Houston, that is.  Huge Quilt Show.  Celebrities.  Parties.  I’m in big trouble.  I have 137 pictures.  And I can’t decide which ones I should not share with you.  I want to share them all!  So perhaps I’ll have to share them over multiple days.  Let’s go!

 

For those of you who might never have been to the Houston Market or Quilt Festival, this is the view from the second floor.  Looking down over all the vendor booths.  And this is probably only about 1/10 of the size of it.  Row after row after row after row after row.  You could walk your feet right off.  Or walk blisters right in.  It’s a lot of walking!

But I mostly took pics of the quilts in the Festival Show.  Keep in mind that these were all taken at Market.  Before any of the winners had their ribbons on them.  So we got to look at them all “cold turkey” without the benefit of ribbons.  We just picked our faves!

First of all their were miniatures.  True minis.  Tiny little pieces.  I had my friend, Janet, hold her finger in one picture so you could get a feel for the size.  Because in a picture it’s impossible to tell.

See?  The teeny, tiniest log cabin blocks imaginable.  Now keep in mind that scale for the next ones too.

Oh, my!  Tiny little quilting.  And tiny little applique.

Those little points were so sharp.  I’m not sure where the seam allowances go.

I think this was my favorite mini.  Those were the tiniest diamonds I’ve ever seen.  Unbelievable.

This one is not a miniature.  I’ve moved on from those.  The rest of the pics are pretty much full sized quilts.  And I thought this one was really sweet!

How about this one?  Storm at Sea blocks with a boat in them.  But you have to see the boat up close.

Aren’t the sails spectacular?  Little flying geese and other intricate piecing.  Fabulous.

These cute little houses are in a category that I always love to see.  “Handmade” which means that the entire quilt must be made by hand.  But you need to see one of the little houses up close.

Cute, isn’t it?  Lots of detail.  Incredible detail.

Again, made entirely by hand.  Amazing.

I loved this one too.  Same category.  Who has time to make a quilt like this entirely by hand?  These people have too much time on their hands.

A look up close.  Cute little squirrel.

One more in the handmade category.  They really are my favorites.  Incredible workmanship.

Interesting setting on this one.  And color.  Beautiful quilt.

An entirely different category.  Fabulous works of art.

And how about this little guy?  What a cutie.  So realistic.  All done in fabric.

This quilt really intrigued me.  Notice the edge treatment.  Very nice.

And who thinks of drafting a seven pointed star?  What kind of angle does that require in those diamonds?

I was so intrigued I took pics of multiples.  Seven points!

And how about the quilting?  Oh, my.  Did I mention the stars have seven points?

OK – this is the last one.  I won’t bore you with more.  But they really, really, really, really, really, really, really were amazing.

Janet, who is a longarm quilter, was with me when we looked at this one.  We were both blown away. 

Who is brave enough to quilt with black thread on a white background?  Apparently someone trying to win a $10,000 prize.  And this one claimed the big prize this year.

The quilting was amazing.  Unbelievable actually.

Again, black thread on white fabric.  Incredibly brave.  And totally incredible.

I’ll show more tomorrow.  Some winners.  Some not, but just favorites of mine.  If you’d like to view all the winners, you can check them out here:

International Quilt Association Winners

Happy Quilting!
Barb