The Holocaust Before the Holocaust

I was at a quilt show admiring the outstanding handiwork of quilters from around the country. The quilting world has gone way beyond piecing together scraps of fabric leftover from making your own clothes to a massive industry led by some highly creative people. Suddenly I came across an area where all the quilts looked…

2017 Des Moines Quilt Show, Part Three, Special Exhibits

Along with the American Quilting Society’s competition quilts and the quilts on display from the 500-member strong Des Moines Area Quilters Guild, there are always several special exhibits at the Des Moines Quilt Show. Here are some images from some of the special exhibits that caught my attention this year. Most impressive to me was…

2017 Des Moines Quilt Show, Part Two, Shapes

There are only a few basic shapes in the world but as this collection of quilts from the Des Moines Quilt Show illustrates, quilters these days can create some pretty incredible things with just a few shapes. It definitely helps that quilters today can choose fabrics in an almost limitless number of colors. Squares, circles,…

2017 Des Moines Quilt Show, Part One, Quilted Faces

Artists of all varieties are drawn to faces. The many fine artistic quilters that are around these days are no different. In this first installment of my impressions of the Des Moines AQS Quiltweek quilt show, I focus on quilts that highlighted faces. This quilt by Hiroko Miyama is entitled “Lily.”     Artists never…

2013 Des Moines Quilt Show

This was the week of the long-awaited Des Moines Quilt Show. Once again the show did not disappoint. One of the highlights of the show for me was a group of quilts from Caohagan, a tiny island in the Philippines. About 15 years ago a quilter moved to the island and started teaching the natives to quilt.…