Saturday, December 24, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 12

Merry Christmas to all! Here is the finale of Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we've featured a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 12 of our celebration.
Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Gloria by Shauna M. Kawasaki


Surrounded by yarn fringe and covered with embroidery and beading, Gloria is an original work of art by Shauna Kawasaki, who says: "I love to decorate for Christmas. Recently, I was not home at Christmas to decorate, so I made this quilt and decorated and decorated and decorated...."




Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2016 Springville (Utah) Museum of Art quilt show.

Friday, December 23, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 11

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 11 of our celebration !

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Oh Holy Night, ~32 x 21", by Lisa Robison, quilted by Ramona Sorenson


An entire Nativity scene, and it is paper pieced! Lisa Robison says, "I loved how intricate this pattern was." We loved her choice of fabrics for each of the figures and animals.


Lisa Robison continues, "I wanted to make one for all my daughters in law, but so far I have only made one. Maybe in the next decade they will get theirs."


Oh Holy Night is based on the Advent Nativity Pattern by Paper Panache. The pattern is designed in an advent format so you can sew a little every day for 25 days.  Lisa Robison's quilt was exhibited at the 2016 Springville (Utah) Museum of Art Quilt Show.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 10

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 10 of our celebration !

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Journey to Bethlehem by Jared Moore


Jared Moore says, "This quilt expresses my love for various things: the stars, moon, trees, and of course, Christmas. I have always wanted to create a close up image of the moon, and I finally found the perfect subject using the journey of Mary and Joseph walking to Bethlehem."


Jared continues, "The design uses open applique with free motion quilting on a home machine. This quilt was not nearly as time consuming and complex as many of my other quilts, and yet it is one of my favorites."  Journey to Bethlehem was displayed at the 2016 Springville Museum of Art Utah Quilt Show.



Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 9

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 9 of our celebration !

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Geese in the Forest by Kris Lovetro, Strawberry Patchers


Kris Lovetro says, "I saw this pattern online and loved the look of the geese forming the trees of the forest. It is a paper pieced pattern. I added the border of geese on two sides." Kris quilted Geese in the Forest on her longarm machine. The Geese in the Forest pattern is by Anina at Twiddletails.


This quilt was shown at the 2016 Arizona Quilters Guild show.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 8

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 8 of our celebration !

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Catch a Christmas Star, 50 x 65", by Marlene Wunder quilted by Victoria
2016 Quilt Show by the Guild of Quilters of Contra Costa County California  


Marlene writes, "I have always enjoyed working on Christmas quilts, so when I saw this snowman pattern, I knew immediately that it would be the next project on my design wall." We're very impressed by Marlene's extensive hand applique work and embellishments, which beautifully showcase these whimsical snowmen and their collection of stars.


To all of our advanced quilters: If you would like to take on this challenging and fabulous pattern, it is available at Bunny Hill Designs. We'd love to see a photo of your finished work too! 


These doves, styled in a contemporary motif, carry a string of hearts and stars. They are surrounded by words which symbolize the values of Christmas : Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Monday, December 19, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 7 of our celebration.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Christmas Garland by Geneal Yardley
2016 Springville Museum of Art Utah Quilt Show


Geneal's elegant bargello quilt is done in restful shades of muted green, red, ivory, and deep black solid fabrics. The rose print fabric of the border and at the bottom of the red bargello curve provides an interesting and energetic contrast. .


Geneal says, "This quilt was designed and started during a beginning bargello class in 1994. I liked choosing the fabrics from the rose print on black."


Geneal notes that after 20 years as a W.I.P. ( work in progress), she completed the quilting in 2014, with the help of her daughters, Diane Waite, Julieann Parkin, and Abby Yardley. Congratulations to Geneal on her very successful accomplishment !

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 6

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 6 of our celebration.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Winter Wonderland by Florence Evans
2016 Springville Museum of Art Utah Quilt Show
 

Florence's fascinating quilt includes vividly colored cardinal birds, which are not found in Utah, but are found in the Northeastern U.S., where Florence spent her childhood. Florence explains, "This quilt was hand-appliqued and machine quilted with a walking foot on a domestic sewing machine. The design is based on a pattern from the book "Warm Hearts" by Blackbird Designs. Modifications were made to the appliques to make them look either more realistic (the cardinals) or more symmetrical ( snowflakes, stars, holly leaves). " We love the cute house surrounded by the starry night sky and the cheerful holly leaves in each corner.


Florence continues, "Touches of embroidery were added by hand and the small black beads, used as eyes, give life to the animals."


