Bloomington (IHQS) Quilt Show

Last weekend I went to the Bloomington (Indiana Heritage Quilt Show) at the Convention Center in Bloomington, Indiana. In my last post, I mentioned the class I took with Bill Kerr (which I really enjoyed). In this post, I want to share some of the quilts that caught my eye.  (For all the pictures below, I made a concerted effort to photograph the artist's name with the quilt. Be sure to zoom in to get some more information about each piece.) Being a hand quilter, I'm always on the lookout for great hand quilted quilts. The HAND quilting on this whole-cloth quilt was spectacular.

There was an exhibit called "Inspired by the National Parks" on display. They were created to celebrate the 2016 Centennial Anniversary of the National Park Service. You can find more information about this exhibit here. There were LOTS of quilts as you can see in this picture which shows a few of them.

These were some of my favorites. (If you zoom in, you can see the maker and the park the quilt represents.)

The dancing "bird" in the upper left photo was SO colorful and SO cheery I was drawn to it. When I looked closer, I laughed out loud. The disco ball was a great touch! The little owls (on the top right) had been stamped and hand embroidered (something else I LOVE). The cone flowers were really beautiful in person.

The rock arch in the top photo was VERY realistic. I loved the stalagmites and stalactites of Mammoth Cave in the bottom photo.

These two were just so peaceful to look at. The threadwork on the Virgin Islands National Park quilt (right) was such a nice addition to the quilt. It looked like an underwater scene.

 

Now, on to the rest of the show. The quilting of this quilt made it stand out from the crowd.

This artist had a good day. She won two awards with these quilts. 

There was some really nice piecing and applique.

There were colorful, artsy quilts.

The quilting on the top left photo above was REALLY good. It gave the quilt a texture that was very appealing. I liked the happy colors of the quilt on the top right. The way the circles were added gave the quilt a three-dimensional quality. The ladybug just made me happy. It was made up of all kinds of different flowers.

 

There were actual three-dimensional quilts. The artist used wire to create the petals of this quilt. She also did A LOT of beading to make the centers of the cone flower more realistic. (I think mailing this quilt to a quilt show would be a nightmare.)

There was something for everyone at this show. It is a relatively small show but a good one. If you are close enough to come to this show next year, please do. Take a class; enter a quilt. If we don't support these shows and classes IN PERSON, we WILL lose them. There used to be really good shows in Indianapolis and Louisville which no longer exist. I'd hate to lose this show too.