Opening a store filled with quilting fabrics was a dream but not because I was in love with quilting. I love the fabrics and ...
I gathered my favorite Gee's Bend quilts, which you can buy directly from the artists! Learn about American quilting history and buy some art!
Color Wheel of Emotions was an exhibit at the Denver show curated by Carol R. Eaton for the Studio Arts Quilts Associates or SAQA. The program states: "Cultures universally associate colors with emotions using them to describe a mood or express a feeling. Anthropologists and businesses alike hypothesize about the role colors play within a community and how to anticipate a reaction. In contemporary society a person may be feeling blue or turn green with envy. Red is often associated with strength while yellow is a happy color. These works were designed to convey a sense of emotion or feeling expressed by the artists." Healing I by Melisse Laing. She created this quilt while recovering from back surgery and it is quilted in circles to represent the cycle of great pain, to healing, to minor pain, to recovery. Birch Grove by Ann Loveless She said her emotions are always lifted when she walks through a Northern Michigan birch tree grove in autumn. Sunrise, Sunset by Melody Randol "Something magical occurs when water and sunlight converge." Units 32: Jazzy Blues by Benedicte Caneill "This piece uses color and pattern to create visual texture and rhythm.... warm colors sparkle within the blues." Squared Illusion 6 by Gloria Hansen She says, "While making this piece I went through the hot excitement of the idea to the cold reality of working through the various difficulties in getting the concept to creation. If those emotions were colors, mine ran the full gamut." I REALLY like this quilt. It was one of my favorites in the show. Take a look at the detail photo of the quilting below. Very artistic and it must have been very difficult to create. Most of these quilts were for sale but this one was not! I can see why. I've since seen it in a magazine. Fireworks Flowers Ninepatch by Charlotte Ziebarth She says, "The heat and excitement of the ultra-bright colors of fireworks reminds me of the hot colors and forms of exotic tropical flowers." Synchronicity by Louisa Smith She says, "The precise placement of each color is vital to me so that those colors constantly interact with each other to create depth, and not only with the colors adjacent, but also with the colors underneath. After all, color is what draws the viewers in and gets them emotionally involved with the piece."
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art quilt using only prints with flowers and leaves
- Results from #10
Op een foto is het altijd moeilijk te zien, hoe groot 'n blokje in werkelijkheid is. Daarom vandaag op Dinsdag Diamantendag, wat plaatjes met verhoudingen. We beginnen met de Dear Jane. Iedere quilter weet vast wel dat de Dear Jane bestaat uit allemaal inimini blokjes. Dat zorgt er immers voor dat de drempelvrees om te beginnen enorm is. Want, zulke kleine stukjes, dat lukt vast niet. En dat is ook zo, de blokjes zijn klein. Maar je moet niet denken dat je het niet kunt. Want dat kleine formaat went. Dus gewoon beginnen, het is zo leuk om te doen. Maar Goof,... je zou het over verhoudingen hebben. O, ja,... ;o) Hierboven zie je een foto van mijn Sjaantjeslap oftewel Dear Jane. M'n quilt waarvan iedereen denkt dat tie roze-rood is, ..... ..... Dat is helemaal niet zo, er zit zelfs zwart en donkerbruin in,... Zie je wel. GOOOOOOOOOOF nu heb je het weer over de kleuren. Verhoudingen??? Weet je wel??? O ja,... ;o) Kijk eens hier boven naar dat middelste blokje, dat ronde,... En hier zie je het ook, met een diamant ernaast,... inderdaad,... nog kleiner zo'n diamant,... het is een diamantje,... ;o) Hier op de Nearly Insane,.. en als we dan toch bezig zijn,... Op de SBS. De Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilt,... De diamantjes zijn klein, dat is nu wel duidelijk. Maar ook dat went, echt waar. Op deze DiamantenDinsdag zijn er 2 diamantjes bij gekomen. deze,... en deze. Wat een joekels lijken het nu weer hè,... Als je deze diamanten ster echter weer op de Dear Jane legt, zie je dit,... de puntjes van de diamant zijn op deze foto naar binnen gevouwen, en de punten van de Dear Jane ster, steken er net onder uit. Zo'n diamant is gewoon een maatje kleiner. Volgende week hopenlijk weer een diamantendagje, en dan wellicht uit het Muizenhuis. Fijne dinsdag allemaal,
Whether we know it or not, there is always some influence that triggers a quilt. It could be anything. This blog shares my quilts and the journey of their creation.