Florence concludes, "Having grown up in the Northeastern U.S., this quilt.... serves as a reminder of happy childhood winters."

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 5 of our celebration.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Vintage Red and Green by Kara Southwick, quilted by Charlene Nelson
2016 Springville Museum of Art Utah Quilt Show 


Kara explains, "I was in a quilt group that exchanged 4 inch red and green blocks in 1995. The blocks sat in my sewing room until 2015, when I decided to make a Christmas wall hanging. The fabrics remind me of a country, traditional vintage Christmas."   We love all the classic blocks, and we especially like the half-square triangle border, which gives a bright, energetic touch to this quilt.


We think it is very admirable that Kara kept these blocks for twenty years until she decided to make a traditional Christmas quilt. Congratulations to Kara for her decision to put them together into such a lovely project. We ourselves have some W.I.P.'s ( works in progress) and U.F.O.'s ( unfinished objects) that we are scurrying to finish up for this holiday season!

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Friday, December 16, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas : Day 4

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Please join us for Day 4 of our celebration.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Cross Stitch Santas by Debbie Peterson, Utah; quilted by Dixie Sargent


Debbie's fabulous album quilt was juried into the 2016 quilt show at the Museum of Art in Springville, Utah.  Debbie states, "I got the idea years ago to cross stitch Santas and put them in a quilt. I didn't actually start until December 2011. I finished he last one in January 2016. I then put them together, (which was no easy task, as they were all different sizes) and had them machine quilted. I finished binding it in May 2016. Many of the cross stitch Santas came from Santa's Great Book by Leisure Arts."

Close-up, Cross Stitch Santas


We admired this very moving scene of the starlit night and the gathering around the manger to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. The light gold sashing provides the perfect shade for consolidating all the different cross-stitch blocks into a unified quilt.

Close-up, Cross Stitch Santas


This block depicting an old-fashioned St. Nicholas is a most admirable representation of Debbie's very accurate workmanship, which is seen throughout her quilt.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Join us for Day 3 of our celebration.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Christmas Stars, 51 x 78", by Barbara Beil


We saw Barbara's pretty quilt at the Guild of Quilters of Contra Costa County California last spring, 2016 and loved the classic, clean look of the Amish stars and the festive fabrics.  Barbara describes her machine-quilted creation: " I walked into the guild sewing room one day and saw "stars". A fellow quilter had a similar starry quilt laid out on a table. She shared her pattern, and this Christmas Star quilt is the result. it hangs in the living room every Christmas season. Thanks [to my fellow quilter] Marlene!"


On a winter's day, "Christmas Stars" provides so much warmth and cheerfulness. The smiling gingerbread person among the garland and poinsettia is especially eye-catching.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. This is Day 2 of our series.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Gingerbread Lane, 45 x 60, by Cindy Greco, California. Quilted by Cindy Greco


Displayed at the 2016 show of the Guild of Quilters of Contra Costa County California, Gingerbread Lane drew many "oohs" and "ahs".  Cindy notes, "[Pattern designer] McKenna Ryan designed 8 separate fusible applique quilts, which I reconfigured into one quilt. Each quilt is embellished differently. Some blocks have beads and/or Swarovski crystals, some have a three-dimensional addition, and some use Angelina fiber highlights. It took quite a few math calculations to make the eight blocks work in a single quilt, and hours sewing on beads, adding wire to the Christmas tree branches and poinsettia leaves, and then backing them for the three-dimensional effect."

Close-up, Gingerbread Lane


This lovely three-dimensional poinsettia flower on the "Chocolate Moose" block is one of the many highlights of Cindy's quilt.

Close-up, Gingerbread Lane


Cindy continues, "Every single piece of applique had to be drawn on Steam a Seam fusible paper, affixed to the fabric, cut out, and ironed on the different background fabrics. Each piece also needed to be stitched to the quilt, which is very time-consuming.  This is considered an 'art quilt', and the actual top quilting is totally different than in traditional quilting."

We love this adorable gingerbread house, complete with a gumdrop roof!

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

Here is Quilt Inspiration's countdown to Christmas ! Each day up to and including Christmas Eve, we'll feature a quilt that reflects the spirit and beauty of the season. Let's start with Day 1: 

Christmas Memories, 75 x75, by Karen Brandt, quilted by Debbie Stanton


We loved this stunning quilt when we saw it on display at the 2016 Quilt Arizona show. Blue ribbon winner for Best Appliqued Large Quilt,  Karen explains, "Christmas Memories is a delightful marriage of needle-turn applique with Christmas motifs, [including poinsettias and a Christmas cactus in the center]."  This pattern was designed by Connie Sue Haidle of Apple Blossom Quilts. 

