Diablo Valley Quilters' Guild Show Day 1 : Featured Artist: Diana McClun

Diana McClun was the featured artist at the 2017 Diablo Valley Quilters Guild show in Walnut Creek, California. Diana is the co-author of the well-known, beloved classic book Quilts, Quilts, Quilts ! along with Laura Nownes.

Color Study II by Diana McClun

For this quilt, Diana used some 30 year old quilt blocks, which are basically half-square triangles sewed side-by-side to create strips of diamonds. They are the 5 rectangles you see above:  from left, the blue/ neon orange, the purple/yellow orange, the red/green, and the grape/yellow. She used them as flower vases to collage flowers and make bouquets.

Here's a close-up of the bright, whimsical flowers which fit into the rectangular vases. What a wonderful use of 30 year old blocks from vintage fabric ! This fun, vibrant work was machine quilted by Alethea Ballard.

Addie's 13th Birthday Quilt by Diana McClun

An original founder of the famous .Empty Spools Seminars in Pacific Grove, California, Diana was inspired by Anelie Belden's Empty Spools class. Diana made this quilt in honor of her granddaughter Addie's 13th birthday.

These giant circular plates, done in restful marine colors, almost look as if they are floating languidly in a under-sea world !  Victoria McEnerney machine quilted this elegant work.

Tulips by Diana McClun

Diana explains, "The inspiration for this quilt came from tulip images on a napkin and paper plate. The design was free-hand drawn with a permanent marker and a ruler onto a grid of 6" squares of muslin pinned on a design wall."

Diana's brilliant skills in composition are highlighted here, as the giant eye-catching flowers comprise the foreground, while the tone-on-tone blues, beiges, and whites add just the right proportion of background space. Tulips was machine quilted by Victoria McEnerney.

Colorful Circles by Diana McClun 

This just looks like so much fun to design and make ! Diana's original design was inspired by a class with Rosalie Dace from South Africa at the Empty Spools Seminar.

This triadic color scheme of pastel pink, lime green, and apricot orange works beautifully together, especially when touches of silver gray are added to the background. Alethea Ballard machine quilted this lively, sophisticated work.

Trees, Trees, Trees by Diana McClun

Diana's contemporary, geometric work was inspired by a painting by German-born, American modern artist Wolf Kahn.  These strips of varied sizes of rectangles give this dazzling quilt an almost Bargello-like appearance.

Diana's original work was machine quilted by Alethea Ballard. These lovely corals and aquas are so gorgeous, especially with the hint of lime green.Trees, Trees, Trees was one of our favorites works of this show.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Welcome to the 2014 River City Quilters' Guild Show: Day 2

The River City Quilters Guild is a prominent guild established in 1977 in Sacramento, the capital city of the state of California. We really enjoyed seeing the over 200 quilts in this year's show, and we'd like to share some of the highlights with you in these posts.

View of Arles With Irises, 80 x 65”, made and quilted by The Fab 5 Group (Carole Pirruccello, Cathy Brorby, Phyllis McCalla, Jan Bawart and Jan Soules.) First Place, Group Quilt-Large

These five panels represent five different views of the flowers in the fields of Arles, France. The artists say about themselves, " The Fab 5 art group took on the daunting task of trying to render, artistically, in fabric, [Impressionist painting] Vincent Van Gogh's  "View of Arles With Irises". Each artist worked independently on her slice [of the total panel shown here]. The resulting interplay of colors, techniques, and embellishments convey a "joie de vivre" ( a joy of life) to this amazing landscape.

Closeup photo, View of Arles with Irises by The Fab 5 Group

An amazing sense of movement is created here with with the circular quilting pattern, and the fabric appliqued in three dimensional rounded pieces. You can almost feel the wind blowing through the trees.

Closeup photo, View of Arles with Irises

These lovely three dimensional origami flowers in shades of purple remind us of little Dutch windmills. Tiny patchwork pieces provide a  dappled sunlight effect to the field behind the blossoms.  We're posting  more closeup photos of "View of Arles" at Quilt Inspiration on Pinterest.

Lava Lamp, 97 x 91.5”, made by Laurel Anderson, quilted by Lin Squires. 2nd place, 2-person quilt - Pieced and Applique

This quilt was inspired by designs of the 1960's and the Shimmer fabric line from Northcott. The fabric colors move from dark to light in 9 shades with shimmers of gold or silver.

close up, Lava Lamp by Laurel Anderson

The ovals are machine appliqued and all the other curves are pieced. A pattern is available at Laurel Anderson's website, Whisper Color.

Twilight Star of Indonesia, 37 x 37”, made and quilted by Susan Kooiman

Susan notes, "I chose this pattern to challenge myself and my paper piecing skills. It was the perfect opportunity to use my beloved batiks."  We love the vibrant split complementary color scheme of orange, red, and gold, combined with a deep blue violet. The circular flying geese border provides an especially innovative and creative effect. This quilt was based on a pattern by Judy Mathieson.

Close up, Twilight Star of Indonesia by Susan Kooiman

In the center of the pastel chartreuse star is a pretty gold brooch with a gleaming purple jewel. Circular gold stitching around the purple background ties the components of this center medallion all together.

Cats Rule, 65 x 80”, made by Kathy Mack, quilted by Shannon Freeman

We love cat quilts, and this one is a beauty!  This quilt was completed by Kathy Mack as a block-of-the-month quilt taught by Anelie Belden, using the Folk Art Cats design by John Simpkins for The Stitchin' Post.  Kathy says: “This is my first attempt at needle-turn applique.” The quilt won Honorable Mention for a Two-Person Pieced and Applique quilt. Each of the cats has button eyes and other embellishments. We couldn't resist taking lots of close-up photos!

Close up photos, Cats Rule by Kathy Mack

The cat jumped over the moon...

This cat has button eyes, embroidered whiskers, and an inscrutable expression...

Here is a cat with a beach ball and a daisy collar:

This cat is totally happy with his mouse... check out the halo over his head!

The stylized bushes are decorated with buttons shaped as gears...

Here is a sunny yellow cat...

This cat is chasing a dragonfly:

"Santa Claws" is comin' to town on his little green cat feet that look as if he is walking on stilts. He look all ready for Christmas Eve with his jaunty hat and belt with star round his belly.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.