International Quilt Show ~~ Houston (12 winners)

Best of Show

Thanksgiving, school props, and painting (Adam's finish)

Lots going on in the Marcotte lot. Firstly, we celebrated Thanksgiving in grand fashion with two meals on Thursday. One for the parents at noon because Papa can't handle too many people. About three is his limit, so we cooked a second meal for the kids for supper. 

That also gives the boys a chance to visit with their wives' families, and they can drop in on their grandparents a few at a time. No one gets left out this way. It's lots more work, but worth the extra effort since it means making things easier for the aging parents and it helps the kids arrange holidays with their families. Of course, there's nothing left of the food. By now everything has been eaten as leftovers or put in the freezer. 

Saturday and Sunday everyone just tried to rest and do a few things around the house. Adam and Richard had a special project going on. They built props for an upcoming school play. Can you guess which one? If you said A Charlie Brown Christmas, I'd have to agree because these are definitely CB props, but the real truth is that no one has really told me anything except to come see the cuteness. And, well, it is all kinds of cute.

Even better everything is made from left-over wood from a job or previous project. Even the mailbox is recycled. We replaced ours a few weeks ago and it had not found its way to the trashcan for pickup. Apparently we generate more trash in the fall, when we tend to purge the most, thanks to the cooler weather.

Adam retrieved it from somewhere, banged the dents out (it had been run over by a tractor) and mounted it on a freestanding pole. Then he painted it a very bright yellow. The flag was missing, so he even built a wooden flag that moves up and down. 

And now we're on to my current project. I'm working on another cotton painting. It's much like one in neutrals, beige and brown that I wrote about here. I also painted two in blues and wrote about those here.

I didn't like the beige one until it grew on me, then it became my favorite. I planned on painting a few using a green background but that hasn't happened. I supposed green needs to be higher on the list. At any rate this one is still a wip. 

The cotton bolls are still too dark and I need to add to the stalk. Cotton plants, you see, have many sharp limbs that do not bear unless the earliest flowers or seed pods are lost--as in eaten by a cow or destroyed by a storm. Then the plant is poised ready to put out new seed pods as soon as the early ones are lost.

It's interesting how much you can learn about a subject when you begin a "little" research just so your art is more authentic. Anyway, I'll show pics when the painting is complete and the frame is complete, and I pair the two. That may be a week or so, since my husband insists on making frames as though they will be seen from the front of the artwork. They are not but he's a perfectionist. And I am asking for a favor, so I guess we'll wait for a perfect frame.

In case you missed the pictures I took at IQS, all the posts are here:

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 1}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 2}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 3}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 4}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 5}

Pin It Weekly #178

Richard's dad has been in the hospital for the last few days, so I have not been able to pin much of anything. That said, I do have several pictures from IQS Houston. So how about that?! 

By the way, my father-in-law is doing better since his surgery on Tuesday night. Although still very week, he was released this morning and is home. We will be taking turns sitting with him as Richard's mom is not able to take care of him alone. 

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: I Q A Show

Don't you know that I'd promise to put some of my pictures from Houston on Sunday Quilt Inspiration and then I'd do something completely different? Well, of course I would! Really?! Yes, really.

So rather than just toss out the first post, I'm leaving it and adding another. What's two post in one night, right? It's doable. Or at least it will be done. I like to keep promises. Even if I can't remember that I made the promise. I'm such a goof!

At least it's easy...and here they are. The first quilts that I saw at the show.  This entire section is called "Cowboys, Horses, Quilting and Leather!" All of the quilts were made by Cathy Wiggins using real leather that is quilted.

This is one of the curatorial information sheets that IQA includes with each piece. I did not have time to take pictures of each sheet. In fact I took very few pictures of any of the information sheets. I wanted a few seconds to enjoy the majority of the quilts. For some of the quilts I took several minutes to enjoy and analyze them. These particular quilts are gorgeous to look at. I wanted so badly to touch them, feel the texture, and look for stitching. (No, I behaved.)

Les Bâtons ~~ finished!

This is a quilt that I started last year and put in the quilt que. It got buried there and, of course, forgotten. However it customer tee shirt quilt was stalled for several days, so I dug around said que and rediscovered it.

I am thrilled that I did! This is much better than the not-quilted version. Plus, I discovered a new quilting motif...which I happen to like very much. More on that later. There's so much going on that I almost can't contain myself.



Not only did I finish Les Bâtons, I am on my way home as I write this post...from Houston.














Last night we finally decided to leave early this morning, spend the day at the quilt fest, then return home this evening--which translates into "as soon as my body gives out."

I took hundreds of pictures, so be sure to come back on Sunday for a full report. In the meantime, here are a few more pics of Les Bâtons because I really like this quilt.

Quilt Stats
Name:	Les Bâtons
Size:	45 X 60 (approx.)
Fabrics:	Scrap fabrics from stash
Background:	Kona khaki
Binding:	Kona taupe
Pattern:	Chinese coins
Quilting:	Custom free motion

Dificulty:

Easy

If you are a beginning quilter, you should give this pattern a try. You don't really need a pattern; just cut some small squares and sew them into a line, then add as much background fabric as you feel you need. That's how I put this one together. 

Don't you think that system would work for you as well? Would you prefer a "real" tutorial? I can add measurements and steps without much difficulty. 

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts 

TGIFF at Busy Hands

Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation

Fort Worth Fabric Studio

Pin It Weekly #138

It's cold here.  Well, not this cold.  Cold enough, though. Wet, miserable cold.  Gusty, windy, chill-to-the-bone cold. 

Add caption

We don't have ice and snow.  We don't get much snow, but ice comes along pretty often. I mean, not like this. Thick ice...that's not much of a problem. If we want to skate, we have to pay an ice rink. 

So the scenes from On This Winter Day by Nancy Prince and Linda French, which won “Best of Show” at the 2014 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, are not at all familiar to Louisianans. 



We mostly just complain about the cold, look at beautiful art of cold, and cuddle under quilts when we think it's cold. 

I can't imagine that anyone cuddles under this beauty! If you'd like more information about the quilt, visit Bernina's We All Sew website. The quilt was made on a Bernina 830, so the site showcased it on the 20th. The quilt makers explain quite a bit about their amazing quilt and how they achieved the details. A must read!

Pin It Weekly #89

Happy Thursday!  More photos from IQS in Houston.

At the visitors' center just across the Texas state line.

A photo so we'd know where the car was 

parked--much easier than remembering!

                                 And, of course, the quilts!