It's Modern Quilt Month! (3)

We're celebrating Modern Quilt Month at Q.I. This is the third of FIVE posts. According to The Modern Quilt Guild, modern quilts often use bold colors and prints, high contrast, graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, and/or expansive negative space. Enjoy!

Also check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, books, fabric and jewelry items !
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Garden Gone Wild, made and quilted by Sherrie Spangler

Splashy colors represent an exuberant untamed flower garden, with quilting lines adding a wind blown feeling. Sherrie Spangler says, "I painted much of the fabric, including sheer silk for color depth.  Feathers, yarn and beads scattered across the surface add to the wildness." The raw edges also add to the soft look of this quilt.

 Ripples in a Crayola Sea, made by Mimi Pollow, quilted by Quality Quilterz

Mimi Pollow says, "This quilt was started on a quilting cruise. Yes, it is from a kit, but it was far from easy.  In fact, it took me almost a year to finish." Pattern source: Strippy Double Diamond by Carol Morrissey.  

 Woven Wonder, made and quilted by Jana Knutson.

What a fantastic woven-look quilt! Jana Knutson says, "Only 400 squares to match up points! One and done pattern but it was fun." Pattern source: Over and Down Under by Bonnie Sullivan (available at many sources). 

It All Comes Together by Peter Adams, quilted by Kathy Harris. 

A graphic contemporary look was achieved with this two-color quilt. Pattern source: Modern 180 (Deb Tucker's Studio).  Peter Adams says, "This quilt was created following the Modern 180 Tumbling Triangles pattern, which uses the Studio 180 V-block tool. A V-block unit contains a centered triangle.  I was intrigued that the triangles appear to be suspended and in a free-fall motion."

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2024 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Highlights of Quilt Arizona 2019 ! part 2

The Arizona Quilters Guild has over 35 chapters, and they all get together annually for the Quilt Arizona show. The 2019 theme is Jewels of the Desert: "Every quilt is like a gemstone, the dancing colors play through patterns to endlessly fascinate and amaze. This year your quilt should convey Arizona's iridescent beauty, from golden sunsets and emerald cacti, to clear sparkling memories."

Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry ! (For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !)

Wilma and Howie by Monika Hancock, quilted by Debbie Stanton

Second place winner in the Medium Size Pieced Quilts category, Monika says, "I made this pattern using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I also made this quilt to honor my long time friends, Wilma and Howie Young. Wilma passed away in May 2018. I love them both so much! "
Wilma and Howie is based on the Lloyd and Lola quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

Monika's excellent choice of vibrant complementary colors really help these two whimsical llamas to "pop" against the neutral background. What a wonderful tribute to her beloved friends !

Debbie Stanton's intricate longarm quilting on this piece adds a great deal of texture and visual appeal.

New York Beauty by Linda Wood, quilted by Jessica Gamez

First Place winner in the Scrap Quilts category, Linda notes, "The New York Beauty block is one of my favorite quilt patterns. I loved gathering all the fabrics to make this quilt."
This quilt reminds us of the famous paper pieced New York Beauty quilt by Karen Stone. We love the way the New York Beauty blocks are offset with triangle wedges, creating wonky stars.

This is one of the most spectacular scrap quilts we've seen. The rule in this guild is that a scrap quilt must have at least 50 different fabrics, and Linda has done a tremendous job of making sure that all her fabrics go together so well. She's produced a sophisticated, finished look for a scrap quilt which looks carefully planned and organized.

Loma Nat Watni- Bountiful Harvest by Linda Visnaw

Linda explains, "A bountiful Hopi harvest brings melons, pumpkins, beans, and corn. Hopi women form a circle in the plaza with wicker plaques to sing songs of prayer and gratitude, while men surround them to receive the gifts." Linda's quilt contains all of these items in a creative, original design.

Close-up, Bountiful Harvest

Linda's beautiful quilt is accentuated by her precision in creating the circular Hopi wicker basket motifs. We really enjoyed seeing all the details of her wonderful work.

Let's Play Ball by Carol Collett

For "Let's Play Ball", Carol won a special award for Exemplary Non-Professional Machine Quilting, and she also won an Honorable Mention award in the category of Art/Innovative quilts. She writes, "[This] free-form pieced quilt was fully quilted and imposed on a second fully quilted white quilt. Border/binding was totally glued using Sue Carlson's technique."

