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.

Winners of the 2013 Spring Giveaway

Below are the names of the six prize winners of the 2013 Spring Giveaway, which we drew from the hat at random.

We received comments from readers all around the world.  Thank you so much for your wonderful comments; and we are very happy to have you as readers of Quilt Inspiration. Winners, please e-mail us your address within the next 5 days at  quiltinspiration@gmail.com . We'll mail out your prize, postage paid.

If you did not win, please be assured that we really appreciate your participation, and we will have another Giveaway coming up soon !

1. The winner of "The Romance of Double Wedding Ring Quilts" book plus the Hoffman batik fabric is
   is  Quercus.

2. The winner of the $10.00 gift card to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts is Kathy H.


3. The winner of the "Word Play Quilts" book plus the Hoffman Fabric is Sheila in Canada.


4. The winner of the "Flower Show Quilts" book plus the Hoffman Fabric is Anonymous, who has an e-mail address at swbell.net


5. The winner of the "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" pattern plus the Hoffman fabric is Sue in New Zealand.


6. The winner of the "Scaredy Cat" pattern plus the Hoffman Fabric is Corina in Manitoba, Canada

Welcome to the Q.I. Spring Giveaway !

~The Giveaway is now closed ! Thank you to everyone who entered. The winners will be drawn at random and their names will be announced tomorrow, Monday, March 11 !
Welcome to the Q.I. Spring Giveaway !  Below, you'll see the list of free prizes which are available for you to win !  Please post a brief comment in the comments section below the prize list, and we'll enter your name in the Giveaway. The Giveaway ends at midnight, Saturday, March 9.  Please make sure that we are able to contact you via e-mail, and we'll mail out your prize free of charge.  Many thanks to each reader who writes a comment below.

The Romance of Double Wedding Ring Quilts by Robert Bishop plus Hoffman batik fabric.

Truly a collector's item, this hardbound edition of The Romance of Double Wedding Ring Quilts served as a research tool for Quilt Inspiration's recent popular articles on this beloved old pattern.  Author Robert Bishop was a director of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City. This book has photos of quilts collected by the author; as a bonus, the book contains patterns and instructions by Carter Houck for six quilts: Classic Double Wedding Ring, Indian Wedding Ring or Pickle Dish, Golden Wedding Ring, Amish Nine Patch Wedding Ring, Friendship Knot, and Wedding Ring Bouquet.  We're adding two fat quarters of Hoffman batik fabric to help you with the construction of your heirloom quilt !

$10.00 Gift Card to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts

Jo-Ann is a U.S.A. big-box sewing and crafts retailer who sells a large number of sewing notions and quilt-making items. They are a great store for buying scissors, rulers, rotary cutters, and anything else that a quilt-maker's heart desires. If you live in the U.S.A, you can use your gift card in a Jo-Ann store, over the telephone, or on the internet to make a purchase.

If you live outside the U.S.A.,  please let us know when you write your comment. If you win, we'll arrange for you to receive another cool prize from this Giveaway !

Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci plus Hoffman batik fabric

Here's a wonderful, colorful way to create quilts with words on them, using Tonya's fabric-piecing methods, The letters are sewn together, rather than appliqued on top of the quilt. This book is full of fun photos and ideas for creating some very unique and original designs. Along with Tonya's book, we're adding two fat quarters of top brand-name batik fabric to help get you started.

Flower Show Quilts by Lynn Ann Majidimehr plus Hoffman batik fabric

Do you love the look of dazzling eye-candy garden quilts using applique on top of a patchwork background?   Here are  10 applique projects, all of which feature show-stopping florals: spider mums, orchids, poppies, lilies, 2 different clematis variations, iris, dahlias, and 2 summer medleys. Finished quilt sizes vary from one table runner (shown in 3 colorations) to wall-hangings (all around 36x36) to lap-size (the largest is 51x68.5). These are sizes that can be easily quilted on any domestic-arm sewing machine. Lynn Ann's book includes clear, detailed instructions, along with great ideas for quilting. We're adding beautiful top-quality batik fabric in lavender and yellow sprinkled with aqua-blue raindrops for extra "inspiration.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips quilt pattern by Joe Wood of ThimbleCreek Quilt Shop plus Hoffman batik fabric

Designer Joe Wood writes,  "This is a great quilt pattern to use your stash of florals !  The white chain ties it all together- like ribbon on a package ! It's the perfect quilt to pull out and use as winter turns to spring. It's quick and easy to make.  Happy spring ! "  Included in this prize are two fat quarters of pretty Hoffman batiks to add to your fabric collection. 

