Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween! While you're carving your Jack O' Lantern and getting your costume ready, take a look at some of the very fun and fanciful Halloween quilts we've seen recently.  We hope these inspire you to create a little Halloween magic of your own.

Spooky !  by Bonita McFadden, California

This original design by our good friend and expert quilt artist Bonita McFadden shows two frisky kittens joyfully frolicking in the pumpkin patch. Bonita's work is machine pieced, hand appliqued and machine appliqued, embellished with rhinestones and glitter for some Halloween bling.  The pumpkin patch leaves are three-dimensional and outlined with satin stitch.  The lively energy displayed here is enhanced by the split complementary color scheme.
Note to our readers:  "Spooky!" has been selected for display at the prestigious 2014 Pacific International Quilt Show, the largest show on the west coast of the U.S. If you're attending the show, keep a look out for Bonita's work in the "Wall Quilts" category.  As always, Quilt Inspiration will be at P.I.Q.F. on Thursday, October 16,   to bring you first-on-the-scene Opening Day coverage ! 

Close up, Spooky! by Bonita McFadden

Bonita tells us that she really enjoys designing animal's faces displaying human feelings. Here you can see the excitement and playfulness on this darling kitty as he peeks over the top of the pumpkin. His scarf and eye patch are three-dimensional, in order to give more depth to the piece. Look very closely, and you'll see that Bonita has even added whiskers made out of nylon fishing line to his face.

Casper's Friends by Sara L. Rumbaugh

Sara notes that the pattern source  for these embroidered blocks is  Ghost Life: More the Merrier Designs from Sylvia's Quilt Collection.  Sara writes, "...I embroidered my blocks during car trips and TV watching times. It is machine pieced, hand, and machine quilted."  We saw Sara's quilt at the 2014 Quilt Fiesta in Tucson, Arizona and thought it was the perfect work to get us into the spirit of  Halloween.

Close up, Casper's Friends by Sara L. Rumbaugh

This cheery scene takes us back to the Saturday morning cartoons of our youth where we enjoyed Casper the Friendly Ghost and all of his escapades.

Close-up, Casper's Friends, by Sara L. Rumbaugh

Here's a cute image of what we imagine to be "ghostly grandparents' sitting by the fireplace in happy retirement.  These blocks look as if they were truly  enjoyable to embroider !

Happy Hauntings by Debra Elenbaas, quilted by Diane Beauchamp

Happy Hauntings was displayed at the 2014 Road to California quilt show, where its lighthearted motifs really caught our eye. Quilt artist Debra Elenbaas writes, "I love Halloween, and this pattern by Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool has always made me smile. I decided to attempt it, even though I am inexperienced at applique. Diane Beauchamp's quilting brought it to life!"

Close-up, Happy Hauntings by Debra Elenbaas

Debra's quilt has lots of  "attitude" and  spunk, from the jaunty skeleton with the polka-dot hat, to the bats in the corner, to the owl and the pussycat, to the scalloped inner border. There are so many fun details here.

The Usual Suspects, 48 x 36", by Swan Sheridan at Swan Amity Studios

The Usual Suspects won Second Place winner in the category of  Appliqued and Machine Quilted works at the 2014 Tucson, Arizona, Quilt Fiesta. Artist Swan Sheridan notes, of her original design,  "This quilt was created with hand applique and machine quilting. I enjoyed playing with the texture in the background and variegated threads throughout."
Swan Sheridan has created a pattern for this adorable wall hanging.  The pattern is called Branch Diversity and it is available at Swan Amity Studios.

Close up, The Usual Suspects by Swan Sheridan

Swan adds, "The owls all have their own personalities, making this one of my favorite creations to date." We couldn't help but smile at the sense of humor that went into designing the faces and features of these eccentric and memorable birds.

And the Cow says 'Boo' by Peggy Baldwin-Clayton,  Texas, quilted by Anne Lett-Brown

Peggy's pattern source is the "Purple Cow" pattern in Out of the Box With Easy Blocks by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie B. McFarland. Peggy notes..... "I'd been thinking about making a cow after seeing all the "bovine mania" in Mary Lou's followers, and 'What did the cow say? BOO!' flashed into my mind. With that thought, I surged ahead."  

