At the quilt show I saw over a hundred beautiful quilts, but of course I can’t load on 100 photos, nor would anyone want to look at that many, so I chose some of the quilts that appealed to me the most. I happen to love appliqué and one-of-a kind quilts made from someone’s imagination. Not all of these quilts are unique, but many are. To see some of the special features up close you may have to click on the photo to magnify it.

The eagle quilt has two features that I found interesting. One is that the tip of one wing is loose and actually flying off the quilt. The wing feathers are individual pieces of fabric. For the back feathers, a lot of quilting (sewing on top of the material) gives the impression of feather shapes. The second special feature is in the quilting itself. Notice how the surface of the water has waves sewn into it. The water that is closer to us has the waves wider apart and then as we look at the distant water, the sewing lines are tighter and seem to make a ripple in the water.

This one is an African village done with typically “African” print fabric. The background is pieced together with small squares, but then the village and its people are cut out of separate pieces and sewn on top (appliquéd): Each of the dresses and bodies of the people are cut out and stitched on top. I liked this one because it reminded me of a Brueghel painting, African style.

Anything from the sea is all right by me.

The beauty of appliqué – you can put your cut out pieces anywhere you want. These fish are “out of the tank.” It makes them look as if they are just arriving to join the others. Lots of action here.

The shaping of the moose, making it appear to be 3-D, is done with various tones of brown. Each piece is sewn on separately. A lot of work! And look at the many tree trunks sewn into the background.

My favourite little birds. Quail and their babies. Each piece done separately and stitched on.

I had a close look at the turtle at the bottom of the quilt. It’s odd-shaped sections are sewn on top of the lighter green. The jellyfish are extraordinary with streamers of fancy threads sewn on with yet other fancy threads.

In case you’re a landlubber, I put in one quilt that shows a land-based scene.Once you start looking, you’ll see more and more things that you might have missed at first glance. How many hedgehogs do you see?