Imagine Peace on our Planet - Happy New Year !

Happy New Year, everyone ! We wish you all a wonderful 2016, full of health, joy, prosperity, peace, and time to create beautiful, inspired quilts !

Note: Stay tuned for a NEW Free Pattern Day!  Also, we're posting free patterns on Twitter... please join us @QuiltInspire! 

Imagine Peace, app. 80 x 80,  by Linda S. Schmidt, 2015 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

From Dublin, California, Linda S. Schmidt is the 2003 national  "Quilt Teacher of the Year" award winner. She is a prolific art quilter, having won more than 300 ribbons in local, national, and international quilting exhibitions. Coming from a long line of quilting women, Linda has been quilting since she was 8 years old and has made all of her own clothes since she was 12 years old. Linda's work is so extensive, that this past year, 2015, she was given her own one-woman show-within-a-show titled, "The 'Whatever It Takes School of Quilting' Exhibit" at the Pacific International Quilt Festival.
We loved this stunning full size work, in which the earth sits cradled in a large hand with multicolored fingers. Linda has done an outstanding job of combining the soft, pastel watercolor shades in a modified "Trip Around the World" background pattern, with brightly colored threads and a vibrant array of fabrics in the foreground.

Closeup, Imagine Peace On Our Planet

Into the border, Linda has added lavender squares of fabric on all four sides, which say "Imagine Peace on Our Planet. "  If you look carefully along the top of the quilt, you can see the lavender blocks which faintly spell out the word "PEACE" in capital letters.Linda writes, "What if everyone did Imagine Peace on Our Planet ?........ we would all be working together, blending together in a rainbow of color to make one giant hand to support our world in all its magnificent differences."

Closeup, Imagine Peace on Our Planet

In this close-up, you can see the lovely metallic fabrics and threads used to construct the little finger of the giant hand. We really admire Linda's gorgeous details in this quilt. For example, the quilting pattern of the fingertip, is done in a spiral pattern to replicate an actual fingerprint, which brings a realistic touch to this most imaginative quilt.

To see more of Linda's fabulous work, please check out her website Short Attention Span Quilting. In one of her essays posted there, she writes some very inspirational words on why quilters choose to quilt:

" I think it's because quilting is Art, and because it is Art, we can't not do it. Oh, I have tried to get out of it. I told myself,..."that quilt you want to make is just too complicated. It's going to be too much work, you don't have the time, you don't have the right fabric, and furthermore, you don't have the skills and know-how to do it right.' By the time I admitted to myself  that I really was going to take my somewhat questionable creative talents, ...expensive fabric, and a considerable portion of my life making this quilt, it had sprung to life in my inner vision, and all I had to do was reach in and pull it out - fully formed. .... You know the vision of your next quilt won't go away, it will simply keep getting stronger and clearer until you DO have the time to get back to it. The fabrics then, will simply LEAP out of the stash onto the design wall, and you won't be able to stop them."

Highlights of the Pacific International Quilt Festival - Part 4

We had a fabulous time at the 2015 Pacific International Quilt Festival, the largest quilt show on the Pacific coast of the U.S.  Beautiful quilts were displayed from around the world. All the quilts were designed and constructed at a high level of talent. We are showing some prize winners, but we also will be showing some real gems that did not win. For a complete list of prize winners in the World Quilt category, please click here. Last week, we featured Part 3; and now, here is Part 4!

Yellow Crowned Night Heron, 32 x 27", by Barbara McKie, Connecticut

Barbara writes of her original design, " I create all of my fabrics, and my inspiration comes from my photographs. The 'pins and needles' come when finding inspiration from many photographs, many from travels." We loved the artistic texture created by the quilting on the leaves and feathers.

Barbara continues, "Once an image is [chosen], I select and print sections to fit on my 17 inch printer. Free motion quilting just flows ! The last decision is whether to make it without a border or to select [some of my] hand dyed fabrics for the border. "  We were very impressed by the detailed, sensitive face on this bird and Barbara's amazing quilting, which was done on a home sewing machine.

Pentecost by Linda S. Schmidt, California

Linda S. Schmidt is an internationally renowned quilt artist who presented a spectacular one-woman show at P.I.Q.F. , titled "Whatever It Takes". This means that she combines a wide variety of techniques and embellishments to express her inner vision. Pentecost refers to the 50 days after Easter in the Christian church, when the Holy Spirit was said to descend upon Christ's apostles.

Linda notes, "The readings for Pentecost are all about light in darkness, the good news being brought to the world, the rebirth of spirit, and the holy fire. This piece has been used for many celebrations in my church and has been used as a Pentecost symbol for ....convocations and confirmations. This quilt hangs for one weekend a year in my church and only took six months to make. The background is completely pieced; the bird is appliqued."
Her work is both admirable and breathtaking, with its juxtaposition of different fabrics, contemporary piecing angles, and quilting lines.

Still Waters , 62 x35, by Jenny Hearn, South Africa

Jenny Hearn explains, Still Waters is based on a pond seen at the golf course in the White River estate in Mpumalanga, [a province in South Africa]. The flowers are very loosely derived from antique upholstery fabrics and embroidery motifs." To us, this looks like a lovely underwater scene, with the sunlight shining down on top of the water, highlighting elegant tropical flowers.

Jenny's exotic original design is machine pieced and appliqued and machine quilted.  Striking split-complementary shades of purple-gold, and aqua-orange provide a lively foreground amidst the deep green background.

Natural, 12 x 39", by LaQuita Tummings, California

LaQuita says of her original design, "When I envision an idea, I get excited, and I get what my mother would call an itching in my finger: the desire to see what my idea will become." We think that LaQuita's idea turned out to be terrific ! This sophisticated lady with gracious, expressive features is adorned with fashionable, vivid flowers in rich, color-saturated shades.

LaQuita's fabulous work is hand appliqued, hand pieced, and hand quilted. We counted at least two dozen very creatively fashioned felt flowers, which give "Natural" so much energy and vivacious personality.

Lircles, 33 x 50", by Susan Garrity, Wyoming

Susan says of her original eye-catching design, " As I hand dyed these fabrics, I was unsure of exactly how I would use them. Then one winter day, as I looked out at the mountain and saw the skiers' tracks, the design popped into my head." Lircles was one of the prettiest modern quilts that we saw at PIQF.

Notice that each wavy-line  "ski track" here has a different sewing-machine quilted pattern. These appliqued circles in various sizes give such a  whimsical, cheerful look to this fun modern quilt. Susan's very innovative work is machine pieced and machine appliqued as shown in the photo below.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.