I Am an Artisan : Kaffe Fassett fabric challenge

Kaffe Fassett is the undisputed genius of color, with decades of experience in  painting, knitting, patchwork, and fabric design.  Today we are featuring 7 outstanding quilts from a juried show featuring Kaffe's Artisan fabrics. We think the sunny yellows and oranges, enhanced by complementary hues of blue, are the perfect colors for summer.

Note: For great deals on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry, visit us on E-Bay - we're Top Rated Sellers ! And for continuous listings of free quilt patterns, please check us out on Twitter !

Dance with Joy by Silke Cliatt (Georgia)

This original design by fabric artist Silke Cliatt combines machine applique, piecing, and quilting, with hand applique and quilting, and embellished with embroidery.  Silke says,  "The longer I work on a quilt, the more joy I experience, especially when it comes to embellishments.  The endless hours of embroidery take me back to my childhood and cause me to contemplate how far I have come."

The Wheel-Wright's Fantasy by Barb Sorensen (Washington)

Winner of First Place in this special exhibit, Barbara Sorensen's quilt was based on the traditional Carpenter's Wheel block. She says,  "A wheelwright needed to be an exceptional craftsman, an artisan in his day. My wheel moves from the center out, defined by the quilting, and ending with a binding of blue chambray." The wheel is surrounded by circles of small and large feather quilting, shown below.

Dance of the Dragonflies by JoAnn Hoffman (South Dakota)

Dance of the Dragonflies is quilt designer JoAnn Hoffman's best selling pattern.  This design is dedicated to the memory of her neighbor who passed away, who promised to communicate through dragonflies. JoAnn says,  "I think I make art with fabric, so I consider myself an artisan. The word ARTISAN is quilted into the background" (in the lower middle of the quilt, in the above photo).

JoAnn continues,  "Kaffe Fassett's fabric makes me happy.  It's all so different and unusual, but when you put it all together magic happens."

It's Intense by Janette Sheldon (Kansas)

It resembles a French Braid, but this quilt is an original design by Janette Sheldon with an improvisational feel. The rows follow an undulating path rather than a straight line. It features complementary orange and blue hues and dynamic Kaffe Fassett prints, giving rise to the quilt's name:  It's Intense!  Janette Sheldon says, ".. there is nothing conservative or traditional about this piece.  I hope it speaks to you as it does to me."

Chelsea by Lori Allison (Minnesota)

Chelsea was adapted from the Chelsea Quilt pattern in the 2007 book Quilts in the Sun by Kaffe Fassett.  The quilt uses a freehand layout of vases and flowers on a pieced background with large blocks.  Lori Allison says, "The yo-yo technique is one that I learned as a child by tracing dinner plates, salad plates and coffee cups for my yo-yo sizes!"

Maha Surya (Major Sun in Sanskrit) by Robin Long (Washington)

Robin Long says,  "Shortly after I purchased some of the [Kaffe Fassett] fabrics, I found the most amazing fabric from India that was embellished with embroidery and stitched around little silver Mylar discs.  I instantly knew this artisan-made Indian fabric had to be in my quilt, and that it would work perfectly with the beautiful Artisan fabrics by Kaffe Fassett.  I named this quilt Maha Surya, paying homage to its Indian influence."

Blue Plate Special by Cherri Kincaid (Florida)

Winner of the Viewer's Choice award, Cherri Kincaid's stunning Blue Plate special was machine appliqued, pieced, and quilted.  She says, "The blue fabric reminded me of antique hand-painted blue and white china plates, and what better way to tell their story than to create a similar concept with embroidery.  The simple square block with the circle middle was a great way to showcase the china plate embroidery designs."

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival.  The I Am an Artisan Challenge was sponsored by Free Spirit Fabrics.

Modern Quilt Month 2018 (5)

What makes a quilt modern? According to The Modern Quilt Guild, the characteristics may include the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast, graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, and expansive negative space. We hope you enjoy our selections!