Close-up, "Let's Play Ball"

Carol adds, "The dog center [motif] was a section of a silk scarf." We really enjoyed this fun quilt, which is a great tribute to our faithful and friendly canine companions.

Sonoita by Karen Carns

Honorable Mention winner for Best Use of Theme "Jewels of the Desert", Karen states,  "[This is] a quilted wall art consisting of applique, walking foot machine quilting, free motion quilting, tulle overlay, and decorative trim. Cacti inspired by Carol Morrissey's 'Prickly Pear in Bloom' pattern."

Close-up, Sonoita

Karen's expert use of techniques has imbued her lovely quilt with a very realistic sense of texture and dimensionality. The bright cactus flowers are beautifully represented with colorful batiks.


Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 Quilt Arizona show.

Highlights of the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival - part 2

The Houston International Quilt Festival is an awe-inspiring event, with more than 1,600 quilts on display, and over 60,000 visitors!! It's hard to describe the scale and visual impact of this event. Just weeks earlier, the Houston convention center served as shelter for more than 10,000 people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, yet the Quilt Festival was executed flawlessly! Here are more highlights of this fantastic show.

We've listed lots of lovely items at very low prices at Quilt Inspiration's E-Bay store !

Jake by Carol Morrissey (Texas, USA)

Jake was awarded 1st Place in the Art- People, Portraits, and Figures category.  Carol Morrissey says, "I showed my grandson the electric train I got for Christmas in 1956 and explained to him that it was not working. He held the train’s engine out to me and very solemnly said, “You can fix it.” I took a photo of him at that moment. After playing around with the photo digitally, I interpreted it in circles cut from my hand-dyed fabrics [and fused]."

Revive 1995.1.17 2011.3.11 by Miiko Kuwahara (Tokushima, Japan)

Thousands of hand-stitched hexagons make up the background of this quilt. The angel's hands and the bird stand out from the surface of the quilt, making them appear to fly.  About the title, Miiko Kuwahara says: "There were two big earthquakes in Japan, on January 17, 1995 and on March 11, 2011. Though I didn’t suffer, I wondered what I could do. It is : Don’t forget. I wanted to express that people who lose everything go forward again. Bird, the symbol of rebirth, just takes off."

Revive was made entirely by hand with hand piecing, hand applique, hand beading, hand embroidery, and painting.   In this photo you can see the lace that decorates the angel's gown gown.

Eve by Candice Phelan (Florida, USA)

Candice Phelan says, "Humans have created masks to celebrate significant cultural rituals for millennia. This African mask celebrates Mitochondrial Eve, named by the scientific community to represent the mother of the human race, based on the fossil record, DNA evidence, and migration studies.

Eve is made with machine applique; fused applique; hand embellishment; painting; hand guided, track-mounted applique, thread painting, and quilting using African and other cotton fabrics along with various threads; silk; satin; ribbons; yarn; buttons; and oil paint.

The Monumental Way by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz (Montana, USA)

This stunning piece was the headliner in a special exhibit titled Rising Stars: Karlyn Bue Lorenz. Karlyn says that a snow-filled, cold winter in Montana inspired her to create an atmosphere of the warmth of the desert based on her photos. This stunning quilt was machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted.

She says, “I don’t know how one could take a class [from] Katie Pasquini Masopust and not say to yourself, 'I have to try it!' [Caryl Bryer] Fallert-Gentry’s gradated fabrics gave life to my vision."

Come Into Bloom by Eun-suk Lee (Chungbuk, Republic of Korea)

The glistening lotus pond was expressed in a shimmering triangle pattern with satin fabric. The Korean traditional pattern, Wadang (lotus flower), was created with machine embroidery and quilting.

Eun-suk Lee used machine piecing, machine embellishment, machine embroidery, original digitized embroidery, free-standing lace, and cutwork to create her masterpiece. The materials used included polyester satin fabric, polyester and silk thread, tulle, and wool batting.

Llums by Montserrat Forcadell Blasco (Catalunya, Spain)

“Llums” means “lights.” Montserrat Forcadell Blasco says, "My intention was to create a quilt with light effects on it, therefore the shape of the quilt creates a color and light loop. I wanted to create an effect that would immerse the spectator. Her techniques included fused applique and machine embellishment.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Quilt Inspiration Classics: In Full Bloom

~ "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." ~ Claude Monet

Are the flowers blooming where you are ?  In much of the Northern Hemisphere, the spring flowers are in full bloom. This post first appeared in the spring of 2010. The designers featured here have used their fabrics as palettes, creating vivid floral tableaux. 

