quilted portrait depicting a cowgirl riding in a rodeo, in a much more impressionistic style. Both styles have their place in the world of quilting.

Best in Show is more traditional

Dureen Berg and Becky Coykendall made this Best in Show quilt based on a contemporary interpretation by Corliss Searcey of an old American wedding quilt pattern. This one is entitled “Civil War Bride”. The bride in a short-ish pink skirt with her bloomers showing is at the top-center of the quilt. The applique flowers, and fruits and birds and butterflies are absolutely traditional, but I had to laugh when I saw an elephant and two ostriches in the bottom of the quilt. I’ll bet there is a personal story behind those figures!

Two quiltmakers put their fears and doubts on display

Most of the quilts were simply hanging on tall displays with little signs identifying the creators, the quilt name, and a brief explanation of the work. There were two quilt artists, however, who were standing beside their quilts explaining the content.

Julie Hallquist created her “Wildfire Breathing Dragon” art quilt after experiencing a wildfire roaring up to her home in Colorado which they then raced to evacuate. After this frightening experience they moved to Arizona, but you can see on the quilt her feelings in the words: “Anger” and “Fear” and “Pain”. Even the stitched quilting patterns reflect the blazing forest fire.

Inspired by a visit to the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, Deborah Keweske created this image of slaves working in the cotton fields, then added tiny balls of real cotton to the image on the quilt. She told me she had never made anything like this quilt before but the experience of seeing the fields around the plantation and knowing how they must have looked two centuries ago motivated her to create this art quilt.

Have fun with quilting

Not all the quilts were serious. One, “The Doxie Race: Who Let the Dogs Out” just made me laugh and on closer look learn something new. Lisa Fryxell –yes, the same woman who did the “4 Little Cowpokes” portrait–found sponsors for her dachund quilt, as you can see. Or maybe it is all fiction…or just fun.

Quilts for Southern Arizona

Two dramatically different styles, but Arizona is at the heart of the inspiration. On the left, Janet Stevenson’s quilt of sights around Southern Arizona, entitled “Oro Valley”, for a daughter living in Germany. On the right, the “Ancient and Modern Petroglyphs” quilt made by Mary Jones and Julie House from a pattern entitled “Wild Woman Don’t Get the Blues” by Karen Stone.

And two other quilts I just liked. Again, I cannot find the names of the artists who created them. “Sorry” to both these quiltmakers. “Your quilts are very beautiful!”