EYE CANDY
CONTEMPLATION III: OH JUST TO BE BY BONNIE LYN MCCAFFERY. OK, as promised here are some of my favorite quilts from Houston. This quilt - oh this quilt. This quilt started my journey towards art quilting. If I'm not mistaken, it was on the cover of Quilting Arts magazine, only I did not own that copy, but saw it in a picture. I tried to pick it apart and see how the artist managed to make something so lifelike and dreamy, to no avail. Then I moved on, forgot about it, and when I went to Houston there it was!!! I remember saying to myself that I would be happy if I could ever quilt like that. Maybe one day. It was a reminder of how far I've come since I've first viewed that quilt, and how far I still have to go.
Here's a close-up. Many of the quilts in Houston use heat fused crystals as embellishments, which I was really happy about because while I love the look of beading, I love the increased sparkle of the crystals, and even more, how much easier they are to affix. For some reason, I like hand work and even hand applique, but the idea of sewing all those beads is just not appealing to me. So, of course, I bought a kit of crystals with the special heat tool!
GULLS IN THE HEAT HAZE BY INGE MARDAL & STEEN HOUGS. This quilt is just magnificent. I don't know if she used paint because I kept telling myself I'd come back to all of my favorite quilts to analyze them, only I didn't have time to see all of the quilts! How sad is that to fly all the way there and not to fully appreciate your favorites! Anyway, I just thought this was magnificent, and as you can see doesn't even look like a quilt!
Close-up just in case you thought I was trying to trick you - it really is a quilt!
RUNDY BY MARILYN BELFORD. I saw this quilt in a magazine last winter and was mezmerized by it. She has used no paint in this quilt. All shading and details are fabric and thread. I don't need to tell you how happy I was to see it in person. While it may be true that one needs to see a painting in real life to fully appreciate the art, how much more true is that for a quilt, with all of the textures and softness. A bunch of people were gathered around this quilt but I dutifully waited my turn to take this picture. One person commented that his eyes were a little creepy, and he did seem to stare at me wherever I went!
Close-up.
Closer-up. See, fabrics and no paint! I'll be posting more, but I just wanted to show you the ones that really turned me on. It seems I'm drawn to pictoral quilts, although always love the traditional ones. I had a major conversation with hubbie the other night as to which direction I am going with my quilting. Am I serious or hobbyist? Art quilter or traditional? I don't have specific answers yet which is so frustrating, but he did help me to see that I have definite likes (pictoral quilts) and dislikes (crazy quilting). It's a real departure in my life. I'm a planner who likes definite, defined goals, and here I am swimming in a free for all art world. Can I sink or swim, or do I just get out of the pool and do something else? Fundamentally, that is what this blog is about!
Here's a close-up. Many of the quilts in Houston use heat fused crystals as embellishments, which I was really happy about because while I love the look of beading, I love the increased sparkle of the crystals, and even more, how much easier they are to affix. For some reason, I like hand work and even hand applique, but the idea of sewing all those beads is just not appealing to me. So, of course, I bought a kit of crystals with the special heat tool!
GULLS IN THE HEAT HAZE BY INGE MARDAL & STEEN HOUGS. This quilt is just magnificent. I don't know if she used paint because I kept telling myself I'd come back to all of my favorite quilts to analyze them, only I didn't have time to see all of the quilts! How sad is that to fly all the way there and not to fully appreciate your favorites! Anyway, I just thought this was magnificent, and as you can see doesn't even look like a quilt!
Close-up just in case you thought I was trying to trick you - it really is a quilt!
RUNDY BY MARILYN BELFORD. I saw this quilt in a magazine last winter and was mezmerized by it. She has used no paint in this quilt. All shading and details are fabric and thread. I don't need to tell you how happy I was to see it in person. While it may be true that one needs to see a painting in real life to fully appreciate the art, how much more true is that for a quilt, with all of the textures and softness. A bunch of people were gathered around this quilt but I dutifully waited my turn to take this picture. One person commented that his eyes were a little creepy, and he did seem to stare at me wherever I went!
Close-up.
Closer-up. See, fabrics and no paint! I'll be posting more, but I just wanted to show you the ones that really turned me on. It seems I'm drawn to pictoral quilts, although always love the traditional ones. I had a major conversation with hubbie the other night as to which direction I am going with my quilting. Am I serious or hobbyist? Art quilter or traditional? I don't have specific answers yet which is so frustrating, but he did help me to see that I have definite likes (pictoral quilts) and dislikes (crazy quilting). It's a real departure in my life. I'm a planner who likes definite, defined goals, and here I am swimming in a free for all art world. Can I sink or swim, or do I just get out of the pool and do something else? Fundamentally, that is what this blog is about!
posted by Miriam at 11:01 PM
8 Comments:
Oh the fairy quilt is exsquisite. The gulls I swear I thought was real til I scrolled down more LOL :) Great quilts good luck with your branching out plans! xoxo melzie
Ya know, it's funny this life we live.
I am a planner per se, but not a list maker. My plans and goals are VERY short range, almost to "immediate" level. I take one thing at a time and refuse to take a look down the road.
Pictorals really grab me too, but the lack of orderlyness in the willynilly zigzag stitch scares the heck outta me!
Wow what great quilts..thanks for sharing them.
Just thought you'd like to know...
http://www.marilynbelford.com/content/gallery/legends-of-the-bible/
& Miriam with her Timbrel is under "Women of Legend."
I saw Rundy at the show too--pretty amazing & very out of my league!
Eye candy, indeed! That's amazing detail!
Wow! Rundy is an amazing quilt. The others are great too but Rundy I think is my favorite. I can't imagine the work that goes into creating this piece of work. Thank you for sharing!
There is so much to do and try in the quilting world, that it would be a shame to limit yourself early on. I especially like the idea of journal quilts - make a quilt the size of a piece of paper to try different techniques, styles, etc. I think if we do the things we think we will love to do, even if it doesn't fit into a coherent theme, it will make us happy.
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