Quilts, Santa Barbara style

Two weekends ago (yes, I'm really behind!) I went to the Coastal Quilter's Guild quilt show in Santa Barbara to see what folks are stitching up north. I had gone to the local guild show last year, and I was pretty disappointed in the overall lack of anything particularly modern or contemporary. The Coastal Quilter's show wasn't all that different, but I did take some pictures of a few I found interesting.

This small art quilt by Lorna Morck is called "Bird Talkers", and I thought the use of various materials (buttons, ribbons, yarn, etc.) was fun and out of the norm for this show.

Darilyn Kisch made this quilt and calls it "Kathie's Girls". Although I'm not so crazy about the execution of the quilt itself, I really like the little dress block, and I think it would be fun to use the block in a quilt with lots of sweet thirties prints for the little dresses. Or, it could be a fun way to use bits of fabric from Brynne's dresses - maybe a dress block for each year from a favorite dress of hers?

I was laughing inside when I read the description for this bed-size quilt... The quilter (and her name is unreadable thanks to my lousy flash...) made this for her husband on their 50th wedding anniversary. He is "intrigued by space and extraterrestrial life", so she made this quilt based on crop circle designs! Makes me wonder what sort of designs I'd have to use to make a similar quilt for my hubby... space invaders? commodore 64 graphics?

 

I was unable to get close enough to this quilt by Juli Shulem to get pictures of the quilting, but each leaf was quilted perfectly using incredible decorative stitches. In fact, the stitching was so perfect that the quilt is basically reversible - the backing is a dark fabric and the quilting is in gold thread, so there's an amazingly perfect outline of each leaf on the back. Really lovely quilting, and a nice overall fall color pallette.

This is a fun memory quilt made of vintage neckties and their labels. I like these sort of quilts because it seems like I see something new each time I look at them - definitely a nice way to remember a family member. Here's a closeup to see some of the detail:

In addition to the quilts made by guild members, there was also a special exhibition featuring quilts by Robbi Joy Eklow. Her quilts are certainly contemporary, but what I was most impressed with is her fantastic understanding of color (especially bright color!) and her incredible quilting. Here is an example of one of her quilts, and some closeups of the quilting (click on the close-ups to really see the intricate quilting patterns!):

Overall, I didn't find anything earth shattering at the show, but I did enjoy taking a close look at these quilts to see the techniques and details in person...

Comments

[Laurence]

I really like the leaf quilt! I've been thinking of taking a quilting class for a while now. Thanks for sharing these!

[Mathea]

I like the leaf quilt too. Not the first colours I would have chosen if I were to make an autumn quilt, but when I see it, it does have an autumnal feel. And thanks for sharing the close-ups of Robbi Joy Eklow's quilting - I'm always on the lookout for good quilting ideas!

[Passions & Distractions]

I love the leaf quilt, although the bird talkers is cute! I think your idea of using the dress blocks to commemorate favorite dresses is a great idea!