A few lessons learned from AQS Lancaster

"Whole lotta shakin' goin' on by Dreme Eckley

I only wish I could show this picture in even more detail. What an amazing quilt, bed-sized with lots of different blocks in rows. The part that interested me of course was the hexagons. They traveled around the border... not that unusual to see appliqued hexies but...
Each one of them had a surprise. Beads, buttons, embroidery.

LOVE!

I took many quilt pictures but mainly want to discuss some lessons learned while looking at quilts...

Red Chairs by Mary Ann Van Soest

This caught my eye as I want to do an adirondak chair piece. I have done paintings and drawings but want to do them in fabric. Lovely and peaceful, a large wall quilt. The lesson for me was in the cropping.

While I like the whole quilt, I love the image cropped.

Makes me wonder if I should draw out the composition on my quilts before making them more often than I do. Then try cropped versions to see if I like them better. To me, my opinion only, cropping these chairs is more interesting than seeing so much sky. The cropped scene is intimate, and the cut off chair tells a story.
Look at this one...

Life by Yoshiko Katagiri

Magnificent!!! Possibly my favorite. A large quilt, very dynamic. Note the detail shot...

thousands of hand appliqued circles creating the one spiral. What focus, and a way to use so many fabrics and colors. The circles were stuffed.
A lesson in "vision". The maker had Discipline and vision. while appliqueing quarter inch  up to about 1" circles round and round, and round in a spiral.

Teri Tope's Some Intensions (AKA Ten)

The horse is created with thread. Black thread on white fabric. It was large wall sized, say about 50"
No fancy fabrics no fancy threads, just one line next to another creating a textured portrait. Doesn't take expensive fabric or tools to make, just talent and vision and perseverance.

This one seemed so full of fabrics and depth

The King by Sherry Turkenoff
from a distance it appears the mane is composed of many pieces of fabric however on closer look

One well chosen fabric did the work.



I really really liked the following quilt, The Gift and the givers by Betty Kalizak.

The lesson was in inspiration. She was inspired by a book illustration. You never know what will inspire you to create so keep your eyes open!

 Finally, this one
Cats Game by Donna DeFusco

The detail of a tail, hanging under the quilt, reminded me that humor is as important as any other characteristic. Have fun, do not lose your send of fun while pursuing your art.