Works of Art

Well, as if logging several miles by foot at the Renaissance Festival the day before wasn't enough, today Pam and I decided to head downtown to the convention center and the 35th annual International Quilt Show. (I forgot to mention that it was the 35th anniversary of the Ren. Fest. as well). I had seen a shot or two in the news or newspaper of one or two of the quilts and was quite impressed. I had no idea what was in store for me.

I would really recommend that you click on the picture of a quilt you like so that the picture blows-up and you can see a little more of the detail. Unfortunately, there is just no way my little camera can do these works of art justice. And that's exactly what these are - works of art. Some of them sell for tens of thousands of dollars and took months or even years to create.

This was a neat exhibit from some women in Germany who created a Quilt Black Forest that you could walk through. It was a different way to experience this craft.



This Quilt so was so freaking huge, it took up the ENTIRE George R. Brown convention center. Even when we were housing Katrian refugees, we didn't utilize the entire convention center. Half the convention center was dedicated to exhibitin this year's quilts and the other half was a marketplace of every kind of quilting need imagined...and then some. In this shot, Pam is playing with one of the ultra-fancy quilting sewing machines. I can only imagine how much it cost.

Being a quilting show, there was WAY too much estrogen in the building. So much so, they even turned the men's bathrooms on the exhibit hall floor into WOMEN'S bathrooms. I had to ask around for a mens bathroom and was eventually directed down to the basement. But also of some humor, was the "Husband's Lounge" set up in the back corner of the building. You can just make out the sign above the red curtains.

Inside the Husband's Lounge were these tables and chairs along with a flatscreen t.v. playing one of the day's football games. It seemed to me that about half of the few men at the event were in this area.



This quilt may have actually been of some interest to some of the men. It's called "A Tribute to Tolkein". If you click on the picture and blow it up, you'll notice multiple images from the Lord of the Rings: Gandalf marrying Aragorn and Arwen; the two towers on each side border; the ringwraiths on horseback along the bottom; the four white cirlces with F, S, M, & P for each of the Hobbits; Treebeard and the Eagle; the Tree of Gondor; the horse of the Rohirrim; and the Nazgul at the top.



YES, this is actually a quilt, and YES, it is all stiched together. Again, my little camera just cannot do these things justice. So from this point forward, just scroll down and admire any that catch your eye. There were hundreds, if not thousands more - but these few drew my attention.

This quilt represented the parable of the Prodigal Son. There are vinettes of the son's story spread all around the centerpiece which is his forgiveness and homecoming.

I just happened to notice that this particular quilt was done by a woman in Albuquerque. There were also quilts from every continenent on the planet, but in particular some quilts from Russia that were AMAZING but I was not permitted to take pictures of. Bummer.

This quilt represent Jesus, resurrected and ascended in glory with the empty tomb and angel on the left. That is the artist there on the right. She said she spent around 700 hours on this particular quilt and that it was recently appraised at $13,000. She said at this moment she was not willing to sell it. (not that I was going to buy it...)