Over The Rainbow

This wonderful grandmother's fan quilt by Christine Mahon was displayed at last year's Quilt Arizona show.  What an excellent use of batiks! The brightly-colored fabrics make the fans stand out amidst the neutral background.

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

Over The Rainbow by Christine Mahon, quilted by Debbie Stanton

Christine Mahon used her collection of more than 50 batiks to make this quilt, which was entered in the Scrap - Duet category at the the 2020 Quilt Arizona show.  Christine says, "Precise cutting and sewing made the rainbows (fans) work." The brightest blues, yellows, and reds provide good contrast with the more muted hues and with the ivory background.  The fluted edge of the quilt is a great way to echo the shapes of the quarter-circle fans.

We were also impressed with Debbie Stanton's professional longarm quilting, which you can see in the closeup photos above and below.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2021 Quilt Arizona show.

Christmas 2020 (part 3)

As Christmas approaches, we wish you good health and peace of mind.  Here is a beautiful quilt embroidered with classic scenes of the season, and with messages of Joy to the World and Peace on Earth.

p.s. Check out our eBay shop for great bargains on books, magazines, and collectible items. For free quilt inspiration, please visit us on Twitter.

'Tis the Season by Lori Ohmart, quilted by Debbie Stanton

This gorgeous machine embroidered quilt is based on a design by Claudia Dinnell at Claudia's Creations, which can be found on Amazon (and many other sites.) Each of the six blocks depicts a Christmas scene that reminds us of our childhood memories. Lori Ohmart explains that making this quilt was a great experience as well as being fun to make. The exquisite detail can be seen in the adorable gingerbread man, below, surrounded by ribbon candy, wrapped candies, holly and berries.

Image credit:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2020 Quilt Arizona show.

Halloween Fun !

Happy Halloween to all !  Is there a Halloween quilt in your future (or past?) We spotted this fun quilt at the 2019 Quilt Arizona show.  It is packed with pumpkins, scattered with bats, hats, and cats, and there are even some not-so-gruesome ghosts and spiders to enjoy.

p.s. For quilt patterns, books, and vintage collectibles, please visit us on E-Bay quilt-inspiration !

Halloween Parade by Margie Brakefield, quilted by Debbie Stanton

Margie Brakefield won Honorable Mention (white ribbon) for this wonderful quilt, with its perfectly executed machine embroidery, in bright Halloween colors of orange, green, and purple.  She says, [It was] "a fun Halloween quilt to make! The border was very time intensive but really made the quilt."

By our count, there are 50 appliqued candy corns in the border! This Halloween Fun pattern is by Lunch Box Quilts.  The blocks were enhanced with professional quilting by Debbie Stanton.
 

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

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.

Heart quilts for Valentine's Day!

We're sending hearts and flowers to all quilters via this post ! Here are some beautiful quilts to warm your heart and inspire your own creative projects.

p.s. check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry. We are Top-Rated Sellers !
For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Hearts and Nine by Ilene Atkins (Ontario, Canada)

Hearts and Nine was selected for the special exhibit, A Canadian Nine Patch Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday, shown at the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival. The quilts were selected to represent Canada’s history, geography, and culture as expressed by each artist.

Appliqued hearts, placed in white blocks, are used to define the outline of a large heart in this quilt. Ilene Atkins says the heart theme was inspired by Canada's incredible "diversity, acceptance, wide open spaces, and friendly cities, along with many cultures and varied communities." Many different fun fabrics were used to construct the blocks.

Heart Sampler by Laurene Sinema, 1992, quilted by Una Jarvis

Heart Sampler, with nine different hearts, was in a special exhibit of Laurene Sinema’s work at the 2017 Quilt Arizona show. Laurene was a published author and she founded the Arizona Quilters Guild. It is entirely hand appliqued, hand quilted, and adorned with a border of heart-shaped leaves.

The pattern for this quilt was published in Laurene’s 1992 book, Applique! Applique! Applique! (still available in used books on Amazon).  The book teaches applique and decorative stitches, reverse applique (mola), stained glass and Celtic applique, Hawaiian, broderie perse, and shadow applique.

