Of all the quilts at the 2014 AQS Grand Rapids show, I think I enjoyed the following special collect the most. Aileen was a quilter from Michigan who has left the most amazing legacy of quilts. These are a few of hers and they are really special.
This is one of her tops that is being quilted during the show by some of the friends with which she used to quilt.
"Baltimore Remembered" won a major award at AQS Paducah show and is now part of the AQS Museum collection. It is stunning...
Hand appliqued and hand quilted to perfection...
I LOVE the colors of this quilt...
This quilt is really special...be sure to read the card below to see how it was named...remarkable...
The following antique quilt inspired the beauty above...
The following quilt was not hand appliqued, but it was still hand pieced...and hand quilted...wow...
More and more amazing hand work...just look at all the leaves in the border...
I love how the next two hand pieced quilts just shimmer...
Just lovely with really tiny hexagons...
A truly beautiful crib quilt...just fabulous hand quilting...
The gorgeous hand piecing and hand quilting just keeps going and going...
This next quilt was so special to me...I had never seen this pattern before...just look at those tiny hand quilting stitches peeking out over the label card...
Sorry...my poor photography did not properly capture the following quilt label. Aileen used templates and scissors to cut out the following log cabin pieces...she was not a fan of rotary cutting. She quilted it on the new Grace quilting frame she bought for $250 at the time (that is the frame pictured at the top of the post with the quilt in progress...). Apparently she machine pieced her log cabin quilts...the only pattern whose accuracy she trusted to machine piecing...wow...
I think the following quilt was my very favorite at the show...of everything. It really spoke to me...the simplicity of the pattern, the high quality of the hand applique and hand quilting, the lack of "bling and too much stitching...everything had a beautiful balance and the quilt hung with such elegance and lack of torture.
Sorry for the poor quality of the picture below...it was so simple and beautiful in person...the black doesn't look black...
I want to quilt like Aileen some day! I guess I am just a traditionalist at heart. As someone who mostly hand appliques and hand quilts, I feel a little lost at a show where most everything is so machine produced and, well, a little slick, shiny, and fancy. I think the machine quilted quilts are beautiful pieces of art, but they have a different appeal to me from the hand quilted ones.
I love the drape, classic lines and overall softness of a hand quilted quilt. I admire Aileen's work ethic and her output, considering all the hand work, and the fact that this only represents her work...I'm sure there were many, many more quilts in her "little black book" quilt diary. What a fabulous display of this special collection!
My "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" quilt is on its way to Chattanooga for the next AQS show in September, where it will be joined by one of my smaller, hand appliqued and hand quilted wall hangings, "Songs of Spring." I will make a brief visit to wave at them while I am down south yet again. I am still looking for my quilt mojo...anyone seen it anywhere, LOL?!?
I have enjoyed revisiting this show, and I hope you have enjoyed it too...
In stitches,
Teresa :o)
