Happy Valentine's Day! (2)

Happy Valentine's Day 2019! We love this holiday, dedicated to friendship, love, and romance. Join us as we take a look at some of these red and white quilts which celebrate such a fun time of the year!

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Zen in Red by Marjory Peck, Arizona, quilted by Marjory Peck

Honorable Mention winner Marjorie notes, "I love the Zentangle drawings, but I am not a doodler. This is my version of doodling with fabric. The idea of only using two colors to make an applique quilt inspired me to do this design for the Arizona Quilters Guild theme challenge." (40th anniversary Ruby Extravaganza).

Close-up, Zen in Red

We really like how nicely  these red and white fabrics go together ! They are all the same shade of red, but there's so much variety in the type of prints displayed here. What a fun, lively project.

Red Licorice by Shirley Johnson, Arizona, quilted by Shirley Johnson

Shirley states, "[This is a] published design by Jill Finley. As my first-ever log cabin quilt, Jill Finley's 'Red Licorice' design is spot on for me; it's modernly old fashioned."

Shirley quilted this lovely work herself. She did a wonderful, precise job with both the applique and patchwork motifs.

Be My Valentine by Jan Redding, Arizona, quilted by Diane Pugh

Jan explains, "[The redwork embroidery] was a design from Bird Brain Designs. I  embroidered the redwork hearts by hand from the "Hearts and Flowers" pattern. I chose a simple nine patch setting to highlight the redwork." 

Close-up, Be My Valentine

Jan adds, "This quilt combines my two favorite things..quilting and embroidery." This intricate  redwork is beautifully done and stands out so well against the white background.

Red and White Explosion by Margaret Willingham, Colorado, quilted by Margaret Willingham

Margaret says of her original design,  "Simplicity. Elegance. Redemption. A dance of positive and negative space in red and white. I love the exciting simplicity of two color quilts. I love red, I love to applique and reverse applique by hand, and I love to hand quilt. "

Close-up, Red and White Explosion

Margaret continues, "This original quilt design with 17 unique bursting blocks inspired by architecture of the Victorian Era, brings together all these loves, just for the fun of it." Here's a close-up, above, of Margaret's very painstaking work, done with elegant, tiny stitches.

Red Regale by Kristen Webb, Utah, quilted by Kirsten Webb

Kirsten remarks, "I love red and white quilts, and Red Regale is the latest one. The block design was adapted from a block seen on Pinterest. This was a new challenge for me to create my own quilt and then set it on point. I left large neutral spaces for longarm quilting, which I did myself."

Close-up, Red Regale

Kirsten concludes, "I can honestly say this is my quilt from start to finish. I love quilting; it fills me with content and happiness."
Both the patchwork and longarm quilting here are gorgeous. Kirsten has selected fabric that is a highly saturated, very substantial shade of red in order to give maximum contrast to the background.  

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2018 Road to California show (Red and White Explosion), the 2018 Springville (Utah) quilt show (Red Regale), and  Quilt Arizona! (Zen in Red, Be My Valentine, and Red Licorice.)

Beating the Heat at the 2015 Arizona Quilt Show #2

It was 95°F for this year's Arizona Quilt show... but, as they say, it's a dry heat! Moreover, it was the perfect occasion to enjoy an air-conditioned quilt show. This is our 5th year of attendance, and we always look forward to seeing the variety and creativity displayed by members of the Arizona Quilters' Guild. Let's beat the heat with a look at this year's fantastic quilts... here is part 2 of our virtual show!

Arizona Grand by Wanda Seale 

We really enjoyed this stunning landscape quilt by Wanda Seale.  Although the scene has a photo-realistic appearance, it is not a digital quilt.  Wanda says, "Capturing the iconic splendor of our favorite landmark, I appliqued specific fabrics to showcase the depth and colors of the Canyon."

Georgetown Wedding, 74 x 75", by Ann L. Petersen

Award-winning quilter Ann Petersen has created another stunning quilt in colors that remind us of chocolate and cotton candy.  Ann's original design was based on the traditional Double Wedding Ring pattern, combined with Georgetown Circles.  At the 2015 show the quilt won First Place - Mixed Technique Large.

This is a close-up photo of the Georgetown Circles with appliqued centers. (For more information on the traditional Georgetown Circle block, see the post by Martha Dellasega Gray.) It's no surprise that Georgetown Wedding also won the award for Exemplary Machine Quilting – Stationary. At the 2014 Houston International Quilt Festival it won a blue ribbon in the Innovative Pieced category.

