Remembering Nancy

Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated on October 31st, November 1st and 2nd. The tradition honors those who have passed, whose souls are thought to come back to be with their loved ones.

Nancy Arsenault, an Arizona quilter, was famous for her Day of the Dead quilts, having made numerous whimsical quilts with that theme. To honor Nancy's memory, here is an original quilt made by Kathy Adams. Remembering Nancy was shown at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show. 

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry and collectibles! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on X (Twitter) !  

Remembering Nancy, made and quilted by Kathy Adams

Kathy Adams says: "Nancy Arsenault, a former guild member, was well known for her skeleton quilts. I made this quilt in honor of her. Angelina fibers were fused to tulle using Bo-Nash Fuse-it powder to make the wings." We love the many details, including the bug-eyed dragonfly and the outstanding finish quilting. 

Check out the strands of hair that flow over the right hand border of the quilt.

Here are two of Nancy Arsenault's original quilts from prior shows: 

Beauty Parlor de los Muertos, 76 x 59", by Nancy Arsenault (2014)

 

  

Save the Last Dance for Me by Nancy Arsenault (2021)

 

Image credits: Photos of Remembering Nancy were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

 

Welcome to the Quilt Fiesta! (4)

We attended the 2025 Quilt Fiesta in Tucson, Arizona, and had a wonderful time.  This show is produced by the Tucson Quilters Guild and there were so many beautiful quilts to admire. We hope you enjoy our photos of the show! Here is part 4.

Note: Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on patterns, jewelry, and collectibles. You also can follow us on Twitter!

Four Little Cowpokes, made and quilted by Lisa Fryxell

Lisa Fryxell says, "Thanks to my friend, Lynn Rubel, for allowing me to make a quilt featuring her mom (in red) and uncle, with their cousins from Illinois at Arivaca Ranch in 1935. The original photo was black and white."

Lisa Fryxell is known for her paper-piecing patterns, and it's impressive to see the photo-realism she achieved in this original portrait quilt.  

Echoes of the Past by Kay Walen, quilted by Laura Farnham 

Each feature appliqued block is surrounded by small blocks, many of which are pieced, adding to the extraordinary detail in this quilt. Kay Walen says, "This quilt pattern reminded me of prehistoric art - prevalent in the Southwest.  I decided to hone my blanket stitch applique technique and enjoyed the process." (Pattern source: Echoes of the Past by Elizabeth Anne.)

(Note: The printed card next to this quilt said "quilted by Laura Faenham"; we are assuming this is a typo, so have tentatively corrected the spelling to Laura Farnham.)

Beach Boards and Balls, made and quilted by Nancy Zeller

This small improvisational art piece really captured our attention with its energy and sense of movement.  It was inspired by the fibert art of Sue Benner, a member of SAQA.  Nancy Zeller says, "This piece was created for a monthly challenge in our Art Quilt Group to emulate the artist drawn (selected) for that month."  We loved the end result.

Remembering Nancy, made and quilted by Tami Graeber

Winner of a blue ribbon for 1st place in the applique category, Tami Graeber says: "This original design was made in remembrance of Nancy Arsenault, my friend and mentor. Machine applique was her favorite technique." Some of the beautiful details can be seen in the closeup photos.

The quilt was "inspired by a Victorian tile I own. Heavy background quilting [was used] to make the design pop." Fancy double prairie point edges add to the piece, shown below.

African Art by Janet Chumbley, quilted by Quality Quilterz

We loved this quilt, which was made with random African fabric pieces with occasional thin strips of black fabric to set off the blocks.  Janet Chumbley says,"Over the years, I had collected several different pieces of African fabric.  Eventually I had to figure out a use for them. I tried to just use yellows, reds and black." Her choice and expert arrangement of the fabrics makes for a fabulous composition.

Note: If you enjoyed this post you might also be interested in our Free Pattern Day for Africa Inspired Quilts (CLICK HERE!)

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Day of the Dead in quilts

The Mexican holiday known as Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated on October 31st, November 1st and 2nd. It overlaps with All Hallow's Eve (Halloween), the night before All Saints Day.  The tradition honors those who have passed, whose souls are thought to come back to be with their loved ones. Here are some fun and colorful quilts that reflect the holidays!

~ P.S.  Check out our eBay shop for great bargains on books, magazines, and collectible items. For free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter. 

Catrina's Halloween by Michelle Howe (Irvine, California)

We were captivated by the gorgeous fringed and flower-bedecked hat worn by the skeleton, who is also holding a giant red peony.  This is a great example of broderie perse - a quilting style where flower motifs are cut from fabric and used as design elements. 

Michelle says that she fell in love with the "Catrina" quilts in the special display by Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli at the 2018 Road to California quilt show.  This is Michelle Howe's second "Catrina" quilt.  The colorful painted face was created using the face-painting techniques of Patt Blair.

The black and white background fabric, featuring bats and crows, provides a perfect haunted setting for "Catrina". The design elements, including skeleton parts, flowers, hat and dress were appliqued.  Many of the elements were edged with black blanket stitching, helping the pieces to stand out.

