Quilt Arizona 2017! Day 4

For us, springtime in the desert means three things: spring flowers, spring training (baseball), and Quilt Arizona!  This is our 8th year blogging about this fun show, which draws visitors from many parts of North America. Here are some of our favorites from this year's show.

Please note: We're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter ! Check us out here !

Hawaiian Fireworks by Ann L. Petersen

Blue ribbon winner in the category of Pieced Small Quilts and winner for Exemplary Machine Quilting  Ann notes, "This Hoffman Challenge fabric was one I particularly disliked. By cutting it into narrow strips, making stars, and adding a few flowers, I had a quilt I liked."

Ann quilted her stunning original design herself. For fabrics, she used an array of warm hues to set her stars and flowers off against cooler background hues of deep green and violet.

Fantasy Village by the Sea by Amanda Jeffrey

Amanda says, "This was a challenge project for [my quilt group], the Delightful Quilters, for 2016. We had to use a fabric panel and make it into something totally different.  I chose a Thimbleberries Flower panel."

Quilted by Amanda herself, "Fantasy Village" is a charming scene of tiny house surrounded by tranquil aqua-green water which gently ripples in the ocean breeze. She did an excellent job of using a traditional fabric in a contemporary pictorial quilt.

Greta Guineahen by Anna Peterson

Greta notes that her work is hand needle-felted on hand dyed wool. Guinea fowl are native to Africa, but even though they are called "hens", they are not members of the same family as chickens. They often roost in tree-tops, and they travel in large groups, foraging for insects and small rodents. They are very helpful on farms, where they help keep bugs and other pests off of growing crops.

Wool is a beautiful medium, because it can produce such a pretty, soft, wispy texture. Anna did a perfect job in selecting just the right dye colors to define "Greta's" head and feathers against the softly blurred background.

Lady Bird Travels by Karin Scanlon

Third place winner in the category of Medium-Large Applique Quilts, Karin explains, "This is a maze that starts with the lady bird and goes around the quilt to the beetle."  How many animals can you identify in this innovative setting? 

Close-up,  Lady Bird Travels

Gorgeous butterflies provide an enchanting and three-dimensional embellishment to this colorful garden scene.(We're still searching for the source of this pattern.)

Wild Blue Mustard Revolution by Geri Cavanagh

Second place winner in the category of Medium Pieced Quilts, Geri says, "The layout started with a Carrie Nelson design. I altered the blocks around the center, designed the floral applique, and added a border. "

Quilted by Geri herself, this design includes orange-red appliqued flowers which add sparkle and contrast to a neutral background of stars and baskets.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Quilts for Autumn and Halloween! (part 2)

Where has this year gone?  It's already time to think about sewing for a new season. Here is Part 2 of some fun and attractive autumn and Halloween quilts to inspire your creativity ! 

Please note: We're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter !

We're also selling beautiful quilting and crafting books at low introductory prices on e-Bay!

Let Us Walk in the Light by Mary Z. Hutchings (Utah), quilted by Kerri Walker and Mary Hutchings

Believe it or not, this is a quilt!  Recipient of an Award of Excellence at the 2016 Utah Valley Quilt Guild show, Mary notes, "This quilt of the Sacred Grove of the Latter Day Saints portrays these woods in November, when sunshine finds its way through bare branches and fills this beautiful place with light. It was inspired by a photograph taken by my brother-in-law."  We are very impressed that each and every leaf was actually a tiny piece of fabric that was cut and fused.

Mary continues, " I tried to imitate the bark textures of some trees commonly found there: Oak, Maple, Cherry, Ironwood, Beech, and Shag Bark Hickory. Thousands of individually freehand cut pieces of batik fabric, raw edge applique, and reverse raw edge applique ( for the distant branches), created the look of this quilt. It is a gift for my daughter, who was born in November."

Maple Leaves by Sylvia B. Lewis (Utah)

Sylvia explains, "Commissioned by Karen Everitt, I was asked to make an art quilt using the color of cranberry for the main focus of the piece. Forest green, pumpkin, and navy blue were also mentioned. No other instructions were given. Since I know that Karen loves nature, I knew I got it right when it was accepted with tears in her eyes."

Sylvia concludes, "Thank you, Karen, for allowing me to borrow Maple Leaves for entry in this show." We love these hues of deep red and orange,  which are the very essence of the autumn season !

Autumn Leaves, 30 x 36", by Eti David,  Israel

Eti David notes, "The phenomenon of the changing colors of the leaves is unique. We find colors that are beautiful all around us, and the landscape of the trees in the woods is amazing. " She has used a beautiful array of color-rich batik fabrics to depict this transition of nature from summer to winter.

Eti's techniques include fusing, machine piecing and machine quilting. For materials, she used cotton fabrics and various threads. Eti thinks that autumn is the most beautiful of all the seasons.

Raise the Roof by Marlene Wunder (California)

The pattern is from the book Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts by Carrie Nelson (available at Amazon). The Amish Star blocks ( sometimes called Cottage Stars) are sewn half in neutral background fabric and half in patterned fabric, which make them appear to twinkle. They are set in concentric diamonds, which gives a very pleasing symmetry.

Raise the Roof is machine quilted in a lovely spiral and leaf design, which complements the motif of autumn foliage.

My Ghastly Family Album by Nancy Shiner (Illinois)

Nancy Shiner thought this Alexander Henry fabric printed with Edward Gorey art ("The Ghastlies") was a perfect reflection of the characters in her family (!)

