Modern Quilt Month 2018 (4)

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 !

In Awe of the Beauty and Power of Water by Pat Hilderbrand (Missouri)

Fascination with the wildly changing attributes of ocean waters led to this portrayal of water's sparkling beauty, along with its incredible power.  This piece was created with hand-dyed cotton, shiny and metallic-finished fabric, production print fabric, batik, invisible polyester thread and metallic thread. Pat used machine piecing and applique in the construction.

Neuron, 37 x 53", by Hope Wilmarth (Texas)

This original design was inspired by a sculpture, Neuron by Roxy Paine, at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
She says, "A neuron is beautiful when seen abstractly as it might appear through the lens of a microscope.  A sense of connectedness is created by random [quilted] thin lines behind the artist's reproduction of this vital nervous system cell."

Hope Wilmarth created Neuron with cotton fabrics and acrylic paint.  Her techniques included machine piecing and applique, fusing, painting, and burning with a hot knife.

Red Violet Structure by Cheryl Costley (Florida)

This contemporary art quilt was inspired by the children's book Mr. Pine's Purple House, which Cheryl Costley used to read to her children.  Streaks of golden yellow provide dramatic focal points amidst the red violet, periwinkle and green background. The design was created improvisationally, using machine piecing and quilting. 

Dialect by Lyric Kinard (North Carolina)

Echoes of Asian and contemporary arts are reflected in this black, white and red art quilt by Lyric Kinard.  She says, "I have explored circular shapes and grids as part of the visual language, techniques such as shibori and paint on cloth, and ideas such as order versus chaos throughout my career." Dialect was machine pieced and quilted, painted, and dyed.

Pole Dance by Claire Victor (Arizona)

Pole Dance received a blue ribbon for First Place in the Pieced-Small Quilt category at the 2018 Quilt Arizona show. It is an original design by Claire Victor, who wanted to create a 3-dimensional effect.  Note the expert fabric shading which creates a sense of dimension in the tumbling blocks. The quilt was English Paper Pieced and domestic machine quilted by Claire herself.

You can see another quilt by Claire Victor, called Entanglement, in a 2017 post at Quilt Inspiration.

African Dance Free, 72 x 60",  by Ann Robinson (California), quilted by Pat Bailey

Ann Robinson says, "My African fabric collection is growing... I needed to get busy and use some of it.  So, when I saw the pattern which was perfect to showcase my collection, I picked out ten fabrics and went for it.  [I am] feeling good about the results."
We recognize this design as one of the BQ (Big Quilt) patterns at Maple Island Quilts.

Image credits:  Photos were taken at the 2018 Quilt Arizona show (Pole Dance), the 2017 Pacific International Quilt Festival (African Dance Free) and the 2017 Houston International Quilt Festival.