Speaking of Miniatures

George and Virginia Siciliano were at the National Quilt Museum all day, every day during quilt week, demonstrating their techniques.  She is a hand quilter and does beautiful work and he makes amazing miniature quilts.  They are the only couple to both have a quilt in the National Quilt Museum's collection.
Do you see the scissors through George's head in the photo above?  He said that is what happens to him if he gets into Virginia's quilting stuff.  One lady who was watching the demo said that is what would happen to her if she tried to make quilts like he does!

The National Quilt Museum was amazing too.  My daughter and husband went with me to the museum and they enjoyed it as well.  I told my daughter she was seeing the best of the best in the quilting world.  I pointed out how styles and techniques have changed throughout the years, such as quilts today are more heavily machine quilted than machine quilted quilts 20 years ago. Interestingly she preferred the less densely quilts on display from the 80's and 90's!  I like both.  What I see quilters doing today with their long arms and domestic machines is pretty fantastic.  Do you have a preference??

I tried to take a picture of Virginia's whole cloth, hand quilted quilt, but as with most whole cloth quilts - photos just don't do them justice.  Her stitches are tiny and even!

And yes.... I bought one of George's patterns .... I am going to attempt one of his miniatures!  I'll keep you posted :)

You can read more about George and Virginia on their website:
http://georgesiciliano.com


For your Spring Clean Your Studio Blog fix of the day head on over to Linda Bratten's blog at:
https://lindabcreative.blogspot.com

And have a great day!!

Miniature Quilts = WOW!!

The miniature quilt category at the AQS show in Paducah was amazing to say the least.  It was all behind glass, as you can see in this picture, so the photos all have a bit of reflection on them, but they were all at eye level so you could really get an up close look at the teeny tiny details of these fabulous quilts.  Enjoy!  I still pick my jaw up off the floor whenever I look at them.

(I didn't even take pictures of them all - this was a nice, big show of little quilts!)

 These are tiny 1/4 inch hexies....

 These yo-yos are 1/4 inch!!

I'm counting 41 - 1/8 inch "logs" in each block, then look at the pieced border!!  Oh my....

Tiny, perfect, hand appliqué 

Close ups of the tiny, perfect machine quilting on Philippa Naylor's

A close up of Lucia Souza's above - I believe this one is all made by hand

Have you picked yourself up off the floor yet?  I love the miniature category!

The Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Post today is Heather Pregger at:
https://heatherquilts.blogspot.com

I must say these blog posts have inspired me to do some Spring cleaning, and not just in my sewing studio.  However in my sewing studio yesterday, I sorted through all of my wool, all of my Millefiori fabric (that's what I'm calling it right now :) and cleaned off my cutting table!  I'm feeling much more inspired to get in there and get to work on my projects!

Jane, Lucy and Millie

I love seeing quilts that I've made or that I'm working on in quilt shows.  Here are some that I found in Paducah.

Dear Jane by Patricia Niemiec, Indiana

I finished my Dear Jane about a year ago - one of my biggest accomplishments!  Patricia's looks more modern than mine, mine is pretty traditional (but I love it!).  I love the quilting on hers!

Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses!  I am working on this one but am stalled out at the moment.  I started hand piecing it and have 31 blocks complete.  Looks like I have about 25 more to make!  I wish I had started English Paper Piecing it and am now wondering if I can EPP the rest and put it together somehow with the hand pieced blocks.  I'll have to give this some thought ....

This beautiful quilt was made by Laura Wierda from Michigan

Ah!!  The Millefiori Quilt Along!!  This is what I am currently working on using EPP and The New Hexagon book. These colors are so rich!  I think mine will be a little lighter color palette.  I am having SO much fun working on this!

This beautiful "My Thoroughly Modern Millie" was made by Karen Mainar and Jessica Gamez from Missouri.

Here are a couple of other spectacular hexagon quilts in the show!


