It's summer, and the quilting is great

Who would think that Columbus, Ohio--flyover country--is a mecca for quilters, quilt shows and classes? Anybody who lives here (like me), or anybody who has ever taught a class, entered a quilt or juried a show, that's who.

This June is especially busy. There's the National Quilting Association show, the Quilt Surface Design Symposium (QSDS), and the every-odd-year Quilt National (in Athens, not far from Columbus). From these big shows spring up many smaller shows and classes.

Today I went to one of these "smaller" shows, if by smaller you mean 40-plus quilts from artists all over the world. The show is "Quilted Surface IV. It was curated by the QSDS directors, and will be at the Richard Ross Art Museum in Delaware, Ohio until July 1st.

I went to see one of Noriko Endo's quilts (Autumn Reflections 2) in person. I want to make friends with this quilt. It's just gorgeous. I'm posting a picture, but really, you have to see this work of art in person. Photos just can't do justice to the detail and reflection from the metallic and angelina fibers. The actual colors of the piece, are, well, amazing.

I was happily surprised to bump into some works by old friends. Sonja Tugend is a dyer and quilter I've known for years. She's a master of color, and frankly, I could stand and stare at her pieces for hours. What she does with tiny stitching and knots on the surface has to be seen to be believed.

Jody Wigton, a friend from the Quintessential Quilters Guild, had a beautiful art quilt with small silk "tabs" added at the seams. Apologies for the photo. The lighting was terrible. The way she always experiments with mixed media is an inspiration to me.

Sue Cavanaugh is another artist who did a presentation this year for our quilt guild. Her incredible shibori piece is made of sateen she dyed herself then laboriously hand stitches. She sent me an email today about it:

It's whole cloth, cotton sateen, dyed multiple times with MX Procion fiber reactive dyes. The patterning was done with stitch resist shibori using two different stitches: ori-nui and mokume, thus the made up name of Ori-Kume # 17.

Again, you have to see it in person to believe it. You can see more of Sue's work at her website .