P.S. For bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry, visit us on E-Bay - we're Top Rated Sellers ! And for continuous listings of free quilt patterns, please check us out on Twitter !

Aerial Geometry 2 : Home and Place by Leslie Tucker Jennison  (Texas)

Leslie explains,  "The aerial geometry of the land as seen while flying over the Great Plains of the Midwest U.S.A. in a small aircraft, is embedded in my memory: rolling hills with linear elements of agriculture, dotted by farms. Since moving from the area, I think a great deal about the meaning of home and place. What do we take with us when we leave a place, and what defines home on a personal, as well as a broader scale?" 

Leslie's techniques for her original design include hand embroidery plus machine piecing, appliqueing, quilting, and embroidery. She has creatively centered the motif of a house as a bright focal point amidst the soft neutrals representing the fields and farms.

Smoke by Katherine E. Jones (Australia)

Katherine's elegant, languid design was inspired by a wisp of smoke. She improvised the placement of two strips of variable width bias applique, then used a walking foot to do echo quilting in every decreasing weights of white thread ranging from 5 weight to 60 weight.

In this close-up, you can see the delicate, ethereal effect created by Katherine's  gently curved quilting pattern.

The Big Log by Latifah Saafir  ( California)

Latifah states, "The Big Log was one of the first quilts that I designed back in 2009. It was inspired by a rug that I saw online (designer unknown) and the whole quilt is built in the style of a log cabin blocks. It is quilted with organic free motion quilting."

Latifah adds, "I love this quilt because it was my first attempt at free motion quilting, and I think I did just about everything wrong. It stands as a symbol of my approach to quilting, though. Workmanship is most important, but I allow myself to be able to have the room to learn and create while I'm learning. And, though the quilting is definitely beginner, it is still a stunning quilt."
We think the quilting is very impressive and works perfectly with the bold, geometric, eye-catching lines of Latifah's quilt, which is indeed stunning.

Wild Thing (Tuning Fork #36) by Heather Pregger (Texas)

Heather says, "The tuning fork resonates with me on multiple levels; not only is it a musical took, reminding me of childhood music lessons, but it also has become a personal symbol I repeatedly use in my quilts."

Heather continues, "I love its essential shape, which can be interwoven to form interesting and unique configurations. Over the years, it has become less civilized and has turned into a wild thing." Heather's intriguing and striking original design is machine pieced and quilted.

The Miller's Wheel by Catherine Butterworth   (Australia)

Catherine writes, "While traveling in the U.S.A., I saw an exhibition of historic American woven coverlets. On display was A Handweaver's Source Book.  One graph caught my eye and was the inspiration for this quilt."

Catherine continues, "For a modern touch, I made the layout asymmetrical and added multiple colors to the original two-toned graph to create movement radiating out from the center. The quilt has been machine pieced and machine quilted on a stationary machine."  We really like the circular quilting pattern, the circular black and pink center motif,  and the polka dot fabric which creates a wonderful contrast to the tiny squares depicting the weaving pattern.

Spinning Stars by Mel Beach  (California)

Mel notes, "As part of the Modern Quilts Unlimited "Everything Old is New Again" challenge series, I gave 12 traditional quilt blocks modern makeovers. See if you can fine my modern interpretation of these classic quilt blocks:  bow tie, snails trail, rail fence, LeMoyne star, Jacob's ladder, card trick, flying geese, pinwheel, drunkard's path,  Ohio star, friendship star, and sailboat."  What a fun activity!

Mel adds, "Modern quilted texture brings these blocks into the 21st century !"
The aqua, lime, and silver gray color scheme,  plus the contemporary setting for these well-loved traditional blocks, makes Mel's quilt very attractive and eye-pleasing.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2018 Road to California (Smoke, The Big Log, The Miller's Wheel, Spinning Stars) and the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival (Aerial Geometry, Wild Thing).