Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Quilter’s Paradise On Display

A highlight of the International Quilt Festival and Market is the chance to check out the award-winning quilts on display. The George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, Texas, showcases an extensive collection of quilts in various categories and themes. The outcomes are inspiring, colorful, and showcase the skill and imagination of the quilt makers.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Cherrywood Challenge

I especially enjoy checking out the Cherrywood Challenge. Each year, the company offers up a new challenge. On display was the traveling exhibit from the Abyss Challenge. The rules are simple and direct.

  • Use only the colors designated within the bundle. This challenge used one of three collections: the Squid, Octopus, or Angelfish.
  • Create an original design.
  • The finished piece must be a square 20″ x 20″

Simple right? You might expect to see some similarities in the submitted quilts, but you would be wrong. These fabulous quilts show a vast variety in colors, designs, shapes, and outcomes.

The quilts are juried, and quilters are encouraged to use all the colors in the collection. The Abyss referred to the theme of – Creatures from the Deep.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Plus, the way that the organizers display these square quilts is surprising. They are arranged on a display board. When you think you have seen all the quilts, you turn the corner and there are more quilts. And more quilts and more corners to turn. The outcome leaves you breathless and anxious to turn the corner and see even more designs.

Cherrywood Fabric

Cherrywood Fabrics are known for their cotton fabric that appears to be solid, suede-like colors. All the fabric is hand-dyed and made in Minnesota.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

If seeing these entries encourages you, the 2025 challenge, Storytime, is now open.

Check out all the quilts from the exhibition in the gallery below

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Quilting Magic at the International Quilt Festival

Houston, Texas, will host the International Quilt Festival at the George R. Brown Convention Center from October 9-12, 2025. In addition to the booths and displays offering fabric, patterns, threads, and notions, the Festival will feature an awe-inspiring display of quilts.

Over 1,000 quilts will be on view, focused on one of the 33 themed exhibits. The Festival consistently astounds us with its unique concepts and themes each year, and we eagerly await seeing them all. We can’t imagine the work it must take to cull out the submissions to settle on these few.

If you are going to the Festival, be sure to schedule sufficient time to cruise through the myriad of quilts. The preview night actually takes place on October 8th and is free for students enrolled in a class. Otherwise, it costs $16 for the preview night alone. Or buy a day pass and see the quilts during the show hours.quilt-festival

Some of our favorite categories for the show include the Elite Quilters from Taiwan, where Taiwanese quilting teachers are showcased. Their work is meticulous and detailed.Monkey-Boy

Fall in Ontario offers a glimpse of our northern neighbor with an autumn focus. The quilting is inspirational. Fall-in-Ontario

You can count on the Festival to remember all members of the world. The Cossack Mamai Quilt is a Ukrainian patchwork quilt created by 47 Ukrainian quilters, who produced these 65 segments. Cossack-Mamai-Quilt

It is incredible how some quilts stand the test of time. Fine Feathered Quilts displays the traditional Princess Feather design and Feathered Star quilts. These designs first surfaced in the 1800s.Fine-Feathered-Quilts

Frances Holiday Alford: An 80-Year Retrospective is a collection of the noted quilter’s work. Her work is touching and can’t be missed.Black-Cat-Red-Flowers-Green-Leaves

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Images courtesy of International Quilt Festival

Preview of International Quilt Festival

quilt-festivalHouston, Texas, will be colorful and bold when the International Quilt Festival checks into the George R. Brown Convention Center from October 9-12, 2025. Besides the booths offering every conceivable color of fabric and interesting gadgets and notions, the Festival will feature a dazzling display of quilts.

Yes, over 1,100 quilts will be on view, focused on one of the 33 themed exhibits. The Festival consistently astounds us with its unique concepts and themes each year, and we eagerly await seeing them all. The Festival offers a proper display for the quilts, with the lighting just so, and the artists’ stories and backgrounds available to read. We always enjoy seeing these quilts.

If you are going to the Festival, be sure to schedule sufficient time to cruise through the myriad of quilts. The preview night actually takes place on October 8th and is free if you are enrolled in a class. Otherwise, it costs $16 for the preview night alone. Or buy a day pass and see the quilts during the show hours.

