Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Up early this morning to check out of the Millennium Broadway hotel and get on the road to LaGuardia Airport. There’s MAJOR construction going on there, so it was a bit confusing for our poor bus driver, but we got there in the end, got checked in without any hassle, and with plenty of time to spare to grab some (expensive and crappy) breakfast and/or lunch at the airport.

Our flight to Houston left a bit late, and there was a terrible noise in the plane coming from what sounded like a dog barking, but was most likely a pump not working correctly. Obviously the pilot and flight attendants weren’t worrying about it, and once we took off, the noise stopped. It started up in a big way when we landed, though. The flight was uneventful. Some of the girls slept, others chatted, or made hexies, or read. Finally, we were in Houston for the International Quilt Festival (IQF) — the ultimate reason for our trip!

Once we’d checked into our rooms, we headed to the registration desk to pick up totes, pins, etc. then met again early in the evening to get in line for Winners’ Circle, where all the Festival prize winners are announced and the winning quilts in each category are revealed. Wow! What a stunning array of quilts. Some have taken thousands of hours (often years), thousands of pieces of fabric, and many kilometres of thread to make. The skill and artistry has to be seen to be believed. Every one has been made from fabric and thread, and what some of these artists can do with that medium is just phenomenal and truly inspirational.

If you’re a Houston resident and have never been to IQF, do yourself a favour and come along to the convention centre for a couple of hours from Thursday 3 Nov to Sunday 6 Nov 2016. Just come to view the quilts; ignore the vendor mall if you have no interest in it. I think it costs about $12 to enter.

(Oh, and one of our tour leaders, Helen Godden from Canberra, won first prize in the ‘Art – Painted Surface’ category, for her work [in collaboration with batik artist Jonathan S Evans of Colorado] — ‘Faces of India’. Way to go, Helen!!!!)

This quilt won the Gammill Master Award for Contemporary Artistry and $5000 cash at the Houston International Quilt Festival. Tell me this isn’t art! I absolutely love it. For those interested: It’s raw edge applique, machine stitched. And it’s BIG. ‘Unknown man’ by Marina Landi and Maria Lucia Azara (Brazil).

The quilt below won ‘Best of Show’ and a $12,500 cash prize. In her artist’s statement, she said it took her a year to make and she used some 8400 pieces of fabric. Look at how she’s captured the reflections in the water! Reflections of Cape Town, by Cynthia England (Texas).