Modern Quilts: Designs of a New Century

The Modern Quilt Guild has produced a beautiful hardcover book, Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century, featuring color photos of over 200 modern quilts.  Thirty-two contributors to the book -- including myself -- are celebrating with a blog tour, and today is my day on the tour.

I am honored to have my "New Star Rising II" quilt featured in this collection.  You can find my quilt on page 25 of the book.  My quilt will also be featured in a touring exhibit associated with the book; this tour opens April 1 at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio.  A full schedule for the touring exhibit will be updated here.

My quilt design is an exploration into transparency effects.  The original New Star Rising quilt was featured at Quiltcon 2013, where it won an award, quite unexpectedly.  That quilt was also purchased at the show, so I no longer have access to it.  The version of the quilt which is featured in the book is the second incarnation of the design; I made this version to keep for myself, and I was thrilled when it was accepted into this book in place of the quilt which was at Quiltcon.

It is an honor to be among such great company within this book.  I received my copy just the other day, and I am impressed with the quality of the book itself, along with the wonderful quilts on display.

The book was curated by Riane Manardi, Alissa Haight Carlton, and Heather Grant of the Modern Quilt Guild.  In addition to so many beautifully inspiring quilts, the book also gives a brief history of the modern quilting movement.  The quilts themselves are organized into categories which highlight various aspects of modern quilting.

In honor of the book release, my newly-released New Star Rising quilt pattern is available at a reduced price in my Craftsy shop, through the end of the blog tour.

Be sure to visit the other stops along the tour:

12/13/2017	Amber Corcoran	Fancy Tiger Crafts
12/14/2017	Heidi Parkes	Heidi Parkes Art
12/15/2017	Melissa Cory	Happy Quilting
12/16/2017	Penny Gold	Studio Notes
12/18/2017	Shruti Dandekar	13 Woodhouse Road
12/19/2017	Amy Friend	During Quiet Time
12/20/2017	Paige Alexander	Quilted Blooms
12/21/2017	Angela Bowman	Angela Bowman Design
12/22/2017	Lysa Flower	Lysa Flower
12/27/2017	Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill	Whole Circle Studio
12/28/2017	Jacquie Gering	Tallgrass Prairie Studio
12/29/2017	Christa Watson	Christa Quilts
12/30/2017	Heather Black	Quilt-achusetts
1/2/2018	Kristin Shields	Kristin Shield Art
1/3/2018	Krista Hennebury	Poppy Print Creates
1/4/2018	Cinzia Allocca	deux petites souris
1/5/2018	Suzanne Paquette	Atelier Six Design
1/6/2018	Yvonne Fuchs	Quilting Jetgirl
1/9/2018	Ben Darby	Huntspatch Quilts
1/10/2018	Nicole Daksiewicz	Modern Handcraft
1/11/2018	Kristi Schroeder	Initial K Studio
1/12/2018	Kathy York	Art Quilts by Kathy York
1/13/2018	Marla Varner	Penny Lane Quilts
1/15/2018	Brigette Heitland	Zen Chic
1/16/2018	Stacey Sharman	Hello Stitch Studio
1/17/2018	Stacey O'Malley	SLO Studio
1/18/2018	Kim Soper	Leland Ave Studios
1/19/2018	Steph Skardal	Steph Skardal Quilts
1/20/2018	Cheryl Brickey	Meadow Mist Designs
1/22/2018	Shea Henderson	Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio
1/23/2018	Katie Larson	Katie Larson Studio
1/24/2018	Katie Pedersen	Sew Katie Did

Pattern Release: New Star Rising

I am happy to announce the release of my first full quilt pattern.  My "New Star Rising" pattern is now available as a PDF download in my Craftsy shop. (EDIT 1/21/2019: Craftsy is no longer hosting my patterns.  You can find my patterns now on Etsy, at this link.)

Instructions are provided to create the quilt in lap size (64 inches x 80 inches) or baby size (32 inches x 40 inches).  The design uses transparency effects to superimpose a large star on a field of smaller sawtooth stars.

My original New Star Rising quilt was shown at Quiltcon 2013, where it was awarded first prize in the Modern Traditionalism category.

My second version of New Star Rising was selected for the book Modern Quilts: Designs for a New Century, and will also be featured in the associated touring exhibit.

The quilt comes together quickly, and with "floating" star points the design is suitable for relatively new quilters.  The key to this design is in fabric selection; the pattern includes a small test block which can be used to evaluate the transparency effect for candidate fabrics.  The pattern also includes multiple color scheme suggestions and a blank coloring sheet.

The pattern consists of 25 full-size pages of (hopefully) clear instructions and illustrations, with tips for efficient cutting and suggestions for quilting.

Many thanks to my pattern testers, including Carole S. who shared this photo of her baby-size top:

If you make a quilt using my pattern, I'd love to see.  Please use #newstarrisingquilt to share on social media.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2017 - Xbox

For my second entry in this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival, I am featuring my Xbox quilt:



You can read more about this quilt here.

We have a balcony with a railing in our home, and I often hang quilts across the rail.  The natural lighting from the balcony side is very angular, which highlights the texture of the quilting.  For this post, I thought I'd share a couple of new shots from this spot:



The fabrics are all by Tim Holtz.