Crazy quilts are my favorite quilts of all. I love them because you can use up all your favorite fabric scraps and you don’t need much of any one single fabric, as there usually are not alot…
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On peut venir du même pays, le Japon, et explorer le textile de façon bien différente... Fumiko Nakayama , amoureuse des Molas, et ses tableaux de grande taille créés avec beaucoup de minutie et de couleurs: Tomie Nagano et ses somptueux quilts indigos...
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I was lucky enough to take a class from the famous artist/quilter, Freddy Moran, Saturday in Sacramento. I invited my friend Natalie to go with me, and that made the day even better :) This is the house that Freddy built :) She doesn't measure, at least hardly ever, and she doesn't consider herself a sewer either. Here's my freehand house on the left, along with one of my trees on the right. Freddy says that if something doesn't fit, add some more fabric to make it fit, and the extra fabric also adds some interest. Freddy and me:) Freddy has a degree in Fine Arts, raised a family of 5 boys (6 if you count her husband), and she says she was very successful at that because they are all grown up and all have jobs, lol! Freddy started her career with textile arts when she was 60, she's 80 something now. Here's my little house and a wonky star and a tree that I made in class Saturday. This is one of my favorite quilts of Freddy's. The buildings come off the sides, and it isn't bound. Freddy creates a background, often from flannel, because fabric sticks really well to it. She then creates her masterpiece by laying fabric on top and gluing them on with a purple glue stick that dries clear. She takes the finished quilt to the quilter (that hasn't been sewn or appliqued) and she tells Carol, "if any piece falls off, just stick it back on where you think it looks good!" This is a close up of one of her small quilts. The background is sewn together, and she cuts fabric or images on fabric (flowers) and glues them onto the background. Freddy loves the living dead too, hence the skulls. Freddy said that she has never bought a piece of muslin and never will. She takes great care in producing pretty backs for her quilts. Alexander Henry fabrics are very beautiful and interesting, and Berkeley, California, has a Crate and Barrel outlet where they sell Marimekko fabric for $5.95 / yard. Freddy buys a lot of her backs there. Another favorite of mine is this cow quilt! Freddy has lots of "parts". That's fabric that she she has cut into shapes, she has them in containers separated by color. She grabs those "parts" and places them until she likes the arrangement, then glues them down and lets her Carol, her quilter, machine quilt them in place. Did you notice that the cow's tail is three dimensional? This is the bag of the cow quilt. This is a close up of the machine quilting, where you can imagine the pieces being attached to the flannel background, by machine quilting. During the day, we had our sewing class, and in the evening, we had a talk and trunk show by Freddy. It was great! Notice the stack of quilts? I didn't count, but there were 30 or more. Freddy said that she collaborates with her friend Gwen Marston. Together, they make about 30 quilts a year, not including the machine quilting. Freddy and Gwen can make a quilt a day, with their combined creative genius!!! Freddy's "parts department" also includes little blocks that have been put together, otherwise known as orphan blocks. She uses the parts for her quilts. Another favorite quilt of mine that she made is called "Parts Department". It's a kaleidoscope quilt with lots of little girls holding hands, pinwheels and much much more. It's really cute! (I couldn't find a photo of it) Freddy told us that she takes all her fabric out and refolds it every 3 months, so that she knows what she has. What a great idea!!! Here are my little blocks that I sped through! The wonkier the better, it adds a lot of interest. You don't trim until you figure out if you want your quilt to have horizontal or vertical rows, or if you are going to make a kaleidoscope quilt. Freddy loved this background fabric! I think this block is too matchy matchy, but if I put it with crazy, wonky blocks, it will add interest. Isn't this the cutest photo? I took it off the internet, it looks like a self portrait. Freddy's vests that she often wears are made by an artist in Berkeley, and are made from quilts. The biggest thing I learned from Freddy, is don't be hard on yourself, or critical about your work. Never show anyone your quilting mistakes, they will never notice them anyway. Be crazy and try new things in quilting. You don't have to follow everyone else's rules, make your own. I am still talking about quilting, lol! This quilt is called "Little House in the Big Woods". Do you see the little house in there? This is the quilt that Freddy built, and I am going to make my own version of it.....someday..... Freddy signed my book, and do you know what she wrote? "Red is a neutral."