 Midnight Dahlia by Elaine Putnam, quilted by Gina Perkes

There was a spotlight shining on the corner of this quilt, but we tried our best with this photo.  This Midnight Dahlia (a pieced Dahlia on a black background)  won First Place, Pieced – Medium.  The quilting, by Gina Perkes, was awarded a special ribbon for  Exemplary Machine Quilting (Track Mounted).   Here is a photo of the pastel center of the Dahlia:

Midnight Dahlia was inspired by Marti Michell’s Giant Dahlia templates and Sharon Schamber’s Piece-lique method. You might be interested to know that Sharon's daughter, Cristy, has a tutorial on the Piece-lique technique at her website, Sew Much Like Mom.  We'll be posting more close-up photos on our Exemplary Quilting Board on Pinterest.

Brimill - Icelandic Horse by Georgia Thorne

Georgia Thorne won a Judge's Recognition award for her artistic depiction of an Icelandic horse.  She says, "Inspired by a Threadplayers (fiber art group) challenge to design a fiber art piece using Zentangle details, I chose an Icelandic horse with his flowing mane and tail."  The background fabric is a silver-and-white diamond print; Georgia echoed the pattern with diamond-shaped shadows.

Each section of the horse had a different Zentangle design rendered in machine embroidery and applique.

Out of Egypt by Florence A. Evans

Out of Egypt won 2nd place in the Pieced – Large quilt category. It was made of Egyptian-themed fabrics and strip-pieced panels, inspired by a class on Strips and Curves taught by Louisa Smith.   This is such a successful design; we loved the way in which Florence used the bright blue to provide a focal point.

close up, Out of Egypt by Florence A. Evans

In the close-up photo you can see some of the fun Egyptian-themed fabrics in this quilt, including silhouetted camels at sunset (upper right).

In Memoriam by Maggie Hagen, quilted by Pamela Dransfeldt

We enjoyed this intricate applique quilt, which features patterns from the 1858 Bird of Paradise quilt top in the American Folk Art Museum.  Some of the blocks and borders are Maggie's own design. The Bird of Paradise block patterns can be found in A Bountiful Life: An Adaptation of the Bird of Paradise Quilt by the late Karen Mowery.

There is a lot of detail in this quilt: the edges of some flowers and leaves were embellished with French knots.  Pamela Dransfeldt used echo quilting around the flowers, and created veins in the leaves.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.  We appreciate the assistance of Cathy Tognoni !

California Fall quilt show: part 3

Here are some inspiring contemporary quilts from the recent quilt show of the Diablo Valley Quilters in California.  As you can see below, all of these quilts feature motifs that incorporate curves or circles in their design.

Zen Bird, approx. 33 x 20", by Suzi Dillinger

Suzi says, "This is the first in a series of quilts based on Zentangle pen and ink designs. The design was freehand quilted on a longarm, then hand painted, [with] some inking."  (Quilt Inspiration note : Zentangle is a method of learning to draw using parts of structured images).

Close-up, Zen Bird by Suzi Dillinger

This fabulous pattern is actually a whole cloth quilt. Suzi painted the background, then left the foreground in neutral black and white. Working in very small spaces, she did an outstanding job with a variety of designs on the longarm machine.

Circles and Lines, 19 x 27", by Carol Roach

Carol writes, "[At] Quilter's Affair 2012, I took Hilde Morin's Curves and More class. This technique allows you to play and construct. The result is always a delightful surprise."   Carol used a variety of  prints, batiks, and stripes to construct her intriguing and imaginative work, which she quilted herself.

Where No Man Has Gone Before, approx 30 x 42", by Sally Socolich

Sally explains,  "I challenged myself to make a quilt using my extensive collection of hand-dyed fabric. My ice-dyed fabrics conjured an image of celestial bodies, my Shibori dyes, the Milky Way.  This is for all the 'Trekkies'  (fans of Star Trek) in our family. "

Close-up,   Where No Man Has Gone Before by Sally Socolich

Sally quilted this work herself; and this close-up shows her careful and evenly spaced quilting patterns, along with the fascinating color variations which give an other-worldly aspect to her hand-dyed fabrics.

Swirls 'n Whirls, 56 x 56", by Ginny Lee

Ginny notes:  "This is my entry for the Arty Chicks [of Diablo Valley Quilters] Circles and Lines Challenge, using some of my personal hand-dyed fabrics. The math required for the layout gave me a headache!"  Ginny quilted this fun creation herself.

Close-up,  Swirls 'n Whirls by Ginny Lee

We loved Ginny's use of complementary and analogous colors in these very eye-catching patterns ! They're reminiscent of giant lollipops that we used to see in our childhood at the candy store.

4 square in N.Y. Beauty, 41 x 41", by Nancy Bourns

Nancy states, "I started quilting in 2006 and right away took a class to learn how to make a New York Beauty block from Vicki Wind at The Cotton Patch Quilt Shop. There has been a lull between class attendance and project completion !"  This vibrant work with the colorful foreground and very modern background prints was quilted by Nancy herself.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.