Scaredy Cat quilt pattern by Joe Wood of ThimbleCreek Quilt Shop plus Hoffman batik fabric

You can make this adorable, whimsical quilt pattern for Halloween, or just delete the pumpkins, add some more stars and sew it as an all-season  tribute to your favorite kitty cat.  We're including a half yard of vibrant  Hoffman 1895 Bali handpaint fabric, which is enough for the fence, some stars, or some pinwheels.

Now it's your turn to enter the Giveaway !  We'd love to hear from you in the comments section below. 

Quilt Inspiration Classics: Nautical Quilts

"I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life", wrote English poet John Masefield. These warm summer days lead us to daydream about a cottage nestled near an azure lake, or an ocean front home that provides us a great view of the world's ships passing by. This time, we're featuring some very pretty quilts that remind us of the joys of living near the water.

Red Sky At Night, 27 x 20, by Jean Baardsen

Here is a beautiful example of a mixed media quilt, where the sea glows with the magnificent colors of the sunset. Jean Baardsen painted white silk with textile paints and inks. She used one piece of fabric for the sky and water, then she used applique to fuse on the sailboat, island, and yellow strips for the reflection of the water. The rigging for the boat is done with thread painting. Jean writes, "A former sailor myself, this quilt was a delight to create."

Point Arena Lighthouse, 9.75 x 9, by Sandra Kintz, at Sentries of Light

For over ten years, Sandra Kintz has been producing fantastic lighthouse quilt patterns, which attain their precision through foundation paper piecing. Sandra develops her patterns based on the true-to-life drawings done by her husband Don of lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Sandra notes that these patterns make lovely single miniature quilts, or they can be combined into a larger block-of-the-month sampler quilt. We love the vibrant contrasting colors of the land and sea in this quilt, which shows the lighthouse in an ever-vigilant but peaceful solitude. To see more of Sandra's exquisite lighthouse patterns and California mission patterns, including her new fusible applique patterns for large blocks, please take a look at her Sentries of Light website.

Sailing-Sailing, 36 x 40,  by Glenna Hailey, at Hollyhock Quilts

Do you need some inspiration for a pattern that uses up smaller pieces of fabric ? Here's an awesome stashbuster ! This adorable quilt takes only 12 fat quarters and 1.5 yards of background fabric. Notice the whimsical pinwheel vertical sashing and the cheerful sawtooth horizontal sashing to symbolize the waves on which the boats bounce along. This looks like such fun to make, and the pattern is available for purchase at Glenna's Hollyhock Quilts website. (Also, take a peek at Glenna's Rick-Rack Baskets quilt, which we featured recently.)  On her blog, she writes about her busy life as a designer of retro "feedsack" fabric, a quilt designer, a traveler, and a teacher.

Mukilteo Lighthouse, 53 x 53, by Lynn Majidimehr, LAM Designs

Lynn Majidimehr makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, and it's easy to see that she draws inspiration from the beautiful landmarks there. Here is her charming design of the lighthouse in Mukilteo, Washington, which faces out onto the Puget Sound. (Interested in Northwest pronunciation? These names are pronounced as muck-il-TEE-o and PYOO-jit !) The lighthouse sparkles with realism, due to the perfect perspective in which it is designed. The crabs in each corner of the quilt provide a touch of whimsy to this very eye-catching scene with its starry border and neat picket fence. If you'd like to purchase the pattern, it's available at her website, LAM Designs. On Lynn's blog you can read about her own inspiration and designs. Her bestselling book - which is now in its third printing - is
Flower Show Quilts: Stunning Applique on a Patchwork Canvas.