While working on my Low Tide series, I managed to put together a few pieces for a commission. I liked returning to the rich tones of autumn. It's nice to have a few different projects on the go - jumping between colour palettes keeps things fresh. Commission, one of three. 8" x 10" 17" x 21" framed SOLD www.chursinoff.com/kirsten/
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Exhibition of Wall Quilts, ArtsPost Galleries, Hamilton While we stich, life is not elsewhere. In a world that is increasingly connected with non-stop news, quiltmaking does not happen in soli…
Oh this is so hard for me. Here it is....my last customer quilt. Becky's Urban Nine Patch was a gem to quilt up! I love everything about this quilt....the design...the colors...the layout. Like I said, this is my last customer quilt. I've got so many emotions going through me right now. Check out the feathers for this quilt! They worked perfectly and even if you may not be into feathers....you can't tell me they don't look fantastic on this quilt! I went back and forth as to what design to do for the open white area in Becky's quilt and after a good night sleep, settled on my feather/swirl all over design. I didn't feel it needed more that that because the scalloped border is fantastic enough!! This quilt took me about 14 hours to quilt up. A lot of stitching in the ditch but very worth it! I love how the little white square looks like an art deco tile. I may just ask Becky for this one back for Market someday. It's so beautiful! Becky's piecing was phenomenal! ...and just in case you were wondering, my quilting posts will not end here. I've got plenty of my own creations to quilt up! My Professional Lonarm Quilting Business has been an amazing experience, some good and some not so good. I've had lot's and lot's of experiences good and bad that have happened along the way. I've met some amazing quilters and have developed priceless friendships. They've taught me so much and I'm so grateful for them. I love how longarm quilting has pushed me to be creative beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I love what's to come and have been truly blessed with my career path. I hope that I can in some way or another use my longarm quilting skills to teach and inspire others somehow, someday and probably at another time. Okay...so I guess this is it! Look out for "Curves Ahead"!! ~Jenny~
Material Memory with Jane Adeney - 1999 Anna Torma is a fibre artist whose work has stayed with me for years. I feel a deep connection to it and often re-visit it. The work I am so enamoured with is of course, her quilts. In this instance it's their embroidery/illustration and content that fascinates me rather than any technicalities of the craft. Their thinness, with warped sides remind me of early quilts that were perhaps made for hospital patients from newspaper or old shirt fabrics. The works are huge in scale, intricate, complex, intimate, meaningful, playful, contradictory. Some of the images evoke for me the dynamism and movement of Cy Twombly. Each one is a place to visit, spend time, be lost, find things, learn and always be inspired. So many things happening in each piece, so many strands, stories and interpretations.. with a level of skill, care and detail that belies their playful appearance. Playground III - 2002 A number of years ago I wanted to find out more about Anna Torma, so I contacted her and asked where I might find information. Her response was to very kindly post me an exhibition catalogue in return for copies of Selvedge. I was thrilled and impressed by her earthy nature and open manner. It felt like a favourite pop star had written to me - so exciting. detail of Herbary - 2001 This warmth is blatant in her work. Her maternal experience is there for all to see but she is a weighty artist, an important influence on many fibre artists. Her originality, questioning of materials, technical expertise, wisdom and cultural heritage are cleverly and delicately woven into the complicated patterns and subtexts. Playground I - 2002 Torma repeatedly uses the drawings and stories of her children. As I am primarily concerned with the use of textiles to communicate and perpetuate memory, I find this element of her work particularly powerful and moving. A simple rainy day stuck indoors, but the details of that are not just on film or in photos, instead expressed by the children and Anna through their markings and her stitch. The work involved feels like a natural representation of the patience and repetition of motherhood and the unconditional love therein. Are the images we see portrayed here of stories she has shared with her children again and again, reminding them all of the nights she comforted them and rocked them to sleep? Do I see monstery teeth - so significant in early childhood - so painful yet such a bonding shared experience. The monsters and the landscapes.. I see an image of numerous breasts - is that of significance to Torma? Before I knew about Torma's work I used this image myself in a diary drawing many years ago when I was making a joking nod to feeling able to nurture the world (or something like that). Perhaps the many-breasted woman is one with love enough for all..? Was this Torma that was full of love or something significant to her children? The whole piece is a big, beautiful private code within which we can all find significant parts, beautiful hints and project our own hypotheses. All of it about