Stunning images of quilts and wearables from the 22nd annual Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

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The 22nd annual Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival was held Feb. 24-27 in Hampton, VA, and drew over 10,000 people.

The 2010 Quilting in America Survey by http://www.quilts.com reports that there are more than 21 million quilters in the U.S., averaging 1.3 per household. The estimated total dollar value of the quilting industry is $3.58 billion.

With over 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, and more than 150 vendors, festival attendees had plenty to do in addition to viewing the 22 special exhibits filled with over 500 quilts, textile art, and wearable art. Over $24,000 in prizes were awarded at the show.

Quilting has come a long way from the carefully hand stitched floral scraps of yesteryear, and contemporary quilts have entered the world of mixed media art.

Little Peace In 2 4 U by Martha C. Hall of Vernon, NJ, won for Best Use of Color/ Innovative.

Chromatic Transitions by Rachel Wetzler, St Charles, IL, won Honorable Mention in Traditional category.

Ladies of the Sea by Ruth Flood & Kelley Cunningham, won 2nd Place in the Traditional category.

Bee's Knees by Patty Estey of Montgomery Village, MD featured hand dyed fabrics and a heavily beaded flower center.

Three wall quilts show a variety of contemporary techniques.

Left: Streamlines by Beth Gilbert of Buffalo Grove, IL, has a focus on bold color and design.

Center front: Going Green or Not by Lois Griffith of Forest, VA, is a woven wreath-like piece that is designed to be seen from both sides. It incorporates open holes in the trellis, and hangs from a realistic-looking fabric log.

Right: In the Spotlight by Renee Fleuranges-Valdes of Mt Vernon, NY, features a silhouetted figure against a warm, glowing background.

Les fleurs de printemps wearable art ensemble by Rami Kim of Rocklin CA, won the Best in Show ribbon for Wearable Art. It is embellished with 3-dimensional North American hand smocking, mirror image continuous prairie points, a woven piece with folded fabrics, and crystal beads.

Journey by Susan Van Swearingen of Oviedo, FL, used Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics. Embroidered words on the back are original digitized, appliqued and embroidered.

The exhibit, "Orange & Back: A collection of Antique Quilts and Recent Work by Pepper Cory" compared and contrasted antique quilts in Cory's collection with the quilts they inspired her to make.

This pair show appliqued and reverse appliqued quilts. On the left is Prairie Flower (c. 1940) and on the right is Cory's "Dakota Flower," (quilted by Julie Mullin) which Cory calls "retro applique."

My Gal Sal by Jennifer June, was a memorial to her beagle, Sally.

The festival included booths and exhibits with related fiber arts and embellishing products.

The Williamsburg Spinners and Weavers offered demonstrations and an opportunity for attendees to try their hand at spinning and weaving.

New products were available in many booths.

Alpaca yarns at the Mangham Wool & Mohair Farm booth. (Charlottesville VA)

And you never know what you'll find at a quilt show! Heat things up with the naughty ironing board cover, you'll never put off ironing again. Available in "Richard," as shown, to make any homemaker happy. Or select the bikini-clad, hourglass-figured Jordan, a great way to get the hubby excited about ironing.

For info on a schedule of quilt shows across the U.S. see http://www.quilterstravelcompanion.com/showmaps/showsusa.html

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.