Marina Mamonova

Meeting Marina Mamonova was one of the best things about our Russian trip. Marina is a very famous Russian quilter. Before going to Russia I googled Marina and discovered that she had been to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts just last August. Marina had her own gallery of quilts and she made such an impression that people are still talking about her work!

In the photo above, we are holding up one of Marina's amazing quilts. This quilt has a postcard theme. Actually the postcard was a theme that ran throughout the event. This particular quilt is like a postcard laying on a lace tablecloth. The intricate detail of the postcard is held together by a fine netting. 

I've posted some images here so you can see the exquisite detail.

Below is a detail of the raw edge appliqué that Marina used to create the lace around the 'post card'. Some things are so beautiful that they break your heart. This quilt is one of them!

Here, Marina is showing us another of her quilts. This quilt has a more abstract theme.

I hope my Russian friends will correct me if I am wrong, 

but I think that the name of this quilt translates as  

 'The Birth of the Blues'

This quilt incorporates such a vibrant use of colour and movement. Marina again is using a similar technique as a fine netting is holding all the very small pieces of fabric in place. You can see this in the detail of the quilt below. 

Marina is truly an amazing artist. It was an honour to meet her in Moscow and get a close up view of two of her quilts. I have a wonderful story about a quilt that Marina brought to our Birmingham show that I'll be telling in a future post. 

A final note about the postcard theme. Marina was invited to the JUKI sponsored seminar to give a master-class about using the JUKI Exceed sewing machines for free-motion machine quilting. And the project was, you guessed it,  POSTCARDS! This made me smile because Emily and I had brought a stack of our heart postcards. Our post cards used a very very simple version of the raw edged appliqué technique which also uses netting. Marina has shown us what this appliqué technique looks like in the hands of a true master!