Geraniums, 20 x 22, by Edyta Sitar, at Laundry Basket Quilts



Primitive rose, 25 x 30, by Edyta Sitar, at Laundry Basket Quilts



Edyta Sitar was born in Poland and raised in Germany before coming to the U.S. Her love of nature and of quilting inspired her to create her beautiful floral designs, including Geraniums and Primitive Rose, above. All of the Laundry Basket Quilt patterns, including raw edge, patchwork, and traditional applique designs (including Midnight Blooms) are available on the website, here.

Flowers are love's truest language. ~ Park Benjamin

Rose in a vase, 18 x 22, by Shelley J. Greener, at SJ Greener Quilts



Red roses, by Shelley J. Greener, at SJ Greener Quilts



Shelley J. Greener is an award-winner quilter and designer, who has won accolades for her quilts and for her innovative construction techniques. Her original floral and still life designs, including her Rose in a Vase (shown above), Apple Basket, and Flores Brillantes are wonderfully realistic. Also don't miss seeing the floral applique in Shelley Greener's stunning Blue Lace quilt, which was designed for the 2007 Dutchess Heritage raffle. "Blue Lace" has gorgeous applique blocks in three styles, in vivid shades of blue and violet (a pattern book is available!) To view more original works, see her gallery and quilts for sale pages.

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunflower, 18 x 18, by Melinda Bula, at Melinda Bula Designs



Summer rose, 25 x 25, by Melinda Bula, at Melinda Bula Designs



Melinda Bula is a renowned artist and designer, who first became known for her original hand silk screened wallpapers and fabrics. Since 1996, Melinda has focused on quilts (her first love). Her best-selling book, Cutting Garden Quilts, contains patterns for a rose, pansies, clematis, coneflower, and apples... and a wealth of visual inspiration. Her truly Fabulous Fusible Flower patterns include Sunflower and Summer Rose (shown above) and many more.

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~ Emma Goldman

Garden Flowers, 14 x 18, by Laura Wasilowski, at ArtFabrik



Trio of tulips, 10 x 13, by Laura Wasilowski, at ArtFabrik



 Laura Wasilowski is a contemporary quilt maker, author, teacher, and creator of luminous hand-dyed fabric and thread. Her quilts have been featured in museum collections, exhibits, and books. Garden Flowers and Trio of Tulips (above), as well as Wild Rose and Blue Cosmos are just a few of her patterns.

My first memory is of the brightness of light ... light all around. I was sitting among pillows on a quilt on the ground... ~ Georgia O'Keefe

Georgetown Poppies, 20 x 30, by Carol Morrissey, at O Carol Designs



Poppy, 36 x 48, by Carol Morrissey, at O Carol Designs


Carol Morrissey designs quilts and patterns, teaches classes and workshops, and hand-dyes fabrics. Her love of quilting, gardening, photography are all reflected in her fantastic flowers and other quilt designs. In addition to her perfect Poppies, shown above, her floral designs - which are made for fusible applique - include exquisite iris, pansies, and bluebonnets.

I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty. ~ Georgia O'Keefe

Passion Flower, 42 x 44, by Cleo Mounday, at Cleo's Designs



Roses, 41 x 59, by Cleo Mounday, at Cleo's Designs


Cleo Mounday draws on her background of photography and interior decorating, and her love of gardening, to inspire people to find colors they love around them and to include them in their lives through clothing and quilts. Her realistic, colorful flowers are larger than life: in Roses (above), which measures 41 x 59, the largest rose is 16" x 14" and is made of 18 pieces of fabric. To browse a complete gallery of Cleo's Designs, visit her pattern page here.

To plant a garden is ... to believe in summer, to have faith in tomorrow, to have hope in the future. ~ Anonymous

Iris, 14 x 23, by Brenda Yirsa, for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company



Plumeria, 19.5" x 24", by Brenda Yirsa, for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company



Brenda Yirsa is a pastel artist and oil painter whose work depicts landscapes, portraiture, and abstracts. She has designed quilt patterns for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company based on her original paintings. Her designs create a sense of depth through shading and layering of the fabrics, making us feel as if we can reach out and touch the flowers. Her glorious iris (above), tulips, and rose are among her newest patterns.  For a complete list of her patterns, visit the online store. For more information on Brenda Yirsa's original artwork, visit her gallery.