Heart Throb by Kris Lovetro, quilted by Debbie Stanton

Kris Lovetro says, "I had such a good time making this quilt, I made six of them, but this one in Kaffe Fassett fabric was the most fun." We love the way Kris set the pixelated heart within a neutral field composed from two different cream colored fabrics. The floral squares were quilted in back-and-forth loops, while the neutral background was quilted with an overall design of small hearts, shown below.

You can see more examples of pixel heart quilts at Blue Elephant Stitches; there is a free pattern for a bed size pixel heart quilt at Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

My Valentine by Angie Oswald

This cheerful quilt is hand appliqued, embroidered, and hand quilted. We loved Angie Oswald's choice of fabrics, which included some 1930s reproduction fabrics.  Angie says, "Hand work has become my favorite part of the quilting process."  My Valentine was exhibited at the 2017 Springville (Utah) quilt show; we're still searching for the design source.

Yo Yo Hearts by the Piecemakers Quilt Guild (Utah)

Yo yos make a great take-along project! In this clever but simple quilt, each heart was created from 16 yo yos.  The blocks and hand quilting were done by Linda Boyer, Marianne Breitenbeker, Cecile Eden, Kathy Lyon, JoAnn Mildenhall, Dawn Mumford, Cathy Prows, Diana Shurtlett, and Becky Young. It was made for the Ruby Jubilee of the Utah Quilt Guild, and exhibited at the 2017 Springville (Utah) quilt show.

Hearts and Flowers by the Knotts Quilting Bee Guild (Utah)

Another beautiful hand quilted piece in Utah's Ruby Jubilee exhibit! This sampler quilt combines pieced sawtooth stars, an appliqued vintage heart (in the center), four redwork embroidered baskets, a flying geese inner border, and appliqued flower vines on the outer border. The charming redwork embroidery really stood out on this quilt. (We're searching for the pattern source.)

Grandma's Love by Charlene Day, quilted by Connie Myers

This quilt was made with red and white gingham fabric; the small gingham squares were embroidered so as to create the shapes of hearts, then machine quilted. Connie Myers says, "My mother created 14 chicken scratch squares and I created the final two and pieced it. Mom saw the finished quilt 3 days before she died." Grandma's Love was shown at the 2017 Quilt Arizona show.

Image credits:  Photo were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival, Springville (Utah) Quilt Show, and Quilt Arizona show.

24 Days of Christmas at Quilt Inspiration - Day 18

Welcome to the 24 days of Christmas ! Each day this month, up through Christmas Eve, we'll feature a work of fiber art that reflects the joy and beauty of the season ! Let's continue with Day 18.

Note: Please check out our eBay shop, where we are Top-Rated Sellers, for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry! For free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter!

To Grandma's House by Monika Hancock, quilted by Debbie Stanton

We really enjoyed the Christmas scenes in this quilt, embroidered in red and black threads. The "ribbons" on the borders have the words "Over the River and Through the Woods" and "To Grandmother's House we go !" Monika Hancock says, "[I] bought a new Bernina and this is my first big project. [It was] done in "Grunge" fabrics. I'm hooked on embroidery !" 

To Grandma's House won Third Prize, Machine Embroidery at the 2017 Arizona Quilter's Guild show. There is some wonderful detail in this design, including the swirling marks made by the skaters in the scene above, along with tiny detailed snowflakes.  The pattern is Through The Woods by Claudia Dinnell at Quilting Delights.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2017 Arizona Quilters' Guild show.

Memorial Day Salute

Memorial Day is observed every year on the last Monday of May.  On Memorial Day the flag is lowered to half-staff until noon, to remember the more than one million men and women who have given their lives for our freedom.  Here are some patriotic quilts representing the Salute America theme from the 2017 Quilt Arizona! show.

(We're featuring fun books, patterns, and fabrics at very low prices on Quilt Inspiration E-Bay !)
(Also, stay tuned for a brand-new free pattern day next week!)