It's no surprise to us that Christmas Memories also won the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame Award, which is presented by the show sponsor to a quilt deemed worthy of special recognition.The recipient receives a ribbon of recognition, is included in the Members of the Airzona Quilters Hall of Fame for the current year, and is featured on the Hall of Fame website. 


Quilted on a track-mounted machine by Debbie Stanton, this quilt has both contemporary motifs such as the pebbles design shown above, and outline and scrolling patterns, as shown below. 


There are five  16 " square blocks in Karen's quilt. Here's a close-up of the hand-appliqued holly leaves and berries in the lower right-hand block.


Longarm quilter Debbie Stanton describes the quilting process for Christmas Memories on her Creative Quilting by Debbie Stanton blog.  The "cathedral windows" motif she chose for the sashing strips is perfect for these narrow, geometric lines.


The white poinsettia flowers have a delicate gold snowflake design, which provides a lovely contrast and sets them off perfectly from the cream-colored background.

Image credits:   Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Quilts of the World part 5: Israel

Part of the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival was the World Quilt Competition XX, which is a special exhibition within the larger P.I.Q.F. This competition, which is open to quilters from many countries, starts out each summer on the East Coast of the U.S.A.; the best quilts from that show then go on tour to the various regional shows in America. We hope you enjoy this presentation, continuing with quilts from Israel.

Please note: We're selling beautiful quilting and crafting books and fabrics at low introductory prices on e-Bay! Also, we're continuously posting free patterns on Twitter!

Looking Forward, 41 x 51", by Hava Katzir


This compelling piece is comprised of two quilts hung as a diptych with contemporary stylized figures of a woman and man. The woman is the larger of the two images; she looks straight ahead with one eye open, while keeping the other eye closed to the man on her left. Hava Hatzir says, "Between the time I was with someone, and the knowledge of being alone, I’m looking straight ahead!"


Looking Forward is comprised of snippets of interesting, colorful fabrics in a collage style.  The fabrics were machine pieced, machine appliqued, and sewing machine quilted.

Genesis, 65 x 65", by Rachel Chowers


Rachel explains her inspiration for this quilt by quoting the Old Testament of The Bible: "And God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dryland appear, and it was so.'  And God Said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.' "


Rachel's original design is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and sewing machine quilted. The light blues, deep purples, and yellow-oranges provide a striking use of light and shadow to depict the creation of the world.

Air Roots, 40 x 40", by Ruth Amir


We admire the free flowing lines, stark contrasts and textures of this black and white quilt.  Ruth Amir says, "My opposite is black and white. My inspiration was the tree, phikus [ficus], with its long air roots falling down from its branches. I created this impression of Air Roots by using many kinds of threads and yarns."
Air roots or banyan roots are typical of ficus species trees.  You can see a photo of a famous ficus tree in Israel in an article at The Times of Israel.


Through Fire and Water, 42 x 49", by Judith Schonewald


This original bargello design was quilted in waves, then overlaid with jagged spikes of orange and yellow "fire".  Judith Schonewald says, "The opposites are fire vs. water. They are very frightening and very powerful. They are both so beautiful, but also very destructive, however, the world can’t be without them."


Judith's use of raw edge strips with loose threads provides intriguing substance and texture. Through Fire and Water is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and sewing machine quilted.

Chaos, 5250 square inches, by Pnina Yulius


Pnina explains her very innovative work: "The black typifies the darkness and cold and the white typifies the light. The red color strengthens the heat coming from the light that is opposite to the cold coming from the darkness." Chaos is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and sewing machine quilted.


Pnina continues about her original design: "This quilt is made from a variety of materials, including velvet, lace, organza, silk, and cotton. It is also made from various, different pieces to illustrate [the concept of]  chaos. The idea is from the story of creation, the first chapter. The earth was in chaos and the light was born from the darkness."

Inside-Outside, 58 x 49", by Noga Shraibman-Cohen


Inside-Outside features a small gray figure sitting on the horizon of the central image, surrounded by natural shapes and vibrant colors. The artist says, "The subject matter of this quilt is the contrast between one’s inner world and the surrounding outside world. The world can be colorful, happy and energetic. Life can be joyful on the outside while at the same time the person is introspective, disconnected, maybe sad, and the outside world does not touch him." Inside-Outside was machine pieced, hand appliqued, and sewing machine quilted.


Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.
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