Diablo Valley Quilters' Guild Show Day 1 : Featured Artist: Diana McClun

Diana McClun was the featured artist at the 2017 Diablo Valley Quilters Guild show in Walnut Creek, California. Diana is the co-author of the well-known, beloved classic book Quilts, Quilts, Quilts ! along with Laura Nownes.

Color Study II by Diana McClun

For this quilt, Diana used some 30 year old quilt blocks, which are basically half-square triangles sewed side-by-side to create strips of diamonds. They are the 5 rectangles you see above:  from left, the blue/ neon orange, the purple/yellow orange, the red/green, and the grape/yellow. She used them as flower vases to collage flowers and make bouquets.

Here's a close-up of the bright, whimsical flowers which fit into the rectangular vases. What a wonderful use of 30 year old blocks from vintage fabric ! This fun, vibrant work was machine quilted by Alethea Ballard.

Addie's 13th Birthday Quilt by Diana McClun

An original founder of the famous .Empty Spools Seminars in Pacific Grove, California, Diana was inspired by Anelie Belden's Empty Spools class. Diana made this quilt in honor of her granddaughter Addie's 13th birthday.

These giant circular plates, done in restful marine colors, almost look as if they are floating languidly in a under-sea world !  Victoria McEnerney machine quilted this elegant work.

Tulips by Diana McClun

Diana explains, "The inspiration for this quilt came from tulip images on a napkin and paper plate. The design was free-hand drawn with a permanent marker and a ruler onto a grid of 6" squares of muslin pinned on a design wall."

Diana's brilliant skills in composition are highlighted here, as the giant eye-catching flowers comprise the foreground, while the tone-on-tone blues, beiges, and whites add just the right proportion of background space. Tulips was machine quilted by Victoria McEnerney.

Colorful Circles by Diana McClun 

This just looks like so much fun to design and make ! Diana's original design was inspired by a class with Rosalie Dace from South Africa at the Empty Spools Seminar.

This triadic color scheme of pastel pink, lime green, and apricot orange works beautifully together, especially when touches of silver gray are added to the background. Alethea Ballard machine quilted this lively, sophisticated work.

Trees, Trees, Trees by Diana McClun

Diana's contemporary, geometric work was inspired by a painting by German-born, American modern artist Wolf Kahn.  These strips of varied sizes of rectangles give this dazzling quilt an almost Bargello-like appearance.

Diana's original work was machine quilted by Alethea Ballard. These lovely corals and aquas are so gorgeous, especially with the hint of lime green.Trees, Trees, Trees was one of our favorites works of this show.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Welcome Fall

Fall is arriving in the North, and we've selected some autumn quilts to share.  We hope our readers had a healthy, safe and happy summer!

Note: for continual free patterns, please visit us on  Twitter!  For great bargains on quilt books and fabric, check out our eBay store!

Golden Leaves by Virginia Standley

Virginia Standley says, “The skeletonized leaves are highlighted with a wax metallic finish. They are stitched to samples of drapery fabric and framed by a small gold silk border. The piece is mounted on my ice-dyed fabric, which I could not bear to cut, so it became the background for this art quilt.”

Maple Leaves in a Color Study, group project, quilted by Audrey Hutchinson

The maple leaf blocks were made by members of the Progressive Party Friendship Group of the Amador Valley Quilters Guild and the final project was quilted by Audrey Hutchinson. Audrey chose purple for this color study. “I made one block and packed my bag with all the purple fabrics I had from the palest lavender to the deepest purples. Each member made 1 or 2 maple leaf blocks. I set the blocks on the diagonal and when completed had almost used up my purple stash. Almost !”

My Pumpkin Patch by Janice Brook, quilted by Dianne Schweikert

The pattern for this quilt was from a book called Country Quilts of Friends by Margaret Peters and Anne Sutton. Janice Brooke bought the book in 2004; she made the pumpkin blocks, then put the quilt on a shelf until last year when she decided to finish it. The leaves, stems and pumpkins were beautifully embroidered.

Wild Pineapple quilt by Susan Benson, quilted by Dianne Schweikert

Susan Benson says Wild Pineapple began in a class taught by Jean Impey. "It was a fun class given by a fun teacher who had an infectious enthusiasm. I took this home and then took it on a trip up the coast, sewing away everywhere we stopped... As with all my quilts, it’s not perfect, but I love the colors. [It was] quilted beautifully by Dianne Schweikert of Livermore (California).”

Autumn Blessings by Kia Johnson

Kia Johnson used an embroidery machine to create the blocks for this stunning quilt, which was based on the Baltimore Autumn pattern by Pearl Pereira at P3 Designs.  There is an amazing amount of applique detail in the blocks, which include all the themes of autumn: leaves, squirrels, wheat stalks, and pumpkins, in wonderful colors.

For free quilt patterns for Autumn, please check out our FREE PATTERN DAY !

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2017 Amador Valley Quilters Guild show (California).