QUILTS FROM PIQF: TRADITIONAL, SOMETIMES EVEN SENTIMENTAL (Cheri)

I first encountered Nancy Brown, the artist who made this quilt, nearly 30 years ago.

That quilt was hung at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and featured many circular collections of insects!  I ended up writing Nancy a note, telling her that I had never before seen a quilt that I would have been willing to take a second job in order to buy. 

I almost missed this quilt when I attended the Pacific International Quilt Festival this year, because the show closed an hour earlier than I thought.  Here are some of the details of the quilt, and her artist statement:

I was able to buy a quilt of Nancy's a few years ago at a silent auction.  It was a whimsical portrait of whippets in striped turtleneck sweaters.  A friend and employee who had owned whippets had just died, and having the quilt made me cry and laugh, at the same time.

(A few days after I posted this, I realized that this is not so much a "traditional" quilt, but an art quilt utilizing a traditional technique.  Not bothering anyone, hmmm?)

Illuminated manuscripts always mesmerize me; in fact I have just started a Pinterest page dedicated to them.  This artist used appliqued fabric, beads, thread, and colored pencil to replicate one:

This artist started with a traditional cotton quilt block, then added wool applique, thick "pearl" cotton thread, and vintage buttons to enhance the blocks:

This next quilt is striking in its entirety:

but it was the sweet inclusion of the quilter's grandmother's photos of her father that drew me in:

I particularly liked this block, which included fabric printed with reproductions of vintage ledgers to enhance the period-inspired piece:

Finally, here is a more contemporary piece, which started with a traditional Log Cabin block but definitely took off from there:

This artist, Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, has starred in the industry so long that she has been chosen to design her own line of fabric.  That fabric and the highly-textured quilting really make the quilt demand notice!