San Francisco Quilters’ Guild Show 2017

SIL and I went to the SF Quilters’ Guild Show yesterday. It is still on today so you can see it if you have time. The show was held at the Event Center at St. Mary’s is located in St. Mary’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is a San Francisco landmark designed by award winning architects Pietro Belluschi and Pier-Luigi Nervi, in case you were wondering.

I had never been to that particular venue, though I have driven by many times. I thought it was an improvement in terms of lighting over the place they used to use South of Market.

Freddy Moran - talking about her special exhibit at SFQG Show
Freddy Moran – talking about her special exhibit at SFQG Show

Luke Haynes and Freddy Moran both had special exhibits. We were able to catch Freddy speaking but missed Luke. We saw both exhibits, though many of the quilts Freddy had hanging were the ones she showed at the lecture I attended several months ago.

I am always interested to see Freddy’s work. She is getting up there in age and I am inspired by her continued work, visiting classes, etc. She talked about going to Sisters every year and taking classes, which I think is wonderful. Everyone can learn new things.

SFQG Viewer's Choice Award System
SFQG Viewer’s Choice Award System

The show had a very interesting system to determine Viewer’s Choice. They gave each entrant 5 stick-on orange dots. Our job, as viewers, was to stick an orange dot on quilts that were Viewer’s Choice favorites.

While this might have given some quilts an unfair advantage, because people could see the favorites, I thought it was easy to manage. I rarely vote for Viewer’s Choice at quilt shows. Since I didn’t have to try to find the quilt’s number or the ticket box for depositing choices, this was and easy activity in which I could participate.

I have found that each show has a signature or theme. It might only be noticeable to me. I think it can be because of a workshop given where a lot of participants finished their quilts. It can also be that someone showed a quilt and others were inspired. I noticed a LOT of log cabins at this show. There were certainly other quilt designs, though I would say that log cabins dominated. They were certainly not all the same type of log cabin, but there were a distinguishable number.

Red Triangle by the Mod Squad
Red Triangle by the Mod Squad

SFQG now has some modern bees (small groups). One of them purchased the same fabrics. Each member made chunks, then they got together one day and put the chunks together into a really great Improv design.

The cohesive colors definitely help. However, the overall design doesn’t look like it was made by seven people. In addition to the colors, there is also a sense of cohesiveness in the design. Of course, I can’t help liking the colors. 😉

SFQG Antique Quilts
SFQG Antique Quilts

There was also a room full of Antique quilts. Many of these were in amazing condition. I was shocked at how good the colors had held up, especially in one quilt, apparently from the 1880s that a bright and vibrant Turkey red included.

Untitled by Juna Carle (quilted by Theresa Silva)
Untitled by Juna Carle (quilted by Theresa Silva)

I saw a couple of excellent La Passacaglia efforts. We looked carefully at the quilting of most of the quilts. We weren’t in agreement on all of the efforts, but found a number that could have been improved by better quilting efforts. One quilt made a group of Monkey Wrench (Churn Dash) friendship blocks shine. They could have been set straight or on point and been indifferent, but the artist did a great job.

The vendor mall had a couple of good booths. Serge-a-Lot and Heartway were both there, which was great. The Sashiko booth from which  I bought a selection of needles at PIQF last year also set up shop. The Featherweight guy had his fabulously painted Featherweights. I was pleased see he also sells Sew Steady Tables. It is good to have multiple options. There were 3 jewelry vendors and a makeup booth. I found there to be a distinct lack in the vendor department. I wanted to buy some fusible fleece and no booth had it.

We spent about 3 hours at the show and it was a good way to spend a Friday afternoon.

 

 

 

Nota bene: Copyright marks on photographs above are intended to denote my ownership of the photographic image not of the quilt or the quilt design.

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

One thought on “San Francisco Quilters’ Guild Show 2017”

  1. Thanks for posting the Modern group effort. That really caught my eye! I almost went to the show. Chuck and I got as far as the Farmer’s Market in San Mateo and then I went home to work on my Immigration project for the hallway near my office.

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