A beautiful garden is a work of heart. ~ Anonymous

A beautiful quilt is a work of heart. ~ Quilt Inspiration

Image Credits : All images are shown with permission of the artists.

Quilt Inspiration classics: Aquarium quilts and seascapes

This week, we're going positively aquatic! Today's quilts will make you feel that you can dive right in to the underwater scenery. The quilts we're showing include fish, turtles, and other sea-dwelling creatures, in settings that evoke the color and movement of the sea. What a way to keep (your) cool !

Koi, 40 x 68 (or miniature Koi, 11 x 13), by Lydia Russell Albers and Carol Morrissey, at O Carol Designs

Carol Morrissey is renowned for her vibrant, artistic designs. We love "Koi", above, by Lydia Russell Albers and Carol Morrissey, with its orange and red fish cavorting among stylized blue waves. The miniature version (11 x 13) features a single koi, which would make a beautiful motif within an Asian-inspired quilt.   Another stunning aquatic quilt is "Follow Me", below, which measures 40" x 50". The giant green sea turtles are so realistic...the turtle in the foreground appears to be swimming right towards us!

For more aquatic designs by Carol Morrissey, check out Swim Party,  Clown School (with a school of clownfish, of course), and Standing Room Only, to mention just a few ... we're particularly fond of  The Toad ( formerly known as Prince) (!)  Her patterns can be found on the patterns page at O Carol Designs. 

Seascape I and Seascape II,  by Marjan Kluepfel

Marjan Kluepfel is a fabric artist whose work has been shown in galleries around the world.  The inspiration for her magnificent seascape quilts comes from her scuba diving trips on reefs around the Hawaiian islands, and Australia. Seascape I is in a private collection, but Marjan offers a pattern for the dreamy Seascape II, which is shown above. The brightly colored hand-dyed fabric, which blends from blue-green up to yellow,  creates the impression of the sun penetrating the ocean depths; and the textural embellishments really bring the reef to life.   Marjan teaches some great workshops, including one devoted just to seascapes.  Her work can be viewed in her online galleries.

Blue Lagoon, 41 x 41, and Sandhill Cranes, 67 x 63, by Louisa L. Smith, at Quilt Escapes LLC

Louisa L. Smith is a fabric artist, designer, and teacher, whose work has been described as "painting with fabric".  The radiant Blue Lagoon is an example of a "creative nine-patch" quilt, while Sandhill Cranes uses a special curved diamond template; these are just two of the projects in the One Patch Plus book by Louisa L. Smith and Lisa Harris. In these quilts, a few dramatic elements are appliqued on top of pieced backgrounds that evoke the sea and sky. As in all of Louisa L. Smith's art quilts, the colors and values of the fabrics are expertly blended to create a sense of depth and movement (witness the beautiful blue Cycloid II).  Also check out her classes and lectures, which include "The Wonderful Art of Stripping"!

Beach Walk, 59 x 73,  including Whale Watch, by McKenna Ryan, at Pine Needles

Beach Walk has become a seascape classic; we especially like the Water Ballet (jellyfish) and the Whale Watch block, shown above...okay, we like 'em all.   Her other aquatic series include Sea Breeze, which includes a cute pufferfish (Koo Koo Puff); and her newest design, Something Fishy.  And here is something fun about the Pine Needles site:  you can send a free electronic postcard of any quilt block to a friend (how cool is that?)  Check it out by clicking on the exquisite LOVE quilt block (or if you happen to know someone who is snooty, consider sending The Snooty Sisters !

Aquarium Art Quilts: For even more inspiration,  take a quick peek at a few quilts by these outstanding quilters (you'll be glad you did): Janice Potter's Lion of the Sea;  Jean Baardsen's Raffle Reef and aquarium quilts;  Mary Butler's  Into the Deep;   Betty Busby's aquarium quilts at bbusbyarts;  Debra Harry's aquarium and mermaid quilts; and Stacy West's underwater gallery.

Fish samplers:Hmmm, a fish sampler sounds like something on a sushi menu (sashimi, anyone?) But of course we're talking about fish sampler quilts. See the Under The Sea series by Barbara Bieraugel, who lives in Hawaii (lucky devil). Now someone just has to design a sushi sampler quilt so we know what to order at the sushi bar!

Image credits and links: Images are shown with the generous permission of the artists.  This article was first published at Quilt Inspiration on August 9, 2010.