Modern Quilt Month 2018 (2)

What makes a quilt modern? According to The Modern Quilt Guild, the characteristics may include the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast, graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, and expansive negative space. We hope you enjoy our selections!

p.s. For bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry, visit us on E-Bay - we're Top Rated Sellers ! And for continuous listings of free quilt patterns, please check us out on Twitter !

Rainbow Cat Eyes by Laurie Ceesay (Michigan)

These appliqued silhouettes of women are very cool, with their bright batik hues and cat eye glasses! Laurie Ceesay says,  "I love portrait quilts and the color wheel so I combined both ideas.  By overlapping the motifs that are in primary and secondary colors, a tertiary color is created.  I wear glasses and think they are a fashion statement.  My favorite frame shape is the cat eye... my portrait motifs received cat eye glasses with rhinestone decorations!"

Jeweled Windows by Judy Nelson and Debbie Spencer (Iowa)

The gorgeous colors drew us to this stained glass quilt.  The use of white instead of a traditional black background gives this quilt a very contemporary feel.  Jeweled Window was based on the Leaded Glass quilt  pattern by Tracey Jacobsen, published in American Quilter Magazine, November, 2014 (as of this date, you can still download the free pattern here !)  The artist says, "I found this quilt to be the perfect avenue to set off some of the beautiful fabrics in my stash."

Water Mirror by Carolina Asmussen (Connecticut)

The indigo ombre fabric adds fantastic shadows and lights to this quilt.  Water Mirror makes reference to water as an architectural element.  The design was inspired by an iconic mosaic panel by Brazilian artist Athos Bulcão who collaborated with Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s.  The free-motion quilting reproduces the wind movement across the water's surface, with curves and bubbles playing with the regular solid shapes. 

Drunkard's Bullseye WOW! 58 x 58",by Jackie Nixon-Fulton (Texas)

Inspired by a Drunkard's Path block, this totally modern quilt was derived from a block from the artist's quilt called Playing Well Together, designed for the Modern Quilts Unlimited Old is New challenge.  Ever larger Drunkard's Path sub-units extend out from the middle in four blocks.  The purple unifies and contrasts with the other colors, giving luminosity and depth as the colors seem to jump out at you.  Drunkard's Bullseye was machine pieced and quilted by the artist.

Ohio Snowball by Christine Perrigo (Colorado)

Christine Perrigo says that Ohio Snowball was inspired by Ohio Star and Flowering Snowball blocks (flowering snowball is a very pretty block with curved piecing).  She started with a huge Flowering Snowball block, choosing to emphasize the small square formed between the petals. The Ohio Star blocks march across the different background segments in a grid.

Christine says,  "I very often play with overlapping patterns for my quilting designs.  Once this quilt top was together, it sat for almost a year until I could brainstorm how to quilt it."

Three D Illusion by Sheila Bruner (Arizona)

Sheila Bruner made this fantastic illusion quilt for her guild's Black & White With A Splash of Color challenge.  She says the piecing was quite a challenge!  The tumbling blocks were made the hard way, with y-seams.  The quilting was done freehand on her longarm machine, with feathers and vines that loop in and out of the charcoal background.  Sheila also used Derwent Inktense color pencils to enhance the 3D effect.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2018 Quilt Arizona show (Three D Illusion) and the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Highlights of the Pacific International Quilt Festival - Part 4

We had a fabulous time at the 2015 Pacific International Quilt Festival, the largest quilt show on the Pacific coast of the U.S.  Beautiful quilts were displayed from around the world. All the quilts were designed and constructed at a high level of talent. We are showing some prize winners, but we also will be showing some real gems that did not win. For a complete list of prize winners in the World Quilt category, please click here. Last week, we featured Part 3; and now, here is Part 4!

Yellow Crowned Night Heron, 32 x 27", by Barbara McKie, Connecticut

Barbara writes of her original design, " I create all of my fabrics, and my inspiration comes from my photographs. The 'pins and needles' come when finding inspiration from many photographs, many from travels." We loved the artistic texture created by the quilting on the leaves and feathers.

Barbara continues, "Once an image is [chosen], I select and print sections to fit on my 17 inch printer. Free motion quilting just flows ! The last decision is whether to make it without a border or to select [some of my] hand dyed fabrics for the border. "  We were very impressed by the detailed, sensitive face on this bird and Barbara's amazing quilting, which was done on a home sewing machine.

Pentecost by Linda S. Schmidt, California

Linda S. Schmidt is an internationally renowned quilt artist who presented a spectacular one-woman show at P.I.Q.F. , titled "Whatever It Takes". This means that she combines a wide variety of techniques and embellishments to express her inner vision. Pentecost refers to the 50 days after Easter in the Christian church, when the Holy Spirit was said to descend upon Christ's apostles.

Linda notes, "The readings for Pentecost are all about light in darkness, the good news being brought to the world, the rebirth of spirit, and the holy fire. This piece has been used for many celebrations in my church and has been used as a Pentecost symbol for ....convocations and confirmations. This quilt hangs for one weekend a year in my church and only took six months to make. The background is completely pieced; the bird is appliqued."
Her work is both admirable and breathtaking, with its juxtaposition of different fabrics, contemporary piecing angles, and quilting lines.

Still Waters , 62 x35, by Jenny Hearn, South Africa

Jenny Hearn explains, Still Waters is based on a pond seen at the golf course in the White River estate in Mpumalanga, [a province in South Africa]. The flowers are very loosely derived from antique upholstery fabrics and embroidery motifs." To us, this looks like a lovely underwater scene, with the sunlight shining down on top of the water, highlighting elegant tropical flowers.

Jenny's exotic original design is machine pieced and appliqued and machine quilted.  Striking split-complementary shades of purple-gold, and aqua-orange provide a lively foreground amidst the deep green background.

Natural, 12 x 39", by LaQuita Tummings, California

LaQuita says of her original design, "When I envision an idea, I get excited, and I get what my mother would call an itching in my finger: the desire to see what my idea will become." We think that LaQuita's idea turned out to be terrific ! This sophisticated lady with gracious, expressive features is adorned with fashionable, vivid flowers in rich, color-saturated shades.

LaQuita's fabulous work is hand appliqued, hand pieced, and hand quilted. We counted at least two dozen very creatively fashioned felt flowers, which give "Natural" so much energy and vivacious personality.

Lircles, 33 x 50", by Susan Garrity, Wyoming

Susan says of her original eye-catching design, " As I hand dyed these fabrics, I was unsure of exactly how I would use them. Then one winter day, as I looked out at the mountain and saw the skiers' tracks, the design popped into my head." Lircles was one of the prettiest modern quilts that we saw at PIQF.

Notice that each wavy-line  "ski track" here has a different sewing-machine quilted pattern. These appliqued circles in various sizes give such a  whimsical, cheerful look to this fun modern quilt. Susan's very innovative work is machine pieced and machine appliqued as shown in the photo below.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.