Some of our favorite categories for the show include the 1X4: A Dimensional Challenge, where artists must use a narrow vertical format to showcase their skills.Creatures-Real-and-Imagined

4 Common Corners Rocks! asked for quilters to use the Colorado Plateau and the four corners of the states to develop a geo-based quilt.New-Heights

You can count on the Festival to remember all members of the world. Advocacy Quilts: A Voice for the Voiceless enables marginalized women to share their stories through exquisite quilts, bags, and tea towels, each made from embroidered squares.Advocacy

It is amazing what artists can produce. Black & White + One presents displays highlighting the contrasting values with a splash of one color. These offerings came from the Handi Quilter National Educators.B-W1

Brasilidade showcases 15 Brazilian quilts, offering a vast array of expressions, colors, and cultures.Brasilidade

How better to celebrate a special moment in a loved one’s life than in a quilt? So Celebrate Life presents a variety of techniques to honor special moments.Weddding-Quilt

Can’t wait to see more quilt categories? Subscribe and stand by.

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Images courtesy of International Quilt Festival

Texas Quilt Museum – New Summer 2024 Exhibits

The Texas Quilt Museum offers two new outstanding exhibits. The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Prize Winners and Fiber Art Now: Excellence in Fibers III will be on display from May 2- August 31, 2024.

Welcome-to-the-Farm

As unlikely a combination as it may sound, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo offer a different competition that does not involve livestock. Yearly, the show promotes its unique quilt contest. The contest is divided into Adult and Youth categories. The Museum will display the Blue Ribbon winners from both of them, totaling 35 works in Galleries I and II.

Color-My-World
The exhibit also included some offerings from the local La Grange, Texas, high school. The art students created some striking examples under the theme of “Western Art.”Dixie-in-Violet

The museum will showcase its Fiber Art Now: Excellence in Fibers III exhibit, with a total of 19 works on display. Contemporary fiber and textile art is always compelling, and this international collection shows why. The exhibit was organized by the Fiber Art Now
magazine.La-Longue-Route

The Texas Quilt Museum is located in La Grange, Texas, and is open Thursday through Saturday, so make your plans before these exhibits disappear.Epoch-2

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Images courtesy of Texas Quilt Museum

Quilted Bag Made Easy

The friendly folks at Clover have a great tutorial on making a quilted bag, just in time for the holidays. Everybody needs an extra bag, right?

Quilted Bag

The beauty in this tutorial is that any fabric will do and with a little experimenting it could be any size.  While the tutorial includes a set of handles, they could be eliminated if you are looking for something simpler.Quilted-Bag

Time for Quilted Bag

If you have the supplies at hand you could knock this out in less than two hours. If you get really creative you could even add some embroidery to the bag. 

By using Fusible Flex Foam, the bag has some structure and also a little bit of padding. With the fabric quilted through the foam, it will be a sturdy addition to your bags.  It would also make a great gift or to hold an additional gift.  After all the Christmas holiday is right around the corner!

Holiday or Not

Of course, this bag is not just for Halloween.  Change out the fabric and you are ready for an occasion.  It really is a delightful design and easy to makeQuilting-for-Bag

Tutorial – Quilted Bag

So check out this clever tutorial from Clover and enjoyQuilting-bag-clipped-before-sewing

Photos courtesy of Clover

 

 

Embroidery Hoop- Help to Hold the Hoop

Ever have trouble aligning your embroidery hoop?  Between stabilizers, fabrics, and more stabilizers sometimes it is difficult to hoop the layers and tighten down the hoop.  Add to that, the outer hoop will shift around and move on you, making it even more difficult to align everything perfectly. And we do want the embroidery project to be 100% PERFECT!

Tip for holding embroidery hoop

You might ask some helpful soul to give you a hand, but we have a different solution. Go out to the kitchen and grab a silicone baking sheet. These sheets are used to layer a cookie sheet and allow a baker to make great cookies. Instead of parchment paper, the silicone sheet can be washed and used over and over

But that silicone baking sheet also offers just the right amount of stickiness to grab that embroidery hoop.IMG_6634

Use of a silicone sheet

Place the silicone sheet on your table or counter and smooth it out.  Place the outer embroidery hoop on the sheet. Don’t worry if the sheet is not large enough to contain the full dimensions of the hoop. Just place as much of the hoop as you can onto the silicone sheet. 

Then add on your layers of fabric and stabilizers. Align the layers to be straight and then place the inner hoop in place and tighten the frame.  If you are using a magnetic hoop, just start attaching the magnets or the magnetic top frame.IMG_6630

As you tighten the hoop, adjust the fabric to avoid any puckers or gaps. The silicone sheet will hold the bottom hoop in place.IMG_6633

Now just lift the entire embroidery frame and proceed to your sewing machine and get to embroidering!  Easy, peasy right?

