Marin Quilt Show

On Saturday my wife and I took my mom to the Marin Quilt Show in San Rafael (Marin County), California. One of the highlights of this show (for me) of is the venue–it’s right across the pond from the Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
View to Marin Civic Center (another view)

The featured artist this year was Julie Hirota, especially apropos because her quilting specialty is “art glass”, a medium at which Frank Lloyd Wright excelled. All the work that she had on display was attractive, but the piece that inspired me was “Queen of Hearts”
Queen of Hearts \"art glass\" quilt
I don’t think I’ll duplicate this piece. I’d rather take the idea and apply the techniques to another subject–perhaps a book cover?

The most impressive quilt I saw this year was a carousel horse. I didn’t note the artist’s name, but I may be able to find it later. The front of the quilt showed “love of craft” and was well-executed, but this isn’t something I would normally like; however, the back of this quilt was incredible!
Front of carousel horse Back of carousel horse quilt
The plain black backing combined with the bright threads used for quilting this piece was extremely bold. It seems to shout, “Check out my quilting prowess!”, rightfully so. Only a master quilter could pull off something like this. Well done, and bonus points for chutzpah!

The show seemed a little “off” this year–fewer quilts, fewer visitors, a couple of vendors that regularly attend were missing. I’m not sure if this was due to the price of fuel, or perhaps because ticket prices have risen a bit, or something else. It was still an excellent show, and I’ll be coming back next year.

About Jim Vanderveen

I'm a bit of a Renaissance man, with far too many hobbies for my free time! But more important than any hobby is my family. My proudest accomplishment has been raising some great kids! And somehow convincing my wife to put up with me since 1988. ;)
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6 Responses to Marin Quilt Show

  1. Pingback: SonicChicken weblog » Blog Archive » Marin Quilt Show rip-off

  2. Forgot to say thanks for the great quilt pics. That carousel horse quilt is wonderful! Can you describe how the mosaic quilt is made? Is your image large enough to give a detail view to show how the tile effect is created? Are the pieces appliqued to a darker background? Thanks again! Great stuff I found here. Quilt Value Zone

  3. Angel says:

    The mosaic quilts are absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like it was a terrific show to attend.

  4. Well my name may be quilting queen but no I don’t think I would duplicate this one either.

  5. Joshua says:

    Hey I really like your picture of Marin’s Civic Center! I was wondering if I could use it for a blog I am writing?

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