Native American Quilts from the Southwest

A brilliant selection of Native American quilts was displayed at the 2025 Modern Quilt Guild show.* From a collection at Michigan State University, their bold colors and graphic designs feel like a precursor to many of the elements we see in modern quilts today.  

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Black Foot Boy's Shirt Quilt (1983) by Margaret Wood (Navajo & Seminole) quilted by Una Jarvis 

These stunning wall hangings by Margaret Wood were inspired by a Blackfeet boy's shirt made circa 1870. It's a wonderful color study with dark and lighter blues contrasting with yellow-orange. 

Blackfeet Color Study #2: Navy/Turquoise by Margaret Wood (Phoenix, Arizona) 

Even more minimalist, the navy/turquoise center of this quilt is a counterpoint to the Seminole-inspired border. So many precursors of modern quilting can be seen here. The center also reminds us of Amish bar quilts which are beautiful in their simplicity.

Image credits: Quilts are from a collection at Michigan State University. Photos were taken at the 2025 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.

Welcome to the Quilt Fiesta! (2)

We attended the 2025 Quilt Fiesta in Tucson, Arizona, and had a wonderful time.  This show is produced by the Tucson Quilters Guild, and there were so many beautiful quilts to admire. We hope you enjoy our photos of the show! Here is part 2.

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We Chose Arizona by Maine-ly Quilting Sisters (Karen Chrisman, Betty Jordan, Mary Lucas, Katherine Kenwood & Susan Baxter); quilted by Betty Jordan & Katherine Kenwood.

This incredible landscape quilt was constructed in parts, then assembled.  Each part was made with Seminole piecing. The description says, "Our group began practicing Seminole piecing together. Betty, Katherine & Mary are from Maine; Susan is from Oregon and Karen is from Arizona. We live in this beautiful state by choice. The work shows our skills and our bond as quilters."

 Queen of the Night by Trish Hastings-Sargent  

This is a framed work of art, representing a relatively new category called Rigid Finished Art Quilts (RFAQ).  They are supported by a frame, stretcher bars or other means rather than a sleeve.  When art quilts are stretched onto a rigid frame, or matted and put into a decorative frame, they resemble a fine-art piece.

We were captivated by the translucent quality of these flower petals and the embroidery representing the pistil and stamen in the center. Trish Hastings-Sargent says, "Once a year in June, the night-blooming Cereus (cactus) turns into a stunning display of fragrant white blossoms! The show begins just after dusk and is usually over by midnight. By morning, the blooms are all gone."

Tucson Five-O by the Tucson Quilters Guild Quilt Fiesta Committee, quilted by Athena Taylor.  

 Pattern source: Inspiration from TQG opportunity quilt blocks over the years.  In 2026 the Tucson Quilters Guild will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. This quilt was created with this milestone in mind (hence the name, Five-O).  It will be the guild's 2026 opportunity quilt (wow!)  The quilt center showcases the stately saguaro cactus of the Sonoran desert, along with an ocotillo and prickly pear, highlighted against the mountains and the colorful sky.

Various local birds can be seen including an owl, hummingbird, and a Gambel's quail (below). 

Sonoran Baltimore by Judy Tenen, quilted by Linda Cote 

This gorgeous Baltimore album-style quilt was designed by Nancy Landon.  Judy Tenen says, "As always, I enjoy making quilts that Nancy Landon designed.  I modified her pattern slightly and enjoy the elements that represent Tucson while still being a traditional "album" style quilt.  Linda Cote furthered the desert theme with her custom quilting. Thanks to both Nancy and Linda!"

The historic San Xavier Del Bac mission is shown in the closeup photo above. Sitting just south of Tucson, the mission is not to be missed if you are visiting the area. It is Arizona’s oldest European structure and a masterpiece of Spanish Colonial architecture, completed in 1797.  

Beautiful applique work can be seen throughout this quilt, including the doves, squirrels, and vines in this photo.

Happiness by Sandra Schuster, quilted by Rick at Sunset Quilting

Sandra Schuster won a blue ribbon for her brightly colored beauty.  She says, "It pulses - from small to big, from thin to thick, with such saturated colors, and OH! Those feathers that are quilted on it! Brought together they equal happiness."  Pattern source: Prismatic by Gina at Gem Hill Quilts. 

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Quilt Arizona! The 2022 Show (1)

We could hardly wait for the 2022 Arizona Quilters Guild show, where the theme was Kaleidoscope of Quilts.  And what a fantastic show it was!  Due to the pandemic, the show was cancelled last year - so there was high anticipation for this year's event. There were many amazing quilts on display... here are some of our favorites!