The family members in the tree are surrounded by black hexagons.  Shades of gray complete the ghostly scene.  We love the spiky tree branches in the border, below.

It's the Great Pumpkin, 26.5 x 26.5", by Kathleen Shea

Happiness is a warm quilt! We enjoyed seeing "It's The Great Pumpkin" from Peanuts® Quilted Celebrations by Kathleen Shea. The book contains patterns for quilts of all sizes for the holidays.  You can see more holiday projects from the book at Andrea Podley's blog.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2016 Springville Utah quilt show (Let Us Walk in the Light and Maple Leaves),  the 2016 AQS Quilt Week in Phoenix (My Ghastly Family Album, It's the Great Pumpkin), the 2016 Contra Costa County Quilters' Guild show (Raise the Roof) and the 2015 World Quilt Show in Florida (Autumn Leaves).

Celebrating Autumn Quilts

We love everything about autumn: cool nights,  colorful trees, falling leaves, and  apple harvest time.  We've picked out some of our favorite fall quilts from the past twelve months to share with you today.  We hope this season is filled with sunny days, warm memories, and quilt inspiration.

Apple Scrapple by Rhonda Borders and members of the San Luis Valley Quilt Guild (Colorado)

This wonderful fall quilt has pieced, appliqued and embroidered blocks.  Rhonda Borders says, "I won a set of basket blocks in our local quilt guild.  They formed the basis of an original design using apple patterns from several sources." 

close up, Apple Scrapple by Rhonda Borders

The embroidered basket blocks surround a tree bearing colorful leaves and apples.  The quilting was done by Peg Collins (Alamosa, Colorado) who quilted swirls in the white background around the appliqued leaves and apples, echo-quilted the clamshells, and used a leaf design in the green plaid strip (see the closeup photo below).

Autumn Faery, 31 x 31", by Diane Hansen

Autumn Faery won first place for Art / Painted or Digital Images at the 2014 Arizona Quilters Guild show and Honorable Mention at the 2014 AQS Quilt Week in Phoenix, Arizona.  Diane Hansen says, "I used Tuskineko inks and about 30 colors of thread to complete this quilt." The project was inspired by a calendar art image by her favorite artist, Linda Ravenscroft, with permission.

close up, Autumn Faery by Diane Hansen

We admired the beautiful autumn colors and detailed quilting in Autumn Faery, which was started in a fabric painting workshop by Patt Blair.   Diane Hansen says that she fell in love with painting after taking the class.  To see a photo of the work in progress, see the post at Patt Blair's blog.

Double Duty by George Magee, quilted by Mary Vaneecke

Double Duty won first prize and a blue ribbon in the Large Pieced Two Person category at the 2014 Tucson Quilters Guild show.  George Magee did a wonderful job interpreting the design in autumn colors of russet, green, gold and caramel.  The design is by Carrie Nelson at Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, and the quilting is by Mary Vaneecke.

close up, Double Duty by George Magee,  quilted by Mary Vaneecke

George says, "Working with the different colors used in this quilt and organizing them in a pleasing arrangement was quite a challenge. I enjoy making tops using traditional piecing, and I appreciated Carrie Nelson's use of log cabins and flying geese." Within the log cabins,  Mary Vaneecke quilted the octagon shapes with a design resembling a sunflower.

September Song by Jane M. Rua

Winner of an Honorable Mention award at the 2014 Arizona Quilters' Guild Show, Jane notes that her quilt is inspired by a class taught by Rita Blocksom, using Gloria Loughman's Quilted Symphony book. We enjoyed this quilt, which features large leaves, boldly outlined with prominent veins, as they drift through the air. Jane has quilted very intriguing leaf patterns into the dark green outer border, which emphasize the motif of swirling movement.

Close up, September Song by Jane M. Rua

Golden yellow, silver, and charcoal gray together are an innovative color combination which provide a contemporary, refreshing feel to this work. We like Jane's choice of patterned batik fabrics for the neutral background.  The leaves are finished with blanket stitching.

Texas Gold by Vickie Owen

Texas Gold was part of "The American Tradition", a show within a show at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival.  Vickie explains, "My first quilt, made 30 years ago, was a Texas Lone Star. It wasn't too bad, although my color choices have definitely changed over the years ! I love the Lone Star pattern and fell in love with [the color combination shown here], so I was excited to create this quilt when I found the pattern in an old magazine."

Close up, Texas Gold by Vickie Owen

 

Vickie has added a circle of slate blue and white floral print fabric diamonds a few rows out from the center.  They  provide a  midway focal point and draw the viewer's eye towards the symmetrical patterns of appliqued leaves. Vickie's  work is machine pieced and appliqued. She adds, "The Lone Star design is one of the oldest and most recognizable quilt designs, and thus appropriate for "The American Tradition" exhibit.

The Falling Leaves of Red and Gold by C.J. Fuhrman, quilted by Rose Maynes

C.J. notes that her quilt was started in 2004 and finished in 2013. (We all can certainly relate to the fact that our most impressive project sometimes take years to complete !) It was originally made for the 2004 fall meeting of the Arizona Quilters' Guild, but it wasn't quilted until 2013. CJ's work was inspired by the Cabin Cozy pattern in the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.

Close up, The Falling Leaves of Red and Gold by C.J. Fuhrman, quilted by Rose Maynes

Here's a wonderful example of two very traditional patterns which look great when juxtaposed. The bear's paw center blocks work perfectly with the log cabin blocks which surround them. Both the  lacy white longarm quilting design on the outer border and the curved pattern on the blocks show up really well without overpowering the angular patchwork.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.