I hope you will check out all the quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2017 - Dreamweaver

I shared about my Dreamweaver quilt in this post, but I was not fully satisfied with my photos at that time (primarily due to the lighting).  This fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival seems a good opportunity to share some updated images.

My recently purchased backdrop stand comes in handy to hang the quilt in decent lighting.

Here's a view of the back:



The quilt pattern is by Gudrun Erla,and the print fabrics are all by Parson Gray.  The background fabrics are Art Gallery Smooth Denims.



Be sure to check out all the quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Xbox quilt

About a year and a half ago, I entered a block in the Tim Holtz Creative Journey challenge.  I was one of 24 winners, which resulted in my block being pieced into a quilt alongside the other winners.  I also won a design roll of Eclectic Elements fabric; this design roll became the basis for the quilt I am sharing today.

 

I started with the idea of making 16-patch units from the strips in the design roll, then played with a few different ideas for a block to alternate with the 16-patch.  I settled on an "X" block; I'm not sure if there is an official name for this particular block, but when combined with the 16-patches the result becomes an Arkansas Crossroads quilt.

I supplemented the design roll with some scraps, and also purchased a few newer pieces, but the entire quilt is made from Tim Holtz fabric, other than a strip of chambray on the back.

The background fabric is Model Airplanes from the Correspondence collection.  There is not a lot of contrast between this fabric and some of the design roll fabrics; I chose to use them all anyway.  The design might not be as distinct this way, but I like the result.

I used a ruler to quilt a curve design in the print areas; this was inspired by an online class with Lisa Calle.  I repeated the curves in each block, but used a variety of background fills.  This one with matchstick quilting is one of my favorites, but I only did one block like this because of the time involved.  (I did several with a more relaxed back-and-forth fill.)

Here's a photo showing the border quilting and the bias binding:

And here is a view of the quilting from the back:

I used two different fabrics for the back; they seemed to want something to separate them, so I inserted a strip of chambray.

I like both fabrics, but I really like the one on the right, and I sort of regret not using it for the entire backing.

This quilt started out to be a quick project with minimum investment, but I ended up spending so much time on the quilting that I'm a little more attached to it now.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

New photo setup

I borrowed a photography backdrop stand a few months ago for some quilt photographs, and decided I should have one of my own.  The setup consists of two vertical supports with a cross bar, and is adjustable in height and (somewhat) in width.

(I could have removed one of the top support sections for the above photo, but I didn't think of it at the time.  You'll see below why it is set to the maximum width.)

When I placed the order, it was worthwhile to add enough to my cart to qualify for free shipping.  The daily special was for a 10x10 muslin backdrop, so I added this to my order, along with a set of hanging clips.  (I'll use the hanging clips for quilts without a sleeve, unless I use the muslin.)

To use the muslin backdrop, I guess it would be best to use two stands.  But I simply pinned the quilt to the muslin, using basting-type safety pins from the back and pinning so that the pins do not show from the front.

The muslin makes for a cleaner background in the photos:

I think this setup will be especially helpful for entering contests, where sometimes the rules require that the entire front of the quilt be visible, with no clips or hands showing.

I also like that I can take photos without having to enlist multiple helpers, although it is still useful to have someone help thread the quilt or muslin onto the bar, and to keep things from toppling if a breeze stirs up.  (This is not a setup to use in the wind!)

Here's another new photo using the equipment, although these are quilts I have shared before (here and here).

UPDATE: Here's a photo showing the hanging clips in use:

Dreamweaver quilt

This quilt began with a design roll of Parson Gray Shaman fabric, which was a gift.  The strips in the roll were sorted by warm and cool colors, so I sought out a pattern to take advantage of this grouping.  The color groups can be seen in the swirls at the top of the roll in this photo:

The "Dreamweaver" pattern by Gudrun Erla, from her book Strip Your Stash, seemed like a good choice.  I chose a couple of Art Gallery Smooth Denims for the background and feature fabrics; I also supplemented the design roll with strips from my scrap bin, substituting for some of the duplicated fabrics in the roll.

The original quilt in the book uses a more controlled color scheme; the interlocking squares are less evident in my quilt, but I still like the overall look.

The denims have a subtle directionality due to the nature of the weave.  Normally I would try to keep all the pieces oriented the same, but that was not possible here.  The blocks are based on strip piecing, and the blocks are placed with various rotations.  I did keep the orientation consistent within each block, which results in some interesting contrasts at the intersections of the blocks.

I kept the quilting relatively simple, with orange peels/dogwoods/continuous curves in the background, and a simple echo in the strips.

I tried a new spot for photographing this quilt -- our backyard storage shed.  It's not an ideal spot; the lighting reflected from the foliage results in uneven color shifts.  However, I was able to hang and photograph it without helpers.  (I used old sewing machine needles to hang the quilt.)

The back uses one of the fabrics from the Shaman line.  I chose this fabric because of how well it coordinates with the gray denim used for background and binding, and also because I found a good sale price.

Here is a view showing front and back together.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.