Sailboat Commission, 36 x 54, by Maggie Dillon

Using solid batiks with a hand-painted look, Maggie Dillon has created sailboats that look both stately and lively. This is one of Maggie's original designs in textile art, and it reveals her skillful use of color and pattern to portray the scene.  She has defined the line between the horizon and the ocean with a small strip of darker batik. She cut the strip with a gently rolling motion to portray the movement of the waves against a timeless sky. To see more of Maggie's original art quilts, including her fantastic portraits in fabric, please visit her sites, Maggie Dillon Designs and The Artist's Treatise Portfolio

Image credits and links:  Images are shown with the generous permission of the artists. Our original Nautical Quilts article appeared on July 26, 2010; links have been updated for this post.

Nautical Quilts

"I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life", wrote English poet John Masefield. These warm summer days lead us to daydream about a cottage nestled near an azure lake, or an ocean front home that provides us a great view of the world's ships passing by. This time, we're featuring some very pretty quilts that remind us of the joys of living near the water.

Red Sky At Night, 27 x 20, by Jean Baardsen

Here is a beautiful example of a mixed media quilt, where the sea glows with the magnificent colors of the sunset. Jean Baardsen painted white silk with textile paints and inks. She used one piece of fabric for the sky and water, then she used applique to fuse on the sailboat, island, and yellow strips for the reflection of the water. The rigging for the boat is done with thread painting. Jean writes, "A former sailor myself, this quilt was a delight to create."

Point Arena Lighthouse, 9.75 x 9, by Sandra Kintz, at Sentries of Light

For over ten years, Sandra Kintz has been producing fantastic lighthouse quilt patterns, which attain their precision through foundation paper piecing. Sandra develops her patterns based on the true-to-life drawings done by her husband Don of lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Sandra notes that these patterns make lovely single miniature quilts, or they can be combined into a larger block-of-the-month sampler quilt. We love the vibrant contrasting colors of the land and sea in this quilt, which shows the lighthouse in an ever-vigilant but peaceful solitude. To see more of Sandra's exquisite lighthouse patterns and California mission patterns, including her new fusible applique patterns for large blocks, please take a look at her Sentries of Light website.


Sailing-Sailing, 36 x 40,  by Glenna Hailey, at Hollyhock Quilts

Do you need some inspiration for a pattern that uses up smaller pieces of fabric ? Here's an awesome stashbuster ! This adorable quilt takes only 12 fat quarters and 1.5 yards of background fabric. Notice the whimsical pinwheel vertical sashing and the cheerful sawtooth horizontal sashing to symbolize the waves on which the boats bounce along. This looks like such fun to make, and the pattern is available for purchase at Glenna's Hollyhock Quilts website. (Also, take a peek at Glenna's Rick-Rack Baskets quilt, which we featured recently.)  On her blog, she writes about her busy life as a designer of retro "feedsack" fabric, a quilt designer, a traveler, and a teacher.

Mukilteo Lighthouse, 53 x 53, by Lynn Majidimehr, LAM Designs

Lynn Majidimehr makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, and it's easy to see that she draws inspiration from the beautiful landmarks there. Here is her charming design of the lighthouse in Mukilteo, Washington, which faces out onto the Puget Sound. (Interested in Northwest pronunciation? These names are pronounced as muck-il-TEE-o and PYOO-jit !) The lighthouse sparkles with realism, due to the perfect perspective in which it is designed. The crabs in each corner of the quilt provide a touch of whimsy to this very eye-catching scene with its starry border and neat picket fence. If you'd like to purchase the pattern, it's available at her website, LAM Designs. On Lynn's blog you can read about her own inspiration and designs. We're eagerly anticipating her new book to be published in October 2010, Flower Show Quilts: Stunning Applique on a Patchwork Canvas.


Sailboat Commission, 36 x 54, by Maggie Dillon

Using solid batiks with a hand-painted look, Maggie Dillon has created sailboats that look both stately and lively. This is one of Maggie's original designs in textile art, and it reveals her skillful use of color and pattern to portray the scene.  She has defined the line between the horizon and the ocean with a small strip of darker batik. She cut the strip with a gently rolling motion to portray the movement of the waves against a timeless sky. To see more of Maggie's original art quilts, including her fantastic portraits in fabric, please visit her site, The Artist's Treatise Portfolio. 

Image credits and links:  Images are shown with the generous permission of the artists.