Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Been there, saw that, (almost got the t-shirt) bought the book

Okay it is true I wasn't going to buy the book... but I had to... after seeing the quilts I just had to have something tangible to remember them by. I know the workers must have thought I was a loon because each time I saw one of the quilts that one of us is using as inspiration I grinned like a loon...

All I can say is "WOW"... they are so amazing in person. The ropes were only about 2 feet from the walls so I could stick my nose right up to them and check out every stitch. I was so surprised to see that they made quilts out of silk, wool, synthetics, velvet, and cotton. I took so many notes. I will share a few here.

First for Sharon who asked "Report back on thread colors if you can! What did they hand quilt with? black, brown, did they change colors on different parts?" I only saw one quilt that had changed colors on different parts it was #97 the threads matched the fabrics. One or two had white quilting most notably #21 . All of the rest that I saw had black thread on all of the colors.

For Sara who asked "Check the quilting on #93 for me, will you?" The triangle center portion is quilted about an inch apart in straight lines only horizontally. The border which is fairly wide and black was quilted with a cable design (I think that is what it is called...looks like a braid sort of with three channels) .

Diane when I came around the corner and saw the Crazy Star I couldn't stop grinning thinking of your post. The top and bottom of the center has row of crazy pieced blocks that are approximately half the height of the rest of the blocks and wider than the others. It looks like they might have foundation pieced it in some way the centers are like wonky log cabins that have been set side ways (not on  point) with the long triangles on the sides to make them square if that makes sense... I know you can tell from the pic but it was neat to see it up close and personal.

The one that awed me the most was this #42 this picture doesn't do it justice... those log cabins are about 3" square and it is really big... bed sized... each of the log cabins has a center square of silk and they just sparkle and shine in the light. The color is off too it is a mauvey color and the light furrows are more like a light teal. Most of the centers are jewel tones or light colors which doesn't show in this picture either. I am in love with that quilt.

The one that I want to make a personal version of is #89 ...in person it took my breath away. It is so bright and has so much spark...

I could go on and on.

King Tut was cool... but only a few pieces from his tomb were there the rest were from other places... the ones from his tomb were amazing though.

6 comments:

Tonya Ricucci said...

Wow, thank you. it's interesting to hear how they compare in person to what you see in the book. I find that huge log cabin so dull but I can see how silks would really make it shimmer.

I saw a bunch of Tut stuff in the Cairo Museum but it was so packed full of people I could barely see anything.

Sharon said...

Thank you for the great review! Glad you enjoyed your visit. In my Pre quilting life, I hit the museum in Denver. There was a crazy quilt exhibition. Although I spent hours on this floor, I went back 2x before leaving, I don't think I got "it" like I would now!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Thanks for sharing some of your notes . . . Quilts in person are always SO much better than even the best of photographs. The Amish may be called the "plain" people, but the quilts I saw when living in Indiana were GORGEOUS!

Kim said...

I'm green with envy....nothing is like the real thing!
Was there a good crowd viewing the quilts?

thanks for the armchair review :0)

Happy Sewing

Diane said...

Great post! I have been staring at that crazy piecing with a magnifying glass. If I could climb into the page, I probably would! I noticed the half blocks at the top and bottom. If I were REALLY obscessive, I'd be xeroxing the page and seeing if I could match up the half blocks to each other.

I have to clean my studio tomorrow, and you can bet that after I do, I will be trying to sew some strips together to psych this quilt out.

Thanks for a great report - I wish I could see it in person too!

Sara said...

Hey Jewel, thanks for checking the quilting on #93 for me, I couldn't make it out on the website!