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Angwushahai'i (Crow Bride): Hopitutuqaiki Opportunity Quilt. The Hopi School, Inc. (Kykotsmovi Village, Arizona)

A special highlight of the show was getting to see the Hopitutuqaiki opportunity quilt and to meet representatives of the community school, who traveled all the way from Kykotsmovi Village to the city of Mesa (a 5-hour trip!) While admiring this fabulous quilt we learned all about the school, which helps to preserve traditions by teaching the Hopi language, culture, and values to their children. 

The school's vision is, "when each seed is planted and nurtured, it will grow best in its own plot of earth." The quilt features the headdress of a very special kachina (spirit being): Angwushahai'i (Crow Bride):

The quilt drawing will occur on September 18, 2022, at the Prescott Indian Art Market, held at Sharlot Hall Museum (Prescott, Arizona). For information on the school and their wonderful programs, please visit the Hopitutuqaiki website.  For more information on the quilt, you can contact the school by email: hopitutuqaiki {at} icloud.com.

Lynx by Leilani Purvis

This remarkable art quilt, made by Leilani Purvis, was inspired by the art of Sophie Standing, who lives in Kenya. We admired the way in which Leilani depicted the lynx with raw edge applique and thread painting. The eyes seem to stare right out from the surface of the quilt!  Some of the fascinating details can be seen in the closeup photo, below.

Seminole Celebration by Karen G. Fisher

Honoring the patchwork designs of Florida's indigenous people, Seminole Celebration by Karen G. Fisher won three awards: Excellent Use of Color (top); The NACQJ Award of Merit (National Association of Certified Quilt Judges, middle); and a blue ribbon for First Place in the Pieced Small-Solo quilt category.

Karen G. Fisher's original design uses a strong diagonal layout, bold contrasts and bright colors. She used printed fabrics, including some 1800's reproductions, adding even more intricacy to the design.

Solitude by Judy Salb, quilted by Jessica Jones

This starry quilt was made by Judy Salb, who says: "Spending a year home alone gave me the time to sit and sew. Thus was born Solitude."  Judy chose luscious batiks in desert hues, including coral, turquoise, violet, blue, and neutrals. 

Judy was awarded a yellow ribbon for third place in the Paper Pieced category. Both the piecing (by Judy Salb) and the quilting (by Jessica Jones) were outstanding, as shown in the closeup photo below. (Note: This quilt was based on the Fourth of July design by Judy Niemeyer.)

The Eyes Have It by Mary Alsop

Mary Alsop won the President's Choice award for The Eyes Have It, which was expertly designed, pieced and free motion quilted by Mary herself.  The quilt is a study in color, and was created with several sizes of bullseye blocks and embellished with hundreds of Swarovski crystals. This masterpiece was inspired by the book, Bullseye Quilts from Vintage to Modern by Becky Goldsmith.

Mary Alsop's award-winning piecing and quilting can be seen in the closeup photo below.

Aboriginal Hoops by Nancy Whitton

We loved this eye catching quilt with its unique choice of fabrics! The appliqued arcs weave over and under to create dynamic hoops of many hues. Nancy Whitton says, "I wanted to use my Aboriginal fabrics in a modern design. This pattern fit my fabrics and love of hand applique and hand quilting." Yes- this beauty was hand quilted.  

Nancy won a red ribbon (2nd place) in the Medium/Large Solo applique category for this remarkable design, which was based on the Hoops pattern by Aardvark Quilts. More details of the beautiful fabrics and hand quilting can be seen in this closeup photo:

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 Quilt Arizona show in Mesa, Arizona.

Quilts from the Springville Museum of Art (part 2)

Each year, the Springville Museum of Art (Utah) has one of the best quilt shows around.  It features award-winning quilts from Utah, a state blessed with an abundance of accomplished quilters. Here are some highlights of this year's show!

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Exuberance by Helen Butler

Winner of an Award of Excellence, this stunning heirloom quilt was a decade in the making. Helen Butler says, "Having started this quilt 10 years ago, this is the feeling I had upon its completion.  The mere size created a degree of difficulty on my home machine to quilt. Thus the feeling of exuberance entered my soul when I was able to pronounce it done!"

It is a reproduction of an antique quilt on display at the Henry Ford Museum (in Dearborn, Michigan). Helen Butler created this masterpiece using needle turn applique, trapunto, thread painting, and piping add to the dimension of this quilt.  All of the quilting designs are original.

