Inspirational Sunday (8) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Hello Everyone!  Today, I thought I would share some quilts from the Minimalist Design category.

First up is one of my favorites, called "Sunburst" by Yvonne Fuchs of Tehachapi, California.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





This quilt was inspired by one of the design sparks in the QDAD (Quilt Design a Day) group on Facebook.

Next up is "You and Me" by Kristyn McCoy of Ilderton, Ontario, Canada.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





Not only did she use last year's Pantone color of the year (Marsala), she learned this quilting technique from a class with Krista Withers at QuiltCon 2015.  Since I was about to take Krista's class that day, I wanted to have an example of what her technique looked like executed by someone else.





This quilt sold for $400.

Next up, "Thoroughly Modern Jacquie" by Katherine Jones of Chigwell, Tasmania Australia.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




Take a look at how perfect that straight line quilting is!




This quilt sold for $600.

"Antlers" by Nancy Purvis of Garner, North Carolina is next.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  It also uses the wrong side of the fabrics to make the antlers look folded.





Finally for today, "Bubble Gum" by Margaret (Kathy) Greer of Port Angeles, Washington.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  All circles were created using reverse applique with freezer paper.





This quilt won 1st prize in the category!


That's all I have for today.  Thanks for reading!


Jen

Inspirational Sunday (7) - via 2016 QuiltConWest

Welcome back to Inspirational Sunday.

Today, I will be finishing up the Modern Traditionalism category by sharing some very interesting quilts.


First up, is the winner of the People's Choice award.  This quilt is called, "Mr. Swirl E. Bones" by Victoria Findlay Wolfe of New York, New York.  It is hand appliqued, machine quilted on a frame, machine embroidered, and uses improvisational piecing.  (Only four dots are appliqued, the rest is pieced.)





I love the quilting in this one.





Whew, all that fussy cutting is amazing too.

Next up, is "Thoroughly Modern Ginny" by Diana Vandeyar of Oakton, Virginia.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





I like how the background makes parts of the block disappear, almost like she was sticking diamonds on her design board and took a picture before they were all in place.

The next quilt is called "Bursting Blues" by AnnMarie Cowley of Hillsboro, Oregon.  It is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and machine quilted on a frame.




I really  liked the triple stitched quilting on this one.  I am trying to incorporate a bit more triple stitch into my own work, but I had not seen an entire quilt quilted this way.




The next quilt constantly had a crowd around it!  "Pine Burr Quilt" by Tara Faughnan of Oakland, California.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




Isn't it stunning!



I can only imagine how heavy this quilt is.


Next up, "Otaru Winter" by Cynthia Vogt of Kennewick, Washington.  It is machine pieced (paper piecing), machine appliqued, and machine quilted on a frame.




This quilt is a bunch of log cabins with metallic bars appliqued on top.




Finally, here is another log cabin quilt, "Whimsical Logs" by Letitia Chung of San Francisco, California.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted on a frame, and features hand Sashiko.



This quilt won 1st place in the Modern Traditionalism category.




I find it interesting that so many quilts in this category have modernized traditional blocks just by mixing up the color placement.


Which Modern Traditionalism quilt was your favorite?

Thanks for reading today,


Jen

Inspirational Sunday (6) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Welcome back!  Today, we continue with the Modern Traditionalism category.


First up is "Etude" by Bailey Pike of Pittsburg, Kansas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




Check out that tight matchstick quilting!




I liked how quiet this quilt was.

Next is "Churning" by Jean Larson of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




I can't believe that this is just a churn dash block!  Can you see it?



I also really like the wavy line quilting.  I learned how to do this in Jacquie Gering's first Craftsy class, "Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot" (***affiliate link).  I still highly recommend it and her follow up class, "Next Steps with Your Walking Foot" (***affiliate link), which is currently on sale!

Speaking of Jacquie Gering, this next one is called, "Twisted Tulips" by Jacquie Gering of Kansas City, Missouri.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





Here's one that utilizes my favorite quilting motif, spirals!  It is called "#ImOnABoat" by Allison Chambers of San Antonio, Texas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




She used some of my other favorite designs too, like the wood grain for the hull of the boat.




Finally for today, one of my favorites in the group.  This one is called "Tree of Drunks" by Dorie Schwarz of Mason, Michigan.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




This quilt was inspired by the Temperance movement.  I love how simple the quilting is, yet very modern looking!




That's all for today!  I think I have one more week of Modern Traditionalism including the winner of the category and the People Choice pick, then we will move on to another category.


Thanks for reading today!