Emily by Jane Rua (Arizona)

Jane Rua made this fabulous quilt as a wedding gift for a great niece who loves skeletons and haunted houses. The piece was inspired by a quilt made by Jane Impey. In this delightful scene, a skeleton is enjoying a relaxing bath while shipping on a glass of wine.  Meanwhile, bugs rain from the shower head! 

In the closeup photos, spiders can be seen weaving webs on the wall above the bathtub (above).  A skeleton cat is having fun chasing after a huge spider (see the photo below)!

Save the Last Dance for Me by Nancy Arsenault (Tucson, Arizona)

This is the eleventh quilt in Nancy Arsenault's renowned Dia de los Muertos series!  Our photo does not do justice to this quilt, as the lighting was very uneven at this show. We hope you can appreciate the outstanding design nevertheless.

This original design was created in a workshop on mandalas.  Nancy says, "Everyone else was drawing beautiful flowers.  The more I drew, the less I liked it.  The teacher, Sharon Schamber, noted my frustration.  She said, Nancy... do what YOU do.  Then she walked away and I thought - does she mean SKELETONS?"

The center mandala features a ring of grinning skeleton heads with flower eyes.  They are surrounded by an outer ring of colorfully-dressed male and female dancers. The dancer shown below is elegant attired in a red dress with a striped Mexican shawl, with a cockatoo perched on her shoulder.

Image credits: Photos were taken at the 2020 Road to California show (Catrina's Halloween and Save The Last Dance for Me) and the 2020 Quilt Arizona show (Emily).

Quilts (and free patterns) for Dia de los Muertos!

Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated on October 31st, November 1st and 2nd. The tradition honors those who have passed, whose souls are thought to come back to be with their loved ones. The Day of the Dead is becoming very popular in the U.S. Its themes overlap with Halloween - including skeletons and skulls.

Please check out our eBay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, jewelry and collectibles! 

For FREE PATTERNS for Dia de los Muertos, please see our *updated* Free Pattern Day (CLICK HERE): 

Here are some inspiring, original Dia de los Muertos quilts which we've enjoyed at quilt shows. 

Beauty Parlor de los Muertos, 76 x 59", by Nancy Arsenault

Beauty Parlor de los Muertos, which was exhibited at the 2014 AQS - Phoenix show, is another fabulous realistic afterlife quilt by Nancy Arsenault.  The skeletons are engaged in typical beauty parlor activities while under the hair dryer. The woman on the far right is reading a Quilters Newsletter magazine! Nancy says, "This salon scene was inspired by personal experience.  Does it look familiar to you too?"

This good-looking hairdresser is wearing a real white shirt, a tooled vest, and bola tie... in the shape of a skull, of course! Our favorite character is the fluffy white poodle shown below... he is all bones!

Nancy Arsenault is an award-winning Arizona quiltmaker who made the first of her series of Dia de los Muertos quilts in 2006. For more quilt inspiration, visit Pinterest and check out Nancy's AZquiltmaker board, Quilts I've Made.

Dia de los Muertos, 39 x 43", by Alice Morgan

In the tradition of Mexican folk art, this quilt is bright and colorful!  The blanket-stitched appliqued skulls are set at a jaunty angle and they have button eyes.  Alice used a broderie perse approach to embellish the blocks with big, colorful flowers. Alice Morgan says, "Don't these skulls make you smile?"

This is an adaptation of a commercial pattern but with lots of embellishments. Alice Morgan's was photographed at the 2012 River City Quilters Guild show in California; the original design by Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli is shown below.

Dia de los Muertos, approx 12 x 12", by Rebecca Navarro (Texas)

Rebecca Navarro says, “The Day of the Dead is a time to remember those who have died. The deceased are honored with food, beverages, and flowers."  Rebecca’s original design  was machine pieced, inked, and free-motion quilted. The quilt was embellished with scattered seed beads.

As you can see in the close-up photo above, the flower centers were decorated with tiny skulls. Rebecca Navarro's quilt was exhibited in the miniature quilts exhibit at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Jose Guadalupe Posada's Door, 18 x 24", by Cathy Hawthorne (Arizona)

Jose Guadalupe Posada's Door was part of the Mavericks Art Quilters 2013 Door Challenge. The participating artists were challenged to design an 18" x 24" quilt showing the back door that an artist of their choice might have had on their house. This quilt honors the Mexican artist, José Guadalupe Posada (1851–1913) who was renowned for his drawings of calaveras (skulls).

As shown above, Cathy appliqued many fabric skulls on the quilt using broderie perse, and hung a small skeleton holding a mesh bag of skulls.

My Idea of Heaven, 41 x 53", by Janet Windsor

My Idea of Heaven is one of our favorite Day of the Dead quilts.  Janet Windsor explains: "I love the Dia de los Muertos holiday in Mexico.  I cannot imagine a happier place to end up than at my sewing machine. So I borrowed an illustrator friend’s skeleton and took photos of it sitting at a featherweight sewing machine. I did a drawing from those photos which I then fused, appliqued, and embellished with buttons, beads, ribbons, silk flowers, and milagros."  We  featured Janet Windsors' work in a post published in October, 2012.

