Search box

International Quilt Festival in Houston

by Cathy Ellsaesser, posted on

Oh, my! Talk about humbling! Sewing is my passion, and I am pretty good at some things, but, man, I have seen some quilts the past couple of days that have really put any of my efforts to shame. I am at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas and have spent the past couple of days walking, shopping, looking and marveling!

Quilters

International Quilt Festival Winners

I cannot possibly show all of the quilts that caught my eye at the show, but here are the winners of the festival’s top prizes:

Handi Quilter Best of Show Award: “Eternal Beauty” by Sherry Reynolds of Laramie, Wyo.,  ($12,500); sponsored by Handi Quilter. Eternal Beauty has over 15,000 pieces and took over 5,000 hours to complete.

Photo of Best of Show quilt at the2018 International Quilt Festival in Houston

Founders Award: “Over The Waves” by Setsuko Matsushima of Otsu-shi, Shiga, Japan, ($7,500); sponsored by the International Quilt Festival.

Photo of Founder's award quilt at the2018 International Quilt Festival in Houston

World of Beauty Award: “An Old Woman With Joyous Face” by Marina Landi (with Natasha de Souza Bugarin) of Sao Paulo, Brazil,  ($7,500); sponsored by Baby Lock.

World of Beauty Award: "An Old Woman With Joyous Face" by Marina Landi (with Natasha de Souza Bugarin) of Sao Paulo, Brazil,  ($7,500); sponsored by Baby Lock.

Robert S. Cohan Master Award for Traditional Artistry: “Reminiscence” by Mariko Takeda of Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan, ($5,000); sponsored by RJR Fabrics. This quilt is entirely hand sewn.

Robert S. Cohan Master Award for Traditional Artistry: "Reminiscence" by Mariko Takeda of Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan, ($5,000); sponsored by RJR Fabrics.

Gammill Master Award for Contemporary Artistry: “Velvet Flowers” by Linda Anderson of La Mesa, Calif., ($5,000); sponsored by Gammill.

Gammill Master Award for Contemporary Artistry: "Velvet Flowers" by Linda Anderson of La Mesa, Calif., ($5,000); sponsored by Gammill.

Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry: “Hope” by Ximo Navarro Sirera of Canals, Valencia, Spain, ($5,000), sponsored by Pfaff Sewing Machines.

Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry: "Hope" by Ximo Navarro Sirera of Canals, Valencia, Spain, ($5,000), sponsored by Pfaff Sewing Machines.

Look at the detailed embroidery in this quilt.

Close up of embroidery in the quilt Hope at the 2018 International Quilt Festival.

Koala Studios Master Award for Innovative Artistry: “Silent Canary” by Patricia Kennedy-Zafred of Murrysville, Penn., ($5,000); sponsored by Koala Studios.

Koala Studios Master Award for Innovative Artistry: "Silent Canary" by Patricia Kennedy-Zafred of Murrysville, Penn., ($5,000); sponsored by Koala Studios.

Superior Threads Master Award for Thread Artistry: “Blue Anemone” by Andrea Brokenshire of Round Rock, Texas, ($5,000); sponsored by Superior Threads.

Superior Threads Master Award for Thread Artistry: "Blue Anemone" by Andrea Brokenshire of Round Rock, Texas, ($5,000); sponsored by Superior Threads.

Other Quilts

Here are a few pictures of some of the other quilts that caught my eye. I just can’t believe the artistry and skill in all of the quilts I saw.

One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Festival   Close up of quilting on One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Fesitval

One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Fesitval  Close up of quilting on One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Fesitval

One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Festival

One of the quilts entered in the 2018 International Quilt Festival

There truly are way too many beautiful works of art to show in this blog.

Educators

Photos of the instructors for the 2018 International Quilt Festival

With a faculty of  120+ instructors, there were over 500 classes offered at the festival. In addition to the formal classes, there were Open Studios, where artists worked in real time on the Quilt Festival show floor. During show hours, four artists worked simultaneously demonstrating how to  Embellish/ Paint, Stitch, Quilt or Create. It was easy to get inspired just listening to them.

One of the open studios on the floor of the convention center during the 2018 International Quilt Festival One of the open studios on the floor of the convention center during the 2018 International Quilt Festival

Vendors

There are more than 1000 vendor booths on the floor of the George R Brown convention center for the International Quilt Festival in downtown Houston.  It is big. (I got my 10,000 steps in one day, no problem!) Since there were over 55,000 attendees, I’m glad there was some room to spread out.

It was great seeing booths from Anita Goodesign, Brother, Pfaff, Handi Quilter, etc. The Floriani booth featured some of the embellish products, and I got a preview of some of the neat stuff we’ll see next week at the three-day Embellish event at the Aurora store.

Photo of embossed fabric as part of the RNK embellish line

Talk about everything being big in Texas! Check out this B880 sewing/embroidery machine at the Bernina booth! (See the guy behind it on the left for an idea of it’s size!)

Photo of giant sewing machine at the Bernina booth at the 2018 International Quilt Festival

I am lucky to have a husband that is willing to drive from Bailey, Colorado, to Houston, Texas, so I can attend the International Quilt Festival . My pocketbook is a little lighter, but my brain is full of ideas. Now I am looking forward to getting home and creating something.

Comments

Cathy Ellsaesser

It is such a gorgeous quilt. Thank you for sharing it with us!

Aline and Natasha Bugarin

How fun it is for us to see our quilt here! (“An Old Woman With Joyous Face”)
Thank you!