Day Trippin'

Some days it pays to get up early, not that there was much sleeping going on the past few nights thanks to the oppressive heat and humidity. "Early"-after just 4 hours of sleep- is a tough "early" to take, but I managed to pull myself up off the soggy sheets, hop in a cool shower and be on the road at 5:30am to head north. All of this was so I could catch a bus to Rochester, NY (4 hours west of me) for the Genesee Valley Quilt Club's 2013 quit show. The chosen theme: Magical Threads/ Inspired Stitches was just that- magical and definitely inspiring!!  Six hundred quilts.  Nine special exhibits.  Three "challenge" exhibits: one inspired by a novel (Luis Alberto Urrea's Into the Beautiful North), the second by a show title and the third by the Chinese Chestnut pod.  Two other special exhibits: "Through the Looking Glass- Downtown Rochester at the Turn of the Century" and "Nature Behind Bars" were also on display.  Most of the photos you will see below are from this (Nature Behind Bars) particular collection of juried quilts whose exhibitors are part of the Rochester Area Fiber Artists. It was sponsored by Red-Dog Enterprises, Inc. (more on them in tomorrow's post!) 

The Genesse Valley Quilt Club History Booth featured Susan B. Anthony House, and explained how quilts influenced the suffrage movement in our country. Now this is where I must caution those of you who have been long time readers, and/or know me and my quilting preferences either personally or through this blog. What you are about to see might confuse and astound you.  You will not see one photo of a Dear Jane quilt (there were two lovely versions). You will not see fabrics designed by Jo Morton( there were quite a few). You will not see Ohio Stars, baskets of any kind, hints of the Civil War or a crazy quilt block in the mix. What you are about to see are (cell phone) photos of some of the the quilts that particularly delighted me (and got me thinking a million thoughts at once).  I hope they will delight you as well! So many quilts, so little time- a definite drawback to a bus trip. 

Magical Threads was awash in art quilts. Beautiful renderings in colorful cottons and beautiful batiks. Amazing designs, wonderful execution, lots of hand quilting, and some major machine quilting. Enjoy!

This first photo is a wallhanging entitled Currents- designed, quilted and exhibited by Beverly Kondolf:

"improvisationally pieced from hand-dyed fabrics"*

Teal Spring- designed, quilted and exhibited by Mary Louise Gerek: "concept taken from the poem 'Teal Spring' by Kathryn Jospe.  This quilt will be featured on the cover of 'Mosaicq', soon to be published".

Which Way Out- designed, quilted and exhibited by Karen Sienk: "This quilt changed directions many times through the design process and I was determined to find which way out to get to competition."

Upon closer inspection I was delighted to discover the use of a couched ribbon I actually own in my ribbon collection!

Birds in Warped Time- designed, quilted and exhibited by Caris Burton: "inspired by a piece of music of the same title by contemporary Japanese composer Satoh Somei. He graciously gave permission to create this quilt referencing his work."

 
Beautiful...

Ice Crystals- designed, machine quilted and exhibited by Kathi Everett: digital imaging, machine quilted, with the addition of cut and pieced hexagons" (approximately 350!).

Amazing close up:

*Note: all comments/descriptions are taken from the cards hung along side the quilts. There were no explanations in the show catalog! I am so glad I photographed the entry cards- a habit I started years ago to keep things straight, and give credit to the quiltmakers/quilters.

So much amazing work, and to say that I left excited and inspired is an understatement. My head was swimming with ideas- and not a one was even close to a reproduction! Stay tuned. I have a few more photos to share and will tell you more about Red-Dog Enterprises (with whom I spent a good amount of time).  I'm away much to tomorrow, but hope to make some time to blog upon my return home late tomorrow afternoon.