International Quilt Festival 2017 part 1

The International Quilt Festival is in full swing! This year I have dolls in three of the exhibits:  

"Hannah" in the In Celebration of the Doll invitational exhibit. 

The clothing is made from hand felted merino wool which has been eco-printed with eucalyptus leaves, vintage cotton lace and hand dyed silk chiffon.  The face is sculpted with needle and thread, and colored with pastels and prisma pencils.

"Faith, Hope & Charity" in the Material Girls exhibit.

These dolls are also eco-printed with eucalyptus, oak, Japanese maple & rose leaves.

"Anticipation" and "Remembrance" in the Now and Then TAODA exhibit.

Made with hand dyed silk satin, silk gauze and pearl cotton braid. "Anticipation" is eco-printed with Chinese tallow and chinaberry leaves, symbolizing radiance and hope. "Remembrance" is eco-printed printed with oak leaves, which symbolizes strength and stability.  

Houston International Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival is in full swing!  With beautiful quilts:

Best of Show winner Janet Stone with her beautiful quilt "Ewe Are My Sunshine"

More gorgeous quilts

Beautifully handcrafted garments:

And of course, the best part, the doll exhibits!

I have two dolls in the show this year.  "In Celebration of the Doll" is an invitational exhibit, with dolls coming from all over the country (and around the world).  I feel very fortunate to be included with these wonderful artists.  My "Celebration" doll this year is

"Handmaid of the Sacred Heart"

This is my interpretation of a Santos figure, in cloth of course.  Her torso, arms and skirt are felted merino wool.  Her apron and headpiece are hand dyed velvet, with machine embroidery and beading.

My other doll is in the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists exhibit "Block Party 3".  Each doll in this exhibit features a quilt block.  The one I chose is the farmer's daughter quilt block, which inspired the piece.

"The Farmer's Daughter"

Her dress and poke bonnet are constructed from a vintage Liberty of London cotton print.  Her cotton apron features the farmer's daughter quilt block on the bib. Her hair is Tibetan lambskin.  In her arms she holds a basket of hand felted heirloom tomatoes in shades of red, yellow, orange and green merino wool.

It's always an honor to exhibit my dolls at the International Quilt Festival!  And I'm so lucky to live in Houston and be able to attend this show every year.

IQF 2014

Another Quilt Festival has come and gone.  This year marked the 40th anniversary of the Houston International Quilt Festival.  The red and white quilt display to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee was stunning.

Of course for me the highlight of Quilt Festival is always the doll exhibits.

In Celebration of the Doll Exhibit:

My piece for this exhibit, "Sunshine Parade":

The Material Girls of Houston portion of the doll exhibits:

I had two pieces in the Material Girls exhibit:

"A Mother's Treasure is Her Daughter" & "Orelia"

The Texas Association of Original Doll Artists also had a display, "Block Party 2", which were dolls featuring a quilt block on some part of the doll.  

I chose to do the tumbling block pattern.

"Circus Tumbler"

Another portion of the doll exhibit is the Treasures of the Gypsy Challenge.  The challenge theme this year was Come to the Mardi Gras.  

This is the Best of Show winner in the Gypsy category, a stunning felted sculpture by Jennifer Schermerhorn:

I didn't  finish my doll in time for the gypsy challenge.  Oh well, there's always next year...

International Quilt Festival 2013

Another Quilt Festival has come and gone.  This year, with so many shows in the month of October, I only managed to get two dolls made for the International Quilt Festival.  One for the "In Celebration of the Doll" exhibit

"Sim Shalom"
("Let There Be Peace")

and one for the TAODA "Block Party" exhibit

"Quilting Queen"

This doll has 165 patterned quilt blocks in her outfit.  I used Log Cabin, Spools, Pineapple, Fan, Roman Square, Floral Applique, and Ohio Star.

Ohio Star quilt blocks on the Queen's mantle

Check out the TAODA blog for lots more pictures of the dolls.

Preview night is always the most fun.  I added to my Elise Peeple doll collection

and made some nice purchases of fabrics and trims

Just for fun, I took a ribbon dyeing class with Christen Brown

Here are some of the ribbons I dyed in class using different stitching and folding techniques.

Another successful Quilt Festival!