Jen


***This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking one of my links, I may be compensated.

Inspirational Sunday (5) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Happy Easter!  And thank you for joining me this Sunday.

Today I am going to start sharing quilts from the "Modern Traditionalism" category.  I think you will agree that they are a really interesting group.  I took quite a few pictures of this category, so I am going to split it up and share on multiple Sundays.

First up, "Focal Point" by Christa Watson of Las Vegas, Nevada.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





Having an off center big block is a popular choice with modern quilters.  I especially like how Christa quilted it with a spiral, which is in contrast to all the sharp points of her blocks.


Next up is a two color quilt called, "Cabogo" by Silvia Sutters of Edwardsville, Illinois.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




Silvia was inspired by artist Victor Vasarely (who has very 3 dimensional graphic works) and tiles used in Brazil.




Upon closer look, her blocks are drunkards path.

Another drunkards path quilt was "Flounce" by Melanie Tuazon of Livingston, New Jersey.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





This quilt won 2nd place in the category.  I like how each column has one block in print fabrics.  Sometimes I wish we could see more examples of modern quilts with more prints in them.

And finally for today, "Blueberries for Sal" by Elisa Albury of Salt Lake City, Utah.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




I really like these simple blocks, and especially liked seeing some of the hand stitching in random places.




What about you?  Have you made any "Modern Traditionalism" type quilts?


Thanks for reading today,

Jen

Inspirational Sunday (4) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Welcome back to Inspirational Sunday.

Today, we continue with the Piecing category from QuiltConWest 2016.

I think took more pictures of this category because piecing is something I could definitely improve on!  Plus, I really enjoy looking at how the piecing makes some of these designs really come together.  The first quilt is a great example.

This quilt is called "Kaleido" by Jeannie Jenkins of Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





Here is a close up.  I found it interesting that some of the blocks are offset from the grid just enough to elongate those points, making it a more interesting design.





This next one is one of my favorites in the group.  It is called "Shape Shifting" by Dawn Golstab of Leander, Texas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





It is one of my favorites in this group because it is her perfectly lined up points that create the shapes you see.  She even matched up some of the fabric design to keep the illusion going!  That is dedication!



I just found it cool!





"Cog" by Emily Cier and quilted by Angela Walters is next up.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




I have only ever seen this pattern as a hand pieced design.  I would be interested to know how she machine pieced it.  But, I have done a few of Emily's other patterns and know that the piecing is not always as easy as you hope.




Finally, some of the winners of the Piecing category!

"Pointed Statement" by Amy Friend of West Newbury, Massachusetts is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.  It won 2nd place in the category.




It is an original paper pieced design.  I looks like it is pieced together using diagonal strips, yet her triangles point up and down perfectly!





I like how she mixed in colored thread in the quilting and varied the distance between her straight lines.





And 1st place goes to "Under the Radar" by Corrine Sovey of Austin, Texas.  It is machine pieced (paper pieced) and machine quilted without a frame.

This quilt was for sale for $3000. When I walked by it on Saturday, it had still not sold.





Here is a close up.




I found the piecing really interesting on this one.  She maintains some of the gray and white horizontal strips in the inner rings.  Also, instead of breaking up that center red circle into quadrants, she used one half circle and added a quarter.  I would have loved to be in the room when she pieced all those rings together.


That's it for this category.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading,


Jen

Inspirational Sunday (3) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Springing forward today!  I saw a post on Facebook that read, "that hour we lost was the one I was planning to work out! Oh well!"

Today, I am sharing quilts that grabbed my eye in the Piecing category at QuiltConWest.  I wrote this post and discovered that I had too many pictures to share, so I am going to break it up into two posts.

First up, "Triangle Transparency" by Yvonne Fuchs from Tehachapi, California.  It was machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




Yvonne is a fellow QDAD (Quilt Design a Day) member, and this is one of her early designs.  I really enjoy seeing the designs in the group come to life.  There are so many wonderful designs in the group, I think we all wish we had more time to make them!

I really enjoy being in the group and recommend it to anyone.  Initially, I was "designing" my quilts in EQ7 each day, but I found myself spending WAY MORE than the recommended 15 minutes to draw out my design, unless I used one of the pre-programmed blocks and made minor adjustments.  I found this limited the types of designs tremendously.  Recently, I went back to just sketching them on paper with colored pencils (which reminds me, I have about a week's worth of designs to post).  This plan really allows me to limit my time to 15 minutes and also do some of the more modern layouts.  I have some trouble getting EQ7 to do alternate grids, and I want most of my designs to incorporate them.





Look how perfectly all her HST's line up!  And the fabric choