Spring in Japan by Akiko Kawata of Osaka, Japan. Machine and hand appliqued, machine pieced, and machine quilted.
The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., inspired me to translate the overwhelming beauty of cherry blossoms into a quilt. That quilt is still in the development phase, but Akiko Kawata executed a beautiful, abstracted rendition of the subject matter that is certainly along the lines I am considering. In particular, I am fascinated by the idea of representing the cherry blossoms with either single circles or circles for each petal. Here the maker used single perfect circles in a variety of fabrics to represent cherry blossoms.
Homecoming by Marlene Shea. Hand appliqued, photo transfer, hand quilted.
I find photo transfer problematic in quilting. When it is good, it is very, very good, but when it is bad, it is horrid. Here Marlene Shea used transfers of antique portrait photographs to fill the windows in traditional house blocks, which she then alternated with traditional primitive appliqued willow tree blocks, all made with reproduction fabrics. To top off the "traditionalness," she hand pieced, hand appliqued, and hand quilted the piece. So the photo transfer technique is the only contemporary aspect of the quilt. Shifting this technique out of its usual context and into the milieu of reproduction quilting made this quilt stand out from the rest.
People's Park, Nanning China by Martha David of Spencerport, NY from the Hoffman Challenge.
I'm a sucker for fish, particularly koi. This block from Martha David's entry into the Hoffman Challenge is no bigger than 8 x 10 inches. She captured the movement of a school of fish as well as the shapes of individual fish in amazing detail on such a small scale.
