Here is both Larry's and my favorite quilt of the entire show: "One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake" with its maker, Linda Neal of McKinney, Texas, quilted by Jackie Brown. Ms. Neal took a pattern by Nancy Hieronymus Barrett called "Let Them Eat Cake" and made it her own. It is spectacular!
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, T |
It took second place in the "Show Chair Theme: Funny Quilts". I am still waiting to find out if it won the Viewer's Choice Award because it was obviously a VERY popular entry.
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
Ms. Neal used Sharon Schamber's wicked cool "loop binding" technique to finish the quilt. She said she went to California a few years ago to take the class from Ms. Schamber. It is not a simple process, apparently it has eighty steps! It was the perfect binding for this quilt.
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
The quilting done by Ms. Brown on this quilt is out of this world! She repeated many of the appliqued motifs in the quilting, always beautifully placed and perfectly executed. The negative space on this quilt is almost as mesmerizing as the positive .
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
I believe the team of Neal and Brown have worked together before, because Ms. Neal stated that she did not give Ms. Brown any specific instructions beyond, "Here it is, do what you want to with it." Now that is trust.
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
The level of detail and enthusiasm and love that went into this quilt really brings it to a championship level in this blogger's opinion. Both Larry and I were really really impressed. I asked Ms. Neal if she planned to send this quilt to Houston, and she said, "Oh it will have to be accepted into the show first." I really do not think that is going to be an issue.
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
We even got to see the back of the quilt, which is always a treat. Just look at that quilting! Can you tell I am a big fan? Wow!
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
Ms. Neal kept her artist's statement short and sweet; she had lots more to say in person.
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| One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
Well, my photographer husband really let me down in that he did NOT get a full quilt picture of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" also by Linda Neal and quilted by Jackie Brown (thank heaven for Pinterest, which you will need to see her quilt), but I found this link to the Baltimore Christmas pattern, upon which the quilt was based. At least he managed to get a picture of most of the center medallion (you're killin' me here, Larry!)
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
This quilt is unbelievably good too. It won "Best in Show" in the Quilter's Guild of Plano show, "Quilt Plano 2014" and took another blue ribbon in the "Large Applique: Master Division" here at the Dallas Quilt Celebration.
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
The applique on this quilt is superb. I love the gingerbread and the snowman wreaths. Ms. Neal also took the gingerbread men and snowmen and turned them into a border garland that is much more intense than the original design. In fact, much of the border appears to be original to her interpretation quilt.
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
And if you look closely, you can see the Sharon Schamber corded binding technique used to very good effect on this quilt too. The quilting is pretty spectacular here as well; it really enhances the applique. I would have liked to get a look at the back of the quilt.
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
The red diamond edging is original to this interpretation of the quilt too. I have to say that all of Ms. Neal's improvements to the original design are very lush and effective. Her partridge is very lifelike too.
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
The gingerbread house is just darling. This quilt looks like it would be so much fun to do, but SO incredibly time-consuming. (No, Susan, you are not going to immediately order the pattern, but I sure would like to.)
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
Another short Artist's Statement. I really look forward to seeing more from the team of Neal and Brown in the future.
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| Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Linda Neal of McKinney, TX |
Tatting Tuesday will resume next week, in the meantime, happy quilting!
2 comments:
I somehow missed these quilts. Thanks for sharing.
I am still amazed at the quilts that are entered into these shows. I am extremely proud of my mother's beautiful work! (Linda is my mom) She is always so funny about talking about how hard she works on each little piece. Glad to see others enjoy her work as much as we do!
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