Earth and Sky by Sue McDanie (I am not sure of the spelling of the last name....)

That is a LOT of hexagons, and so beautifully arranged and put together!

I LOVE this Limeberry Tart by Lyn Crump from Australia.  Again, a billion hexagons and so artfully assembled.  I love the colors - it makes me happy to look at it :)

I watched three EPP demonstrations while in Paducah - two at vendor booths and one at The National Quilt Museum - and all three were different.  We all have our own way of EPP and once you find the way YOU like doing it, it's a LOT of fun.

The vendor at this booth told me she "cheated" when putting together her Patchwork of the Crosses.  She EPP the blocks then appliquéd them to a cream background fabric.  As you can see from the photo above, it changes the look of the quilt quite a bit, but it's still very beautiful!

If you're following the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop, today we're supposed to head over to Carolina Moore's blog:
http://alwaysexpectmoore.com
I looked earlier and didn't see anything yet about spring cleaning, but I'll check again later.  I'm getting motivated to spring clean my studio and collect a box of goodies for our Silent Auction for CWQG!  Have a great day!

People In Quilts

Today I'm showing all of the pictures I took at the AQS show in Paducah of quilts that have people in them!

This one is a group quilt made by Les Amies Du Quilt group in Canada called:
Ice Fishing Village

The Musicians (above) was made by LeAnn Hileman from Arizona



I'm a book lover so I had to take a picture of "Don't You Like to Dance, Miss Jo?" by Noriko Nazawa from Japan

Shadow Dancer (above) was made by Claudia Scheja from Germany



Old Denim Square was also made by Noriko Nazawa

Small Happy Crazy Quilt had a few little people on it!  And some animals :). It was made by Aki Sakai from Japan.  There is a LOT of detail in this quilt - amazing.

OK, so I forgot two animal quilts yesterday....
This one is Toco Toucan by Becky Billman from Illinois.

And, If My Friends Could See Me Now (below) was made by Lori Boyter and Renee Lauland from Louisiana.

Are you following the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop?  If so, head on over to Misty Cole's blog today:
http://www.mistycole.com/uncategorized/spring-cleaning/

And for a bonus, check out Laura Coia's Sewing Room Tour, featured on The Quilt Show Daily Blog here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1092&v=EAxXg_AiASc
She has some amazing organizational ideas!
Have a great day!

Animals in Quilts

My daughter Michelle went with us to the quilt show in Paducah and then to Nashville.  I learned something new about her that I didn't know before - she doesn't like animals or people on quilts!  She is a faithful reader of my blog, so as a favor to her I grouped all of the animal quilts together and tomorrow I will group the people quilts - so she can skip two days of blog reading - haha!  Although.... she does have a thing for sheep....

Moms and Babes - a group quilt by The Village Quilters from London, TN, quilted by Cathy Witt

Above is Deceptive Markings by Sue de Vanny from Australia



Oops!  This quilt has a person and an animal!

Dear My Dog
by Keiko Aso, Japan

Above: Endangered, The Lemur's Tale
by Maria Ferri Cousins, New York




You have to love this quilt - Ally's Apps by Pauline Salzman, Florida

If your dog had a cell phone, would these apps be on it?

Above: Lovin' On Old Moses
by Sue Turnquist, Georgia




Saw Who Owl by Yvette Sullivan, Canada

These quilts were both made by Masanobu Miyama, from Japan.  One is a large wall quilt (above) and the other - Animal Kingdom of Nagano - was in the miniature category!  When I saw the miniature, which is behind a glass case, hence the light reflections, I thought it looked SO familiar.  Then I realized I'd just seen a larger version and had to go take another look!

Is your sewing room/quilt studio in need of Spring Cleaning?  There is a "Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2018" going on right now!  You can "visit" a new studio everyday and get tips and tricks on cleaning and organizing your own.  To find out more about it head to:
http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/blog/
Now off to clean my studio!  Or... maybe I'll do some stitching first...