The silicone sheet can be used over and over. If you want, you could even buy the largest sheet you can find and reserve it strictly for your embroidery projects.

Do you have an embroidery hint to share?  Post it here.

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Two Quilt Festivals Were Successful

The International Quilt Festival successfully wrapped up two exciting shows in the Western United States with great success. It was nice to see quilters getting a chance to see the latest offerings and become inspired by some of the judged quilts. We can’t wait for the Houston, Texas Quilt Festival in November.

The Salt Lake City Quilt Festival was July 21-23 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Followed by the Long Beach Quilt Festival held this month August 4-6  at the Long Beach Entertainment & Convention Center. Both events had great attendance from both vendors and quilters. It’s been a while for a Long Beach, California show, and Salt Lake, Utah was a new addition. Quilters and crafters came from across the region to check out the offerings, classes, and friendship.

Celebration of Color

The quilt festival organizers also recently announced the top winners of their “A Celebration of Color” show, with unique selections. This annual judged competition is open to all quilters, with a focus on the vibrant use of colors. The three categories were Traditional, Modern and Art with each winner taking home $500 with the Best of Show being awarded $1,000.

The Best of Show was given to Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry for Celebration #2. Fallert-Gentry used an original design and hand-dyed fabrics.celebrations-2

The Art category was claimed by Lou Ellen Hassold for Clamshell Surprise. Her variation of the Judy Niemeyer design is bright and colorful. She discusses her work here.

clamshell-Surprise

Susan McKinney won the Modern pick for Chroma Infinitum. It was paper-pieced with over 50 colors.Chroma-Infinitum

Twenty Baskets Full of Flowers by Rossillis Rosario won the Traditional selection. It took two years to make.Twenty-Baskets-Full-of-Flowers

Houston Quilt Festival

The next Festival will be held in Houston, Texas on November 3-6, 2022.  Here are some details. We can’t wait to see the vendors, classes, and quilts on display.

Which quilt did you favor?

Images courtesy of International Quilt Festival

Texas Quilt Museum – New Exhibits for the New Year

Starting this month, the Texas Quilt Museum is presenting not one, but TWO new exhibits. What a way to kick off the new year, right?

SAQA: Musica!

GuitarsMuisca consists of thirty-one works by members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), juried by quilt master Joe Cunningham, who is based in San Francisco California. He has been a professional quilt artist since 1979 and was an artist in residence at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. He has written ten books on quilt making and his blog showcases how he crafts his quilts from start to finish.

Can’t make it to Texas?  Here is a video of the exhibit when it was recently at the National Quilt Museum. 

 Super Samplers!

Who doesn’t love samplers? They are timeless treasures that showcase a quilter’s artistry.  These quilts in the exhibit are mostly from the International Quilt Festival archives, and the twenty sampler quilts are dated between 1795 and 2014.

You may recognize the Baltimore Album style as a leading example of samplers and the exhibit features three of this style quilt.Sampler

Hours and Dates

The Exhibits are scheduled to run through May 1, 2022, so hurry into the Texas Quilt Museum before the music ends and the samplers disappear.

The Texas Quilt Museum is at 140 W. Colorado St., La Grange, Texas 78945.

Limited hours and days

Hours are 10 am-4 pm only on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Photos courtesy of Texas Quilt Museum

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Classes Announced for Houston Quilt Festival

Great instructors and classes just announced

The Houston Quilt Festival is a great event. Besides buying tons of fabric, patterns, and tools, the Festival offers over 350 classes from renowned instructors.  This is your chance to get close-up and personal instruction from some of the best of the best.Houston Quilt Festival

The wizards at quilts.com announced the lineup of instructors and their classes at the Houston Quilt Festival. You cannot register for these classes quite yet but you can start figuring out which instructors and classes you want to be. Some classes are full-day events and some are two-hour meetings.  

Registration will open up in July 2021. So mark your calendars now. While making your plans a reminder that they have a preview night for their quilt display on October 27, 2021. So if you will be there early why not plan on seeing the quilts without as much of a crowd?

