Last weekend Scott and I went to the Lion’s Gate Quilters Guild’s ‘10^th Album of Quilts’.  He brought his camera and I took my camcorder, and we drove through Stanley Park and across the Lion’s Gate Bridge to the Delbrook Community Centre in North Van.

Double Dee by Janet Dailly (detail)

Now, I have to preface this entry by admitting that I joined the Lion’s Gate Quilters (LGQ) a few years ago, but I didn’t attend any of the meetings during my year as a member.  A professional quilt artist I know had recommended the LGQ for being a little more contemporary than your run of the mill quilting guild.  I was studying at BCIT at the time and unfortunately every time there was a meeting I was either finishing an assignment or studying for an exam or just exhausted.  The one time I did make it to their monthly meeting, I walked into the church that hosts it and right back out.  The place was packed with blue hairs.  It was utterly overwhelming and I knew immediately it was not for me.

Well.  Blue hair or not, the quilts at the show last weekend were impressive.  Scott and I waltzed in mid-afternoon on a Sunday and it was standing room only.  There were over 150 quilts of all sizes, traditional and contemporary, hung in several large rooms, and the aisles were packed with visitors.  I expected, and saw, a lot of traditional work.  What I expected and did not see was much hand quilting.

Grannies Garden by Lorna Ruelle, a hand-quilted hierloom crib quilt (detail)

A single heirloom-quality crib quilt stood out for being entirely hand-quilted and it was remarkable, it must have taken hundreds of hours to complete.  The detail shot gives you an idea of the quality of the stitch—fine, dense, evenly spaced and error-free quilting, truly masterful stitching.  We didn’t think about photographing the artist information until halfway through our stroll through the show so I don’t have the name of the quilt or artist, but it’s an exemplar of a quality and style that the sewing machine has made all too rare. EDIT: Thanks Holly from the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild for providing the artist information–it’s Grannies Garden by Lorna Ruelle.

The Faerie Queen by Wanda Mellor (detail)

Wanda Mellor’s ‘The Faerie Queen’ is one of the hand quilted quilts whose information we did collect.  Wanda based her design on historical paintings of Queen Elizabeth I, and I like the detail she put into her Queen’s dress and jewels.  I also like her choice of black and gold fabric for the overskirt.  This small quilt is hand- and machine-pieced and appliquéd, and hand quilted.

Country Village Green by Rita Douglas

I don’t usually find myself drawn to the traditional quilts, but this is a house quilt that I liked, a textured green park surrounded by houses, trees and birds called ‘Country Village Green’ by Rita Douglas.  It’s based on ‘Quilted Village’, a block of the month City Stitcher Quilt Design by Janet Miller.

I like the sense of history that Rita evokes in this quilt with her colour choices, architectural gestures and that great Canadian flag at the top.  It is an excellent machine-pieced and machine-quilted piece of work.

Tree of Possibility by Susan Germaine (detail)

Susan Germaine’s ‘Tree of Possibility’ caught my eye with its hyper-saturated reds, yellows and oranges.  I was drawn to the tree she quilted over the piece work, it’s a great example of how not to sew in straight lines on a machine.  Susan sewed layers of sinuous white and yellow curves with a fluidity that carries the eye through her composition.  I think her quilting gives the composition good depth.

Marika Dauberman’s ‘The Inner Diva’ was one of the most artful of the art quilts at the show.  This workshop quilt was made with Kaffe Fasset fabrics and Marika embellished it with all sorts of clever little doodads.  I’m a big fan of paisley (I’ve got all my paisley ties tucked away pending their return to fashiondom) and I like the nod to Picasso and cubism in the face and eyes.

The Inner Diva by Marika Dauberman (detail)

I also like how Marika hand- and machine-pieced and quilted this piece—the stitching on the shoulders and around the bosoms looks great against the more traditional quilted rows in the turquoise splash over her left shoulder.

I enjoyed the show but I am confident that my decision to not renew my membership was the best choice for me.  There’s a lot of talent here, but despite some of the great work I saw, my taste runs to the more modern, the less traditional, and sometimes the more theoretically rigorous.

In fact, this is an excellent segué for sharing that I joined a modern quilt guild here in Vancouver that looks promising.  I was very excited when my friend Kirsten Chursinoff, whose one woman show opened this month at Crafthouse the Craft Counsel of BC gallery on Granville Island, emailed me this Spring about a new guild.  I checked out the website for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild (VMQG) and joined.

Fall Flowers by Dianne Ritter

Says Holly Broadland, our founder, “The first Modern Quilt Guild started in LA in October, 2009. In the past several months, new guilds have been popping up all over the United States and there are now international guilds in [Vancouver,] Melbourne and Toronto. Modern Quilt Guilds are a place for non-traditional quilters to share their fresh, modern quilts.”

Sounds like a good fit.  The VMQG had our first meeting last week, but (rolling my eyes) I was preparing for an exam.  It looks like the meeting was a great success, and I’m glad Holly took the initiative because today I started my first vacation in 3 years, it’s 11 weeks long, and I’m in the mood to negotiate that boundary between art, utility and craft.