The World's Best....

Are you ready today to see some of the 2013 World Quilt Competition? This is the 17th year for this competition and which travels, "on tour". This outstanding collection of quilts highlights the skills of quilters from Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. There were over 150 quilts in this show and believe me, every one was worth a lengthy look. There was a "Best of Country" chosen for each country, a viewer's choice, as well as 1st, 2nd and 3rd places plus Honourable Mentions for both Innovative and Traditional categories, and Best Use of Color, Best Hand Workmanship and Best Machine Workmanship. And of course- there was one overall winner - Best of the World! Can you IMAGINE getting a ribbon that declared your quilt "Best in the World"??!!! Of course I cannot share every quilt with you but the following are a few of my favourites, in no particular order.

Let's start right off with "Best of World", shall we...Why not? Venetian Menagerie (60" x 66") by Melissa Sobotka of Richardson Texas was breathtaking. From a distance it looked like a five foot photo. Up close, it was just as incredible!
























"Inspired by a photo I took of a display window in Venice . The dramatic still life was a menagerie of masks, art and oddities. Raw edge fused appliqué constructed from cotton batiks and enhanced with Tsunkineko Inks. Old master art is transferred with computer printing.
Original Design. Machine Quilted."     There is nothing more I can say other than it was stunning.... Here are a few close-up shots

The Best Machine Workmanship award (Traditional category) went to Flourish (39" x 39") by Kay Bell of  Hawick, Scottish Borders, UK.
(Sorry about the shadow across the right side, it was unavoidable)

 "For me, quilts are all about the quilting so I've always been drawn to wholecloths. Flourish is a quilt of my own design, first drawn on paper and transferred to the fabric which is lavender silk dupioni. The quilting is free motion, hand guided on my longarm as an exercise using one colored fabric and one colored thread. There is nothing but the fabric and thread, the play of light and shadow create the drama and definition. Original Design. Long Arm Quilted." Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

The Basket Makers of Axoum, Ethiopia (51" x 74") by Meri Henriques Vahl of Soquel, California won Best of Country for the USA. Again, a simply stunning quilt.

"Artisans in Northern Ethiopia create brilliantly colored baskets in an amazing variety of sizes and shapes. Using a fabric collage technique with tulle overlay and free motion quilting, I selected batiks and bright Guatemalan fabrics to bring the scene to life. Faces are drawn with Caran d'ache watercolor pencils and permanent ink markers. The border includes traditionally pieced African fabrics and is hand beaded. Original Design. Machine Pieced. Machine Quilted." This quilt also received an Honourable Mention for the Innovative category. Well deserved on both counts.

Let's Go Party! (77" x 78") by Keiko Ike of Kochi-city, Japan won Best of Country for Japan. It was such a happy quilt, you couldn't help but smile when you viewed it.

"I tried to express circles with narrow lines. While I was cutting the colorful fabric, it inspired the colorful dresses in the party. A lot of colorful fabric made this quilt fun! Original Design. Machine Pieced. Machine Appliquéd. Machine Quilted." The workmanship was exceptional.

On Green Pond (62" x 64") by Judith Wilson of Wheathampstead UK, Honourable Mention in Traditional category, was one of my absolute favourites, perhaps because the colors were so rich and beautiful (and they ARE my favourite colors too), not to mention the exceptional piecing and appliqué.

"A jelly roll of colorful batiks was the starting point for a foundation-pieced "pond" of off-center pineapple blocks. By careful selection of the fabric shades, the circles of the pond ripples appeared. Leftover pieces were used, plus others from my stash, to machine appliqué a border of amusing birds on branches. Machine quilted with branches and leaves.
Original Design. Machine Pieced. Machine Appliquéd. Machine Quilted."

As you can see, I really liked those birdy borders!

And just because I love Log Cabins and the color blue, I'm going to end with this one for now. Classic and Cool (39" x 36") by Caroline Wilkinson of London, UK . Beautiful. Classic. Crisp. I want it!!

This post is getting long, so I'm going to end here for tonight. I will share more photos from this show with you. I had camera troubles the second day of the show and at the end of the day could not get all that days' photos from my memory card. Thank goodness though, my local camera shop has been able to retrieve them. I still have to go through them and edit... Stay tuned for more to come...

Piece!
Linda

"It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it." ~ Voltaire