Life Everlasting by Ann Horton

Ann Horton says, "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."  The dancing skulls were created with digitized machine embroidery.  We first featured Life Everlasting in our post on the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Image credits: All images are copyrighted by their owners. The photo of My Idea of Heaven is shown with permission of Janet Windsor; for her gallery, see her website at Janet Windsor.com.  All other quilt show photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.  For the free patterns and tutorials, please respect any restrictions the artists have placed on the use of their designs; complete information can be found at the websites provided in the links.  If any links are broken, we'd love to know; please email us at quiltinspiration {at} gmail {dot} com. 

Road to California 2014: Part 2

For Day 2 of our Road to California recap, we've carefully selected some quilts we hope you will enjoy.  They did not all win awards at this show, but they were at the top of our list of show-stopping quilts.

Rainbow Nouveau, 78 x 78",  by Margaret Solomon Gunn

We appreciated all of the elements that went into Rainbow Nouveau by Margaret Solomon Gunn:  spectacular quilting, feathered stars, 8-pointed stars, Art Nouveau applique, and colorful, twining vines. This quilt has won numerous awards, including Best of Show at the 2012 Lowell Quilt Festival. The quilting combines structured feather forms with more free-form background fillers including pebbling, feathering, parallel lines, curved cross-hatching, and other designs.

close up, Rainbow Nouveau by Margaret Solomon Gunn

We are always interested in the construction of complex quilts, so we were riveted by Margaret's blog post called Lightning Strikes Twice, in which she discusses Rainbow Nouveau.  It is a fascinating story of patience, persistence, and skill.

Panning for Gold by Lea McComas

This original design was inspired by a historical photo of a gold miner working the river, this quilt was created using fused raw-edge applique and heavy thread painting. Lea McComas says: "It embodies the entrepreneurial spirit and determination of those who settled the West in search of a better life."

The thread painting was so subtle, it was difficult to distinguish between the thread and the applique work.  We had to zoom in to see how it was done. Can you see the stitches in the photo below? 

We've often thought of thread painting as going back and forth with lines that are close together, as on the man's hand in the above photo. On the man's sleeve, however, Lea McComas has used a jumble of large jagged stitches that mimic the texture one might see on a worn old shirt.  Can you see the jagged stitches on the man's sleeve? One more zoom...

Shape Shifter by Nancy C. Arsenault

In this dynamic quilt, Nancy Arsenault created an unusual setting for New York Beauty blocks and sawtooth sashing; the "X" shapes that are formed are capped with little stars. Nancy called the quilt Shape Shifter because every time you look at it, you notice different shapes in the patchwork. In her artist statement, Nancy says: "Why Shape Shifter? Well, what shape did you notice first? The big X? The center diamond? The undulating curves, or all those points?"

close up, Shape Shifter by Nancy C. Arsenault

Nancy Arsenault's original setting incorporates New York Beauty blocks and sashing from Sue Garman’s Sleeping Beauty pattern . The unusual design and the perfectly complementary chartreuse and red-violet color scheme color scheme really stood out at this show. 

Sushi III by Mary Kay Price

Sushi III is a fascinating quilt made with reverse applique batiks and hand dyed fabrics, which were used to create asymmetric overlapping shapes within each block.  The unusual effect reminded us of the gridded abstractions of artist Chuck Close. This quilt won a major award of $1000 for Best Quilt from a First Time Entrant, sponsored by Square Within Square; it previously received Best of Show at the 2013 AQS Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here is a close up photo...

In this close up you can see that decorative machine embroidery was used to finish the edges of each of the the shapes. Further machine quilting was done within and around the pieces, using various designs.  The embroidery and quilting was done with rayon and polyester threads on a domestic machine.

Valley Snapshots, 36.5 x 32", by Timna Tarr

This colorful quilt, with its pleasing rhythmic curves, won the Best Modern Piecing award, sponsored by Stash Books.   We liked the clever way in which Timna Tarr created a trapunto-like effect by using dense quilting on some of the pieces, while letting others protrude from the surface of the quilt, giving the appearance of hills and valleys.  The light and dark hues also lend to the impression of sunshine and shadows.  Here is a close-up photo that shows the quilting:

In describing the inspiration for this quilt, Timna says:  "My house is located between the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Mountain Range. I look at these landscapes each day and their shapes are etched in my subconscious."  For an even better close-up, see Timna Tarr's website at Q Tailored Quilts.

My Blue Log Cabin by Chris Taylor (Lincoln, Nebraska)

Chris Taylor won honorable mention for this contemporary/traditional quilt, which merged log cabin blocks with hand-dyed fabrics in warm and cool colors. Chris says that she played with color and value in making this quilt. Note that the blocks used in the center cross are 1.5 times larger than the blocks in the four corners of the quilt; the large size blocks, along with the light colors in the cross, make the cross really stand out from the rest of the quilt.  Chris says: "Notice the plus sign... positive." My Blue Log Cabin was beautifully hand quilted, as shown below.

In this close up you can see the rich colors of the hand-dyed fabrics, along with Chris Taylor's hand quilting, which was done in circular designs with multiple colors of thread.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.