Long Beach quilt festival and California color!

I flew down to California last week for the International Quilt Festival-Long Beach and to visit family. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of this sign in an alley in Redondo Beach.

Before we even got out of the Los Angeles airport I was soaking in the colors, like the mouth-watering tile mosaics we passed on our way to baggage claim. My daughter and I couldn't resist posing by sections that coordinated with our clothes, and check out her thrift store vintage green suitcase!

The tiles might inspire a quilt titled

"Avocado Salad by Turquoise Pool."

Day 2 was the big quilt festival, and here's the colorful scene that welcomed us at the convention center in Long Beach:

This calm quilt by Sue Andrus, "Stained Glass and Ferns," was declared the favorite of the friend who drove me to the show:

As Sue explains in the sign below (click on it to enlarge for a clearer view), she used sun printing to achieve the fern designs. I knew Sue's name from the quiltart.com list, so if you'd like to see more of her art check out her sites:

Art Quilts on ArtFire- http://www.AndrusGardensQuilts.artfire.com
Gift Items on ArtFire- http://www.AndrusGardens.artfire.com
NEW!Patterns& More on ArtFire- http://www.AndrusGardensDesigns.artfire.com
Blog- Works in progress, inspirations and more- http://andrusgardensquilts.com/blog
Main Website- http://www.andrusgardensquilts.com

There were so many fabulous art quilts that I couldn't pick a favorite, but high on my list was this happy quilt by Ceceile Francis.

I'm especially drawn to abstract work with strong colors and simple shapes. This quilt by Chantal Dupont was striking.

I didn't take many other photos because I just wanted to walk and gawk, but you can check out festival photos and news at the official show site by clicking here: http://www.quilts.com/lbqf11/enVivo/

Photography wasn't allowed in the vendor booths or in some of the exhibits, but you can see some of those areas by going to the quilts.com site.

 

The rest of the trip was all about the beach, food and family, but I was still on the lookout for color. The richly embroidered cushions above were at a vegetarian restaurant in Redondo Beach called the Green Temple, where we had healthy food surrounded by a lush courtyard setting and peaceful Buddha art.

We also ate at a Mexican restaurant, where Julia gives thumbs up to the velvet painting. She loves vintage kitsch and has a most hideous Don Quixote orange velvet painting from a thrift store.

Every time I visit Redondo Beach I photograph this lifeguard station. It's usually deserted in winter, but in summer the cute lifeguard car with its surf board shows up.

This is the beach where we have photos of my son trying to feed himself sand with his little plastic shovel when he was a baby, and here he is all grown up.

Then it was time to head home. One last photo with my kids, parents and brother:

More airport art called to me when we landed at Sea-Tac. Its colors are fittingly more subdued than the dazzling tiles in LAX.

Have a colorful day