Western quilts Roundup !

~ Stay tuned for the September Giveaway  ~

~ Stay tuned for Free Pattern Day (tomorrow !) ~

It's time to lasso those Western quilts, and to celebrate the cowgirl spirit. Dale Evans once said: "'Cowgirl' is an attitude really. The cowgirl faces life head-on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses. Cowgirls take stands; they speak up. They defend things they hold dear." These designers make their homes in Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Montana, and these quilts make us dream of horses, cattle, and wide open spaces.

Row 1: Prairie Moon Ranch, Cowboy Christmas Stocking,  and Cowgirl Up, by Shelly Pagliai at Prairie Moon Quilts
Row 2: Royal,  The Guardian, and Mellow Meadow, by Toni Whitney at Toni Whitney Design
Row 3: Rodeo Gals and Working Cow Horse, and Wranglers, by June Jaeger at Log Cabin Quiltworks
Row 4: Boot Bash block-of-the-month for 2011, by Molly Fryer at Molly’s Place
Row 5: Texas Cowboy Crests Embroideries,  Bronco Embroidery, Dancing Boots Crest Embroidery, and Texas Wildflowers Embroideries,  by Susa Glenn at Susa Glenn Designs

Quilts of the Wild West Part 5

~ Stay tuned for the September Giveaway  ~

When we think of Texas, we think of all things Western: cowboy boots, hats, saddles, and horses. Oh, yes: and prickly pear cactus... steer skulls... and armadillos.  These Texas cowboy motifs, Texas Wildflowers, and more, can be found in Susa Glenn's fascinating embroideries and quilt projects. We love her intricate designs, one-of-a-kind themes, and inspiring tutorials.

Cowboys Crests Embroidery Project, 44 x 54", including The Bronco and Dancing Boots, by Susa Glenn at Susa Glenn Designs

Susa Glenn took up digitizing machine embroidery in 2005 because she wanted to embellish her bag patterns and quilt tops with it. She says: "All of the embroidery designs on my site were designed and digitized by me. I take a lot of time getting the design and the stitching just right. Sometimes the drawing/digitizing takes just a few hours and sometimes it takes days (examples: The Bronco and the Dancing Boots). I enjoy digitizing three dimensionality into my embroidery designs that makes them come to life when they are stitched using rayon thread. Rayon has a nap which gives it the same light reflective characteristics as velvet and corduroy. It reflects light if viewed from one direction and absorbs it if viewed from the opposite direction." Susa even includes one or more projects, such as the quilt shown above, with each of her embroidery collections.  For closeups of all of the cowboy crests, click here.

Texas Wildflowers, 30 x 36",  including Armadillos, by Susa Glenn, at Susa Glenn Designs

Susa Glenn tells us: "The Cowboy Crests collection was inspired by my group of Japanese Crests that I digitized and designed a quilt for several years ago. Immediately after completing my Japanese Crests quilt, I created my Texas Wildflowers embroideries." The downloadable wildflower collection includes Texas Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, White Yarrow, Black Eyed Susans, Wild Daisies, Indian Blankets, a Sulfur Butterfly... and the Armadillo crest, because "A Texas meadow is just not complete without an armadillo or two."

Armadillos are mammals that are known for having a leathery armor shell; the Aztec called them azotochtli, which means “turtle-rabbit.” Although they are interesting creatures, armadillos can be a big  nuisance to homeowners, because of the digging and the damage they cause with their powerful claws. Susa Glenn explains the inspiration for her armadillo: "I didn't have a satisfactory design with which to embellish the corner blocks, and I wanted to add some humor to the wall hanging. We were being invaded by armadillos at the time and they were wreaking havoc on my wildflower meadow. Early one morning it came to me as in a vision that what I needed was an armadillo crest for those corners, so I jumped out of bed and created one! The ones at the top are the 'bad' armadillos and the ones at the bottom are the 'good' armadillos as they have assumed the dead position (!)"

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of Susa Glenn.  At her site you can also find Hibiscus Cowboy Leather Tooling Designs, Cowboy Boot Stitching Feathers, Bodacious Sunflowers, an adorable ladybug Fly Away Home quilt project, and many beautiful Asian designs.

The end of the Blues

We're wrapping up "The Blues" with a look at the dazzling quilts we've featured over the last two weeks. And, we've come to a few conclusions. First, we love the color Blue, in all its manifestations. Second, we are captivated by bold graphic designs with high contrasts: there is nothing bland about these quilts! Finally, just looking at these quilts makes us feel serene and hopeful... which means that color psychology is for real!

Top row, L-R: Bachelor’s Wedding Ring, by Eric Gunson, at Pieceful Expressions; Kaleidoscope, the 2010 ASIJ Auction Quilt by Julie Fukuda and colleages, as seen at My Quilt Diary; Yuletide Snowflake design, by Joanna Figueroa, at Fig Tree Quilts (the quilt shown was made by Connecting Threads). Row 2: Glowing Splendor, by Barbara Cline, at Delightful Piecing; Teacup, by Maria Elkins, at Maria Elkins Art Quilts; Embroidered Japanese Crests, by Susa Glenn, at Susa Glenn Designs. Row 3: Victorian Gingerbread, by Janice Lee Baehr, at Pacific Rim Quilt Company; Albers at Sea, by Debra Levin, at the Empire Quilters Guild; Delft Storm, by Ionne McCauley, at Ionne Quilts.

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

Extraordinary Embroidery

The pairing of blue and white has resulted in some of the most dramatic textiles around the world. Here is a quote that sums up the tradition of blue and white:  "The cosmos is blue and white. Skies are blue, clouds are white; oceans are blue, waves are white. The whole cosmic message is blue and white, all over the world. There are very few countries that don't have a blue and white tradition."  The stunning quilt by Susa Glenn, below, gives us a chance to talk about blue-and-white color schemes and about extraordinary embroidery designs.

Japanese Family Crests Embroidery Design & Quilt, 50 x 50, by Susa Glenn, at Susa Glenn Designs

Each block is richly embroidered with a different ancient family crest from Japan. The Japanese Crests bundle includes twelve unique designs on a CD or as a download, and the bundles include the instructions for the gorgeous quilt project shown above. At Susa Glenn's site you can find digitized designs for wildflowers, cowboy crests, skeleton leaves, bugs, morning glories, continuous line designs, and many more. Here is a close-up of an exquisite Oriental Butterfly. 

In addition to her gorgeous embroidery designs and projects, Susa Glenn has provided some great machine embroidery tips and tutorials.

Image credits and links: Images are the copyright of Susa Glenn Designs and are shown with permission. The quote in the first paragraph is by Amy Sylvester Katoh, the owner of the shop called Blue and White in Azabu Juban, Tokyo; she is the author of four books including Blue and White Japan.