Category Archives: Quilts

Spring Table Runner

Posted on by
Reply

I am writing this on the most beautiful sunny day. The colors are saturated and the daffodils are opening up. Here’s a couple of pictures taken in 2011 in the Skagit Valley near the La Conner Quilt Museum where they grow fields and fields of daffodils and they are so pretty at this time of year.

Jan to March 2011 175 Jan to March 2011 179

I love the feel of spring with everything bursting open and the richness of the colors, as well as the warmth of the sun after winter. In the last few days the cherry blossom has opened up – a lovely pink. Here’s my spring table runner inspired by the spring flowers and made from 12 of my Bargello blocks as featured in my book Bargello Quilts with a Twist.

P1020412 P1020413

Quilts by my Walla Walla students

Posted on by
Reply

Two years ago I taught my Bargello Quilts with a Twist workshop and the Bear’s Paw sampler class for the Walla Walla Quilt Guild. Aside from the thrill of being invited back to Walla Walla as the guest artist at their Quilt Festival, I was delighted when my former students brought their completed quilts to show me.

20130929_152222 IMG_5685

Here is Brenda Jones with her attractive 16-block Bargello quilt. Jan Eaton made a large bed-sized quilt with an elk panel in the center. This is a gorgeous setting and the fabrics in the blocks really match the colors in the central panel.

20130929_165602 20130929_170251

Betty Woods made two big bed quilts using the enlarged 9-1/2″ blocks. On the left is an on-point setting which includes large squares. The fabric is like a double wedding ring pattern with the a moon, sun, or earth in the middle of each circle. All the colors in the quilt are pulled from this fabric. In the quilt on the right, the blue sashing sits in between clusters of four blocks in which the largest squares come together. It’s hard to believe that these two quilts are made from the same Bargello block.

20130927_181538-1

Pam Murray organized a barbecue at her house for all the show vendors, the local artist and me. Draped over her couch was her beautiful Bear’s Paw sampler quilt made from five blocks with partial blocks in the setting triangles. She graciously held it up for me to photograph. I love to see that my students complete their projects and are proud of their accomplishments. It’s such a joy to share in their enthusiasm.

 

 

Happy Easter!

Posted on by
Reply

Happy Easter to you all! I thought I’d share my Bargello block quilt, Easter Morning, which is featured in my book, Bargello Quilts with a Twist, in celebration of this special day, the abundance of spring colors, new growth all around us and the lengthening of our daylight hours. The Easter season lasts for 50 days, so we have plenty of time to savor these delights!

P1040883

Maui Nov 2007 003

The quilt has 36 Bargello blocks, 16 with orange, 12 with light minty green and 8 on the middle of the sides with white. Notice I’ve used a variety of different sashing fabrics to integrate the sashing with the overall design.

Quilting with Friends

Posted on by
Reply

I’m fortunate to belong to a small quilting group which we loosely call the Block of the Month group. After teaching a six week beginning quilting class, my students said that they would like to keep going and meet once a month – not only to learn more quilting techniques and improve their skills, but to enjoy being together and continuing the friendships they had made in the class. This was about 15 years ago, and initially I taught a different quilt block each month. Later, we worked on more complex projects and spent two or three months on them. Over the years, the group fluctuated in numbers with a hard core of four or five, and as many as 12 for a short time.

20130321_183111Now we work on our own projects and support one another in this, offering opinions and encouragement on fabric choices, layout etc. We share anything interesting that we learn and if I design a new pattern or technique, they test it for me to help me iron out any glitches. Barbara made this attractive table runner from my template-free technique for Kaleidoscope Puzzle quilts.

As our schedules have become more hectic with me traveling to teach and the others helping out with grandchildren and going on vacation, it’s difficult to find dates when we can meet. However, we usually manage between October and May, and four of us met today for an enjoyable time. Joanne shared her lovely Eleanor Burns quilt top and worked on making a pieced back for it.

20130322_140628

 

If you have the opportunity to be part of a small group, I encourage you to participate. Many quilt guilds have small satellite groups and quilt shops often have drop in quilting days. It’s a wonderful way to make friends and share this quilting passion we enjoy, as well as supporting each other in whatever life throws at us, (good and bad).

New Quilts from an Old Favorite contest

Posted on by
2

My quilt, Almost Modern Jacob’s Ladder, (78” x 78”), is a finalist in the National Quilt Museum contest, New Quilts from an Old Favorite 2013. Each year there is a quilt block theme and contestants are challenged to create an original design derived from the block. My design idea gelled when I found the perfect large scale prints. I emulated today’s “modern quilts” by enlarging the Jacob’s Ladder block and including large areas of negative space. However, this quilt is contrived, with fussy-cut fabrics and a precise border, so it isn’t entirely “modern”. Then again, it was made in 2012, so by definition, it must be modern!

quilt-_02The quilt was completed in collaboration with my good friend Wanda Rains, who did an outstanding job on the machine quilting. Here’s a detailed shot which I hope will showcase her beautiful work.

quilt-_08

The quilt will be displayed in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky from March to June this year. Then it will tour the United States for another 18 months, so when I sent it away in December, it was good-bye quilt for two years. It will also appear in the AQS book – Jacob’s Ladder, New Quilts from an Old Favorite, available soon. If you attend the AQS show in April, be sure to make time to visit the wonderful museum and to see all the finalists in this contest.