And the Cow Says "Boo" by Peggy Baldwin-Clayton   

We saw this hilarious quilt at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival and just had to laugh out loud ! The Mardi Gras mask and the polka dot ears make this one wacky and very adorable cow. A midnight blue background really helps the complementary orange foreground pop right out in a riotous display of energy. 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Road to California 2014: Part 1

By luck or chance, we've found ourselves attending three quilt shows in three weeks (!) Last week we featured the Tucson Quilt Fiesta and this week we're sharing photos from the Road to California.  (Next week we'll be going to the AQS show, which will be coming to Phoenix, Arizona for the first time.)  Here are some of the awe-inspiring quilts we saw at the Road to California.

Celestial Splendor, 62 x 62”, by Rachel Wetzler

Rachel Westzler won 2nd place in the Innovative Wall Applique category for Celestial Splendor.  Her original design is based on the ceiling in the crossing tower of Canterbury Cathedral, one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. All of the shapes that make up this original and colorful design are appliqued - even the straight lines - with fused raw edge applique.  This quilt really stood out with its intricate geometric design and beautiful colors.

close up, Celestial Splendor by Rachel Wetzler

Rachel did all of the work - design, applique and quilting - on Celestial Splendor. In her blog post, she explains that Celestial Splendor is a quilt with a hundreds of individual shapes:  "The only way to achieve accuracy on a complex quilt like this is to use acrylic overlays for exact placement of the fabric shapes." After fusing, each shape is finished with a small zigzag stitch using tracing paper as a temporary stabilizer.  For more information on  techniques, see Rachel Wetzler Quilts.

Where We Met, 43 x 59", by Linda C. Anderson

Where We Met won a major award of $1000 for Best Wall Quilt at the Road to California.  There were so many admirers crowded in front of this quilt that we had to wait until late in the day to get a photo.  From a distance this quilt looks like a landscape painting rather than an art quilt. What is interesting is that the trees, pond and reflections were done in shades of gray, while the color was reserved for the house in the background and the green lily pads in the foreground, which are balanced by a swath of green on the pond's edge.  Linda Anderson achieved a meticulous, almost photorealistic effect with changes of value.

close up, Where We Met by Linda C. Anderson

Linda Anderson explains the inspiration for this scene:  "After an exhaustive genealogy search, I discovered unknown family in Sweden. Seven of us from the US traveled to meet them in a little village north of Stockholm named Hogbo. After over 100 years of both sides losing knowledge of the other, we were reunited with much joy and love. This is a depiction of Where We Met."

Music of the Spheres by Ann B. Feitelson

We were excited to see this gem of a wall quilt at the Road to California. We think that this show needs to create an award category for Contemporary Design, as this quilt surely would have won.  In her artist's statement for Music of the Spheres, Ann Feitelson says:  "I love stripes. I love circles. Striped circles on stripes evoke the sun, or a sunset, or lightwaves. I made a few blocks with circles on stripes, and a few more, and started to put them together. An order evolved (very slowly!)"  In the lower right corner block of the quilt there is a blue-green sphere that reminds us of images of the earth from space.

close up, Music of the Spheres by Ann B. Feitelson

The illusion of transparency in the spheres is more apparent in this zoomed-in photo. You can also see tiny birds, which appear to be riding the quilted waves which undulate across the surface of the quilt. Ann Feitelson is a contemporary art quilter who is best known for her mastery of color in design; this new piece is so harmonious and pleasing to the eye, we could have gazed at it for hours.   For more photos and information on the work of Ann Feitelson, please see our 2013 feature article and interview in A Fine Art: the colorful quilts of Ann Feitelson. 

Big Bertha, 99 x 99”, by Margaret Solomon Gunn

Margaret Solomon Gunn won the Masterpiece Award of $5000 for Big Bertha.   We enjoyed seeing her outstanding quilting close up (unlike many of the quilts at Road to California, this quilt was not blocked off with tape, but it was attended by a white-glove volunteer).   Traditional Dresden plates form the basis for the colorful design, but there is plenty of open space to showcase Margaret's exemplary quilting.  There are many motifs, with portions of the quilting motif or the piecing repeated.

close up, Big Bertha by Margaret Solomon Gunn

We hope this close up photo captures the incredible detail of Margaret's hand-guided original quilting designs. On her website at Mainely Quilts of Love, Margaret explains that Big Bertha took approximately 22 months from start to finish.  She spent about 150-175 hours on the quilting over the course of 6-7 weeks. The quilting was done using several shades of silk thread – 5 miles or so.