emotion, about feeling and reacting, making us think and feel, to me it is what makes work powerful. Rainy Day II, Tales - 2001 Torma completed her studies in Hungary in 1979, having witnessed the textile revolution of the 1970's. Textiles was at that time moving away from it's incarnation as folk art, or genteel past time. It slipped under the harsh spotlight of the authorities that shone intently over the shoulder of fine arts. Pieces were then being woven or stitched into abtract forms, installations, conceptual work in ways that had not previously been considered. detail from Rainy Day II Torma retained a feminine sensitivity about her work and was concerned with the motifs from her craft's heritage, with the stitches used and their significance and retaining the folk art references that other fibre artists were then rejecting. detail from Playground I - 2002 Her work today seems to me to be entirely universal in it's communication of shared experiences, instincts and references. I'd really love to see it in person - to experience the scale, the texture, the little details, the motion of the stitch and the emotion of the piece. If any of you have experienced her work in person then please tell me - I'd love to hear about it. Just My Imagination - 2006anna torma
This is the final quilt I pieced for market–“My Log Cabin” by Joanna Figueroa. The quilt was pieced using a honey bun of Joanna’s newest collection, Butterscotch & Rose which is a delightful blend of traditional Fig Tree patterns and colors. Joanna’s signature cream that comes with the collection was used for the background. Joanna’s […]
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The diary of a Traveling Quilter. "Taking Quilting just one step further"
When I saw the Bordered Diamonds quilt in Kaffe Fassett's book, Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts, I knew immediately that it would be a perfect quilt for a thank you gift for my aunt. Never mind that my stash did not contain many large floral prints. My first thought was that I would just buy a kit, and Glorious Color has fabric kits to make two different versions of the quilt. This is their version from the book. And this is their version from the June/July 2010 Quilt Magazine. I carefully analyzed each kit trying to decide which would be best. Then I started thinking about how I liked each version--except for this or that fabric, and how I wanted to use some of my own fabrics, and how I am pretty persnickety about fabric choices, and I finally just gave up and started collecting florals...surely that wouldn't add too much to my stash? Here's a view of the cut diamonds and border strips and of my lovely white board which has been replaced: And since the directions call for dark diamonds to have light strips, and light diamonds to have dark strips, and the rows to alternate, I photographed them, then changed them to black and white to determine the values, as shown here by the strips (although these are the mediums to darks primarily): But after trying to lay them out as directed, I decided to do my own thing when the light/dark thing didn't work, and just evenly separated the colors. And now, a couple of months later, the blocks of the quilt are all sewn together. Hooray! I needed the quilt to be larger than designed, so it's now waiting for the border fabric to be added. This is what I am planning on using: And, having easily spent twice as much as I would have on a kit (what's an extra 1/2 yard here or there?), I now have a very large bin of floral fabrics. My stash, like my waistline, only seems to grow in one direction....
A few years ago when Clare and I were working on MAKING WELSH QUILTS I spotted a picture of an old Welsh quilt in Pepper Cory's book MASTERING QUILT MARKING (Hi Pepper - I love this book!) and I thought it would make a good project for our book (we did ask Ardis and Robert James for permission to do this). I quickly drafted it on my favourite squared paper and Clare made it with pieces from her stash. She then quilted it beautifully using many of the patterns on the original. We called it Pennsylvania Echo, because it seemed like a good idea at the time and it is in the book if you want to make one. This is the link to the original quilt -http://www.quiltstudy.org/collections/search.html?search_type=advanced&search_action=advanced&totalresults=9&offset=0&maxresults=10&detailresult=3&sortby=PatternPrimary It is much larger than our little quilt and of course the fabrics are very different. It couldn't be in a better place to be appreciated and cherished, but I do feel that it is a shame that it has left Wales. I believe that it it is an important quilt for a few reasons. Firstly it is very early for this style of quilt and secondly it is actually dated 1818, which is rare. It is made of a mixture of wool and silk and when I drew it to the attention of Dorothy Osler, she and Debbie Harries did extensive research on the fabrics and produced a research paper for Quilt Studies (published by the British Quilt Study Group). So it is a very special quilt and in a perfect world it should be here in a Welsh museum. But hey ho, we have so much heritage that we don't value it as much as we should. It is safe where it is in the USA and after all it really is their heritage too! The above link to the old quilt doesn't seem to be working consistently, if you see the wrong quilt (and it's obvious) copy and paste the web address into your browser.