America the Beautiful, ~14" square, by Christine F. Mahon, quilted by Debbie Stanton

Winner of 2nd place in the Theme category, this beautiful mini quilt features 15 different machine embroidery designs. Christine Mahon used 31 threads with 116 thread changes. The quilt is inspired by a familiar song, America the Beautiful. 

Christine Mahon says, “America is blessed in many ways; we need to celebrate what is right and good. This quilt does just that by reminding us of our flag and all those who have made sacrifices for our freedom.” The machine embroidery designs are based on illustrations by Krista Hamrick (see Embroidery Online for the patterns.)

Accolades for America by Lois Wendling, quilted by Jeannie Rogers

Lois Wendling used a variety of patriotic fabrics to design this stately quilt.  She says, “We are so blessed to live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. [The phrase, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. is from the Star Spangled Banner.] "My quilt depicts many aspects of American history – from the different flags throughout history, to the appliqued Liberty Bell, eagle, heart and star.”

You can find the Quilting Treasures fabric panel with a collection of US Flags, along with the Pledge of Allegiance, at EQuilter.

Statement of Freedom by Jeannie Rogers

Jeannie Rogers created these sparkling stars from fussy-cut flag fabric, resulting in 12 different kaleidoscopic designs.  She says, “The American flag… represents our values, our freedom, our liberty, justice and humanity. It is the pride of citizens. It represents all patriots who fought to give us freedom. May “Old Glory forever wave.”

Also please visit our updated FREE PATTERN DAY for Patriotic Quilts !

Image credits:  Original photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.  The patriotic quilt photo montage is by Quilt Inspiration.

Quilt Arizona 2017! Day 5

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 is our final post from this year's show, with some of our favorite quilts.

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

My Daughter's Gift by Ann Gonzalez

Winner of First Place – Machine Embroidery, this quilt really sparkles. Ann Gonzalez says: “This quilt was offered as a monthly class at a local quilt store. My daughter bought the class, as well as the fabrics and thread. I had the joy of making it, as well as a second one for her."

We recognize this as the Jacobean Journey pattern by HoopSisters. It features a center medallion surrounded by undulating curves and bordered by a curvy applique border.  The quilting design is by Sharon Schamber.

We love Ann Gonzalez' choice of fabrics.  The use of light-colored thread on the dark (green) batiks, and darker thread on the light blue batiks, makes the stitching really stand out.

Bird Dance by Cynthia Lynn

This whimsical folk art quilt was a standout at the show; it won Honorable Mention. Cynthia Lynn says she loves Sue Spargo designs. The wool was collected at thrift stores and/or given to her by friends.Each one of these birds had its own personality.  Cynthia used many creative hand embroidery stitches and embellishments in each one of her blocks.  (The Bird Dance pattern is available at Sue Spargo's website.)

Dragonfly Pond by Carol Carpenter, quilted by Kris Neifeld

Carol Carpenter says, “This pattern by Lynn Majidimehr was altered (with her approval) to include more plants and pond creatures, which was a really fun challenge.“ The applique shapes were finished with satin stitching.

The Waiting Room by Diane Hansen, quilted by Judith Kracker 

We recognize this design as Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses (the book is by Linda Franz.) The fussy-cut fabrics create a beautiful kaleidoscope appearance.Diane Hansen says, “It took a year to piece this quilt by hand. The work was done while sitting in doctor and hospital waiting rooms." The quilt was made with English paper piecing; the shapes include honeycomb and square templates.  We love Diane Hansen's choice of fabrics and high-contrast design, enhanced by Judith Kracker's wonderful quilting.

Cady by Kathleen Bowers

Cady was designed in a class with Susan Carlson, collage teacher. It was made for a friend in memory of her dachshund, Cady. Many different fabrics were used in the dog and the background. We love the expression on the face, and the heart-shaped dog tag.

Tree of Life by Debbie Stanton

This is an original design by Debbie Stanton, who cut the tree from one piece of fabric. All the edges were turned under and sewn with machine buttonhole stitch. Three-dimensional leaves add a creative touch to this brilliantly colored quilt; there is even a little owl in the tree, shown below.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.