Faculty at the Houston Quilt Festival

How about if we do some name dropping?  Among the instructors is Teresa Coates (you probably know her from Shannon Fabrics and the Cuddle fabric), Laura Heine, Paula Nadelstern, and Ricky Tims.  Can’t overlook Arizona’s Cindy Lohbeck and her fabric dyeing classes that we have discussed before.Hand Dyed Fabric

The Festival starts on October 28th and concludes on Halloweens, October 31, 2021.  It is held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, Texas. Some of these classes start early on October 25 and 25.  After all how else do you squeeze in more than 350 classes?

quilts.com

Houston Quilt Festival Housing Info

Since the event is in downtown Houston, Texas there are plenty of hotels within walking distance to the George R. Brown Convention center. Two have walkways that adjoin the convention center and more are within a few blocks away. Best to make hotel plans now as some already are booked full. Don’t forget two airports service Houston so you should have plenty of options to fly into the Houston area.

Will we see you there at the Houston Quilt Festival?

 

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Tula Pink Curiouser and Curiouser

Well, Tula Pink hit pay dirt again with a beautiful collection of prints based on Lewis Carroll’s tale of Alice in Wonderland. Twenty-five fabrics capture the whimsical spirit of Lewis Carroll’s beloved story. As the folks at Free Spirit Fabrics say –

” When the weight of the world is too much I turn to needle and thread. This collection focuses on some of the most memorable themes and characters from the story. Our two main characters for the collection are Alice, of course, and the Red Queen. Alice sits in a sweet wreath of daisies with her cat Dinah on her shoulder. In the background are the white rabbits poised to lead Alice down the rabbit hole. Both portrait prints are designed to easily cut down to 8 1/2 inch squares without cutting into the next portrait. There is a lot to discover in this collection and everything has meaning from the original story. Alice falls down the rabbit hole surrounded by curious objects in “Down the Rabbit Hole”.

When Alice first gets to the bottom of the Rabbit Hole she grows so tall that she can’t fit through the door to Wonderland and she begins to cry. As she shrinks, her tears flood out the little door taking her and many Wonderland residents with the current in a print called “Sea of Tears”. The “Cheshire” cat looms in the night sky watching over Wonderland. Painted, spotted roses still dripping with wet paint sit on a background of oversize spots just hoping to blend in and escape the Queen’s notice.

 A wide stripe of vines grow out of the selvage scooping up a Mad Hatter’s tea party. There is so much more to discover. Curiouser and Curiouser features a total of 25 detailed prints in full, vibrant color, plus two, 108 inch backing fabrics. The collection is designed to be loud and exuberant while working seamlessly with True Colors!”

Yep loud and exuberant is a good definition for anything from Tula Pink. Besides her fabric, Tula Pink also partners with Aurifil for a curated thread collection to match up with her line. The thread collection consists of 20 small spools of 50 weight thread in the perfect shades to compliment her fabrics.

But besides her fabric, the folks at Free Spirit offer some gorgeous FREE patterns for these fabrics, all with an Alice in Wonderland motif. So let’s check out their offerings.

Checkmate with Tula Pink Fabric

The center of each square features a Queen or Alice in various shades. The pattern requires fussy cutting and piecing, and the square is finished at 86 inches for this Checkmate Quilt.Checkmate

Cheshire Cats Diva

This is the perfect quilt pattern for the cat lover. The colors selected by Tula Pink make this pop. The quilt finishes at 74 inches by 86 inches. The Cheshire Cats Diva Quilt is similar to the next one.Cheshire Cats Diva

Cheshire Cats Flake

If you are really into cats, how about two quilts from Tula Pink’s collection? Same size as the Cheshire Cats Diva quilt but just slightly different. The Cheshire Cats Flake Quilt would look great in any décor.Cheshire Cats Flake

Pawn to Queen

Get ready for your eyes to go batty on this pattern. The black diamonds make the quilt pop, don’t you think? The finished size is 60.5 inches by 70 inches and the designer felt this requires intermediate skills for the Pawn to Queen Quilt Pawn to Queen

Queen of Hearts

Look closely to see the queen and hearts in this 70-inch square. Another intermediate skill level quilt but the Queen of Hearts Quilt will likely steal yours.Queen of Hearts

The Hatter

Of all the quilt patterns this one utilizes the overall motif the least. Look closely and you will see a character here and there but the focus is on the beautiful fabrics and the colors used by Tula Pink. The Hatter Quilt is memorizing.Hatter Quilt

Suit Yourself

This pattern has the suits from a deck of cards as the focal point. Any card player would love the Suit Yourself Quilt that finishes up at 62 inches square.Suit Yourself

 

The fabric shipped already to the local quilt shops that pre-ordered it and any new orders should show up locally in June. So get out there and start Tula Pinking. So which quilt is your favorite?

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