Voices in Cloth 2022

It was great to be at a quilt show again. The show I attended with my husband at the end of March was Voices in Cloth, put on by the East Bay Heritage Quilters (EBHQ).

As a bonus to the beautiful quilts, the venue was the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA at the sunny south end of a 930 foot long brick structure that used to be an Old Ford assembly plant (circa 1931). With floor to ceiling windows on three sides its location on the waterfront of San Francisco Bay offers a panoramic view of the Oakland Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, Fishermans' Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, and Tiburon. Also dotting the landscape were the myriads of sailboats skimming close to the docks on their way out from the adjacent Richmond Yacht Club (est. 1932) to flit about the bay on a day when the weather was absolutely sunny and gorgeous. 

Frank and I met up with another couple at the show and ate lunch with Tekoa and Bill outdoors, basking in the beautiful weather and panoramic views. The following are a sampling of the quilts displayed at the show with a few words about what I found eye-catching and interesting about them. First up was one of Tekoa's entries; this show is sponsored by her guild.  The dark navy background gave it an overall Amish feel and served as a great backdrop to the centrally radiating rainbow of clear pure colors. Having recently working on quilting circles myself, I was particularly drawn to the piano key border spiced up with circles. I pondered how much was ruler work and how much was pure skill on the part of the quilter. Those circles are so perfectly round!

The next quilt to catch my eye was an Updated Oriental Star. I studied one block intently trying to figure out the piecing sequence.

The third quilt was a riotous splash of bold, complementary, yellow and purple. I studied it up close to prove to myself it really was made of only three different parts as the descriptor card stated.

I chose to call attention to a fourth and final quilt, which was silhouettes of saw blades and other tools. There are so many fabrics and prints available to purchase I do not think I will ever dye my own; but I must admit the hand dyes provided an awesome background for the silhouettes of saws and tools

Ok, let me digress. The word silhouette brings many random thoughts to my mind both with cartoons and music. For a blast from the past (if you are old enough) enjoy listening to this song Silhouettes (1957) by the Rays or Silhouettes (1965) by Herman's Hermits. The lyrics have a cute twist near the end. I was a big fan of Herman's Hermits.

 

Vendors in this show were mainly clothing and jewelry and not a lot of fabric, patterns, kits, or sewing tools. Since I am trying to restrict myself in purchases in order to reduce my stash, I was content with this situation. All I bought was two half-yard cuts of a particular yellow because it was, in my opinion, a hard shade to find. But, wait. We did not get out the door so scot free spending wise. My husband was browsing the market section where the hand made goods are for sale. A lover of cats and Christmas (and me) he was magnetically drawn to this quilt and suggested we buy it.

Aside from being very eye-catching, the more I studied it, the more inspiration I gained from this quilt. The upper left and lower right inner large corner squares must have come from a panel. I am guessing that only two squares remained, but by pairing them with a large scale print in the upper right and lower left inner corners, the composition was well balanced. I may very well use that idea in my future quilts. I liked that the filler stripe was made of geometric prints, either plaids or stripes, and that those stripes ran crosswise. They divide but so not steal attention. I liked how the snow landscape borders were fussy cut to showcase the houses and, although not mirror images, looked continuous. The red quilting looked striking against the white snow but white thread in the center panel did not distract from the fur of the white kitten. In fact the white snowflake pattern looked great in the blue sky and red window frame.

On the back it is a bit easier to note that the central region has white thread while the remainder has red thread but their co-existence do not appear blatantly obvious on the back. I will keep this in mind if I make a quilt where a change in lower thread color will work well. Changing color to match the top seems a lot easier than trying desperately and often fruitlessly attempting to balance the stitch tension with two very different thread colors. The scenic band across the pieced back was a fun surprise, also. Christmas Valley measures 51"W x 58"L. Since it has a hanging sleeve, we may substitute it for one of our curtains during the holidays.

The show was a fantastic. Attendees were thoughtfully polite in wearing masks and distancing so we felt safe. Time with friends, indoor eye-candy of quilts, and great outdoor weather with awesome views were yummy ingredients that made for an enjoyable and long-awaited outing.