Tokyo Quilt Show 2009 - January 24th at Tokyo Dome City. Photos by Tempusmaster - Robots Dreams (www.robots-dreams.com)
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Pattern is Rocky Road from Sweet Jane Quilting done in Westminster Fibers Kaffe Collective Fabrics. Quilted By Janelle at Sister's Fabrics in Chehalis, WA.
Quilted by Jessica's Quilting Studio
The Modern Fans quilt pattern is incredibly versatile. By rearranging the unique quilt blocks you can make lots of different layouts and designs.
Наконец доделала "Февраль". Напоминаю, что участвую в совместном отшиве текстильного календаря в стиле "крейзи квилт" у Златы. Я конечно же плетусь в конце, но не теряю надежду догнать :)). Февраль. Цвета месяца - оттенки белого, кроме белоснежного, темно-серый, серо-зеленый. В определенный момент нужно сказать себе "стоп" иначе расшивать этот блок можно до бесконечности ... :)). Все фрагменты поближе: Снега в феврале было очень много, поэтому белый цвет у меня царствует, но согласно условиям задания, он не белоснежный - есть сероватый, зеленоватый и бежевый. В этом фрагменте я пыталась вспомнить про 23 февраля, изобразила что-то вроде защитной камуфляжной военной сетки и конечно сундук подарков нашим любимым мужчинам. Обещанное дерево, снега на нем совсем немного, да и под ним он осел как-то, прибился к земле. Сугробы... Дальше все понятно без объяснений...:)) Работать в этой технике очень увлекательно. Здесь можно посмотреть работы всех участниц. Пока у меня только два месяца: Продолжение следует....
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This is Ulrike’s stunning New York Beauty quilt and she said it took her 10 years to complete this top! It is made with all batik fabrics and batik backing. The blocks and border were all paper pieced and I love the blocks put on an angle creating stars in the sashing. The whole quilt is stitched in the ditch which took the most work and then I rolled it back and added the quilting designs. I did the same feather in the outer curve in all the blocks, added pebbles to some of the arcs and loops to others. It took me a while to figure out what to quilt in the sashing but finally came up with the petal curl design the fit in the space nicely. I have lots of pictures to share! The batting is Quilters Dream Blend and the threads are So Fine. When I posted a picture of the quilt top last week I had a lot of questions about stitch in the ditch and what threads so here is what I used. So Fine #456 is the magic gray green that I used on all the blocks, it blended very well with all the colors. I matched thread with the two purples in the sashing for that design element as I wanted the thread to blend in on the sashing. I also used a light beige for SID around the outer border spikes. When I stitch in the ditch I don’t always stitch in the ditch side. Depending on the thread I’m using and the final look I’m going for I sometimes will stitch on the high side of the ditch to keep the thread in the same color fabric as the thread. I did this in the outer border in the light beige fabrics as I wanted the colour spikes to really pop! But in the blocks themselves I just stitched on the low side of the ditch as I was quilting across so many colors it didn’t matter what color of fabric I was stitching in. Here is a better look at the thread I used. There were a few spots on the blocks where I switched to the light beige thread as the blocks had a very light background. And in these blocks I stitch on the high and low side so I stayed in the light fabric like I did in the outer border. So for me there is no hard fast rule about stitching in the ditch, I do what looks right to my eye. Also in this next picture you can see where I strayed from the side I was on and stitched in the darker colour, this happens and I don’t panic about it because when you look at the quilt as a whole you never see that! There were only a few times on this quilt where I was not happy with my stitching and picked out a line or two. So don’t stress too much when your stitching in the ditch, just take your time and don’t be over critical of it.
Even though I have many, many works-in-progress which are waiting for quilting, piecing, finding just the right border fabric, figuring out what comes next in a puzzling design I have created, or s…
One of my first quilts was a Log Cabin quilt. It's such a fun and easy block to put together and a really great way to use up your scraps. We, for sure wanted to add the Log Cabin block to our "curve it up" series and after lots trial and errors this is what I came up with. Believe it or not, my first testing block was all messed up. I completely did up all the log cabin blocks wrong. I think I've been doing to much curved piecing! ...and to give you an idea of what these would look like side by side, repeated: This is a computer mock up, isn't it fantastic! Love it! Remember to share all of your blocks with the rest of us on the "Curve it up" Flickr group! The tutorial can be found on the next post. Happy sewing! ~Jenny~
Sherri kicked off the virtual quilting bee by sharing her fabulous star tutorial for block number one, yesterday. I had so much fun making mine! Thank you Amy for hosting such a fun event, I am looking so forward for the next block.