Margaret included feathers, straight and curved ruler work, and a multitude of fillers. Some of the fillers were designed specifically for this quilt. Big Bertha also won won Best of Show at MQX-New England in April 2013.

Grandpa Calls Everybody Cowboy by Melanie B. McFarland, quilted by Kathleen Woods

This charming, whimsical quilt by Melanie B. McFarland really made us smile. Melanie explains the theme for this quilt:  "When my sons were younger and we would visit my parents, they would ask, “Why Does Grandpa Call Everybody Cowboy?” He would forget the names of his grandchildren and call them all “cowboy”. You may know Melanie as the co-author (with Mary Lou Weidman) of the book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks: Fun with Free Form Quilting.  The borders of this quilt have many free-form blocks made with Western prints.

close up,  Grandpa Calls Everybody Cowboy by Melanie B. McFarland, quilted by Kathleen Woods

This quilt shows "Grandpa" wearing a real bolo tie: "the bolo tie came from his vast collection of Native American jewelry. He also had many dachshunds (you can see a dachshund in this photo) and [he] raced homing pigeons... He has 9 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren; 8 cowboys and 6 cowgirls." You can see the backs of the childrens heads as they are facing Grandpa in this photo.

Byrne’s Spiral by Beth Nufer and Clem Buzick, quilted by Clem Buzick

Byrne's Spiral was one of the most dazzling quilts at the show, both for its pieced design and exemplary quilting (by Clem Buzick).  The quilt was named for Beth's husband,  Byrne Miller.  Byrne's Spiral won a blue ribbon in the Innovative Large Mixed category at the Road to California.  Beth Nufer says:  "My inspiration was the sateen gradated fabric. The central design was done on graph paper first, then paper pieced."  The gradated gray fabric gives a lustrous background to the colorful spirals and flying geese.

close up, Byrne’s Spiral by Beth Nufer and Clem Buzick, quilted by Clem Buzick

This close up photo shows the dynamic vortex created by this spiral design.  We hope that you can see the innovative quilting, which was expertly done by Clem Buzick. 

Stay tuned this week for more quilt show photos from the Road to California!

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

From Houston: Quilts that honor The Day of the Dead

The Houston IQF is so overwhelming... at the end of the day you are dead ! But seriously.......since November 1-2 is Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), here are two show quilts that embody the theme.

Life Everlasting by Ann Horton, Redwood Valley, California

Ann notes, "In the tradition of The Day of the Dead celebrations, this quilt embraces life after death with happy assurance. [It was] inspired by my 89-year-old mother's faith and life." Ann's work is an original design utilizing the Carolina Lily block in the center. The gray you see on the words in the border is actually shiny metallic silver fabric, which gives this quilt extra sparkle.

Close up, Life Everlasting by Ann Horton

Here's only one of 8 cheerful skulls which dance around the center medallion.  For the extensive embellishment of this quilt, Ann used hand-beading and hot fix crystals. The skulls were created with digitized machine embroidery. 

Close up, Life Everlasting by Ann Horton

In the corner of this quilt, you can see a happy skeleton couple enjoying the day, surrounded by colorful lilies.

Dia de los MOOertos by Peggy Baldwin-Clayton,  quilted by Denise Green

This darling cow is part of the MOO-ston (a pun on the word "Houston")  exhibit, which featured quilts, based on the purple cow pattern from the book,  Out of the Box With Easy Blocks by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie McFarland.

Peggy says, "This quilt was the perfect opportunity to showcase the Alexander Henry fabrics ( with printed skulls)  I collected at Festival last year."

Close up, Dia de los Mooertos by Peggy Baldwin-Clayton

Peggy adds,  "Note the skull flowers ( on the yellow background)  .... and the  skull earrings [on the cow] . This was a very fun quilt to design and make. Whoever would have thought that cows would "go viral" !

Image credits :  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.