Beauty All Around by Myrt Gehring, quilted by Carole Lifferth

Myrt Gehring says,  "I really enjoyed working with wool.  This is my second wool quilt but [it] was a challenge for me and stretched me to learn new concepts.  I loved all the colors and felt they blended well.  All Jewel tones that I love. This quilt took me over a year to complete and most of the time was very enjoyable!"  (Note: The design is by Joyce Weeks at Geoff's Mom Pattern Company.)

Teal Unstopped by Toni Sharp, quilted by Cindy Williams

Teal Unstopped was begun in a class, and each month the class focused on a different lone star design.  Toni Sharp says, "The teal fabrics tied the stars together, and Cindy Williams' custom quilting further enhanced the stars." We loved the interesting fabric choices and colors, and admired Toni's perfect piecing technique!  Here are two closeup photos.

Seminole - Southwest by Marian Murdock

This quilt is all Seminole strip pieced, using both traditional and non-traditional Seminole designs in a large scale.  Winner of Honorable Mention at the show, Marian Murdock says, "I chose colors of the desert Southwest, but my design inspiration came from the Seminole Native Americans of South Florida.  The Seminoles are known for their brightly colored intricate pieced bands used in their traditional clothing."

Marian explains, "The most challenging part of designing it was figuring out the size of the strips so the pieced bands did not cut off in an odd place. I wanted to keep the focus on the piecing, so I kept the quilting simple, mostly in-the-ditch, which I did on a home machine."

Love Groves by Jennifer Gunnell, quilted by Lisa White

There is a bevy of colorful trees in this eye-catching quilt! Love Groves is made from thousands of diamond shapes, using hundreds of batik fabrics, and each tree has a unique quilted pattern.  Jennifer Gunnel says, "I have a tradition of making wedding quilts for my daughters.  This one was made for my youngest daugther whose nickname is "Tree". Our family tree is forever growing in Groves of Love."

Each tree canopy is made from four equilateral triangle sections, made from diamond-shaped patches in a manner similar to a Bethlehem star quilt.The source of the design was not listed on the quilt description, but it reminds us of the blocks in "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" by Sarah Fielke for Lecien Fabrics (see the free PDF download here.)

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the Springville Museum of Art.

Totally Tubular Quilts by Rita Hutchens

We've always been intrigued by Seminole patchwork. The traditional patterns are created by sewing, cutting, and rearranging multicolored strips to create intricate designs. Although the designs and techniques have been well documented, there have been relatively few innovations in modern times.  Thus we were fascinated when we came across the quilts of artist, author and international quilt teacher, Rita Hutchens.  Her tubular strip-piecing techniques, which are a cross between Seminole and Bargello, were used to make the quilts shown here.

Diamond Tubello, 14 x 22", by Rita Hutchens

Since 1980, Rita Hutchens has been fine tuning her design and patterning skills while developing her own techniques. She is the author of Totally Tubular Quilts, which outlines her strip piecing methods. In essence, the method involves creating strip sets which are sewn into tubes, then cross-cut to create long rows of triangles of any size or angle. Unlike most other Bargello methods, there is no waste with this method! In the beautiful mini quilt shown above, the finished squares are only 3/8-inches; details of this quilt can be seen at Rita's shop on Etsy.

Mirror Image Study, 17 x 24", by Rita Hutchens

 In "Mirror Image Study", mirror image bias tubes were cross-cut and assembled to create a dynamic, streak-of-lightning design.

Ziggity Doo Dah, 37 x 49", by Rita Hutchens 

In creating "Ziggity Doo Dah", above, Rita says:  "I wanted an ethnic feel using bold color and wonky pattern. Pattern components were constructed using a Curved Tubular Strip Piecing technique. The quilt ‘grew’ intuitively after each component was added. Stripes were used to give the quilt movement and direction." This quilt was exhibited at the La Conner Quilt Festival in September 2011.

Close-up, Ziggity Doo Dah by Rita Hutchens at Etsy

As shown in the close-up photo, above, a variety of different weight threads were couched, bobbin quilted and used for embellishing, quilting and outlining, emphasizing design elements and adding texture and dimension to the quilt.

Totally Tubular Triangles, a workshop by Rita Hutchens

We love the contemporary design and colors of the quilt shown above, which is the subject of one of Rita Hutchens' workshops. This quilt was featured in her popular class at the 2012 Australasian quilt convention. Rita will have a special exhibit and will present workshops and a lecture at the Pacific International Quilt Festival in California in October 2012.  

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of Rita Hutchens. At Rita's website, you can browse her colorful quilt galleries and order a copy of her book; also, at her Etsy site, you can purchase individual patterns for sawtooth borders, flying geese and other fun motifs to get you started on a project of your own.

For more information, also see Rita Hutchens' videos at YouTube.