Modern Quilt Month 2017 #4

We're keeping it simple for summer at Quilt Inspiration and featuring a showcase of modern quilts.  These original designs have a bold impact and straight or flowing lines, but the quilting is anything but simple.  We hope you enjoy these quilts as much as we did!
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Entanglement, 45 x 65", by Claire Victor (Arizona)

Claire notes, "Mid-Century textiles and graphic design inspire this composition with its bold flat colors and simple geometric shapes. The interlocking forms float through space; they try to separate, but it is impossible."

Claire's choice of light and dark hues in the foreground provide a fascinating sense of dimensionality in this quilt. Her original design is hand pieced and sewing machine quilted.

Shades of Green (Play of Lines), 44 x 63", by Uta Lenk (Germany)

Uta notes, "[This quilt has] a lot of green scraps that were begging to be used, plus a friend's comment that she didn't know of many green quilts, were the inspiration for this quilt. Hand stitching and contrasting colors added the "zing" factor." 

Here you can see some of the thousands of hand stitches scattered over the quilt. Uta's amazing quilt is proof of the tremendous range of green hues. This original design is machine pieced and hand and sewing machine quilted.

Toalla de Playa, 59 x 57", by Suzanne Appelman (California)

Blue ribbon winner for Best Hand Workmanship in a Modern Quilt, Suzanne comments that the inspiration for this quilt came from a beach towel she purchased at Wal-Mart. Suzanne's resourcefulness is a reminder to us that motivation and ideas can come from many varied sources if we just look around us.

Suzanne's fun, very contemporary design is all hand pieced and hand quilted.

Whimsical Mondrian, 94 x 67", by Laraine Salmon, D. Brandenhoff, L. Chung, G. Fie, L. Kemp, B. Lamont, K. Resect and K. Stern (California)

Whimsical Mondrian is clearly a tribute to Dutch cubist painter Piet Mondrian and his famous style of creating bright, colorful geometric motifs in primary colors. 

The quilt artists' original design is machine pieced and longarm quilted.

Fruit Flavors, 63 x 42", by Mary A. Menzer (Virginia)

Mary explains, "The colors reminded me of Lifesavers and Fruit Stripe bubblegum, so I came away with the name Fruit Flavors. I enjoy matchstick quilting; and I used different colors in each block and two different colors on the background."

These pretty rainbow blocks are based on the fractal block pattern by Patty Sloniger. Mary used the Sun Print collection from Andover Fabrics to make this original design, which is machine pieced and sewing machine quilted.

Raspberry Parfait, 97 x 97", by Barbara Michels (California)

Barbara says, "The center star was created using a 45 degree diamond ruler; and the star border was created in Electric Quilt Software."  We love the traditional cottage stars on the inner border, juxtaposed with modern spikes on the outer border. To us, that is proof that traditional and modern motifs can often work very well together. 

Here's a closeup of the "sunset" colors of the center medallion, surrounded by fabulous longarm quilting. Barbara's lovely original design is machine pieced.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Quilts of the World Part 2: Germany

Part of the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival was the World Quilt Competition XX, which is a special exhibition within the larger P.I.Q.F. This competition, which is open to quilters from many different countries, starts out each summer on the East Coast of the U.S.A.; then the best quilts from that show go on tour to the various regional shows in America. Each week, Quilt Inspiration will feature highlights of quilts from a different country. We hope you enjoy this presentation, continuing with quilts from Germany.

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Gear Wheel 11 - Spiral of Life, 36 x 50", by Barbara Lange

Barbara says, "Life to me evolves like a spiral - constantly in movement,, changing direction, but at the same time repeating itself in a good way. We are all a little wheel in this big machinery, contributing to the big overall movement. Nobody is unimportant, and as soon as one wheel goes missing, we all are affected."

The beautiful contemporary quilting motif really emphasizes the idea of the inter-connectedness and mutual dependency of human kind. Barbara's original design is machine pieced and sewing machine quilted.

Blattgold (Leaf Gold), 43 x 63", by Brigitte Morgenrath

Winner of a blue ribbon for Best of Country (Germany), Brigitte says this is the 10th time that she is participating in the World Quilt Competition! Her color combination was "inspired by golden silk and green cotton fabric embellished with golden blossoms, I created these leaf-bearing twigs."

Blattgold was machine pieced using a paper piecing technique for highest accuracy, then hand quilted in all the ditches to highlight the leaf pattern.

Woven Journey, 91 x 89", by Claudia Pfeil

Blue ribbon winner in the Innovative Quilts category, Claudia notes that this quilt is her interpretation of the 2016 P.I.Q.F. theme, "Then and Now." Claudia is known for her award-winning quilting; you can see her instructional videos at her website.

Claudia's original design is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and long arm quilted. Here, you can see some of the pretty beaded embellishment that Claudia has added to her quilt. This woven motif reminds us of how the strands of time weave various events in and out of our lives.

Art and Craft meet Art Nouveau, 37 x 37", by Katrin Schroeder

Katrin explains, "I'm an admirer of the Art Nouveau epoch, in particular of the work by William Morris... The motifs used in the border are inspired by a mosaic from the Art Nouveau church "Am Steintor" in Vienna, Austria. The borders have been hand-pieced in the English paper-piecing technique using gold lame and regular cotton fabrics. The binding has been applied by hand."

Katrin continues, " I made one of his most lovely flower paintings the centerpiece of my quilt. The leaves and blossoms I have cut from felt and are appliqued by hand." Katrin's lovely original design is  all hand pieced, hand appliqued, and hand quilted.

Reflections on the Nine Patch, 36 x 36", by Uta Lenk

This original design by Uta Lenk is a playful variation of a traditional nine-patch pattern using modern fabrics (scraps) and design options on the quilt top. The quilt was machine pieced and sewing machine quilted.  As shown below, the tails of the machine quilting threads were left on top of the quilt to add to the texture and improvisational feel. 

Passion Always Wins, 61 x 44", by Frauke Schramm

This dynamic quilt makes a powerful statement. It depicts the contrast between peace and human rights versus the flames and destruction created by ISIS. Frauke Schramm says, "So-called ISIS not only slaughters people – they believe they can destroy the fundamental ideas of everyone who does not share their beliefs, for instance, by burning books. Nothing does ISIS know about the resilience of ideas – they will survive. They always have."

Passion Always Wins was created with cotton, linen, and polyester fabrics using string piecing, free-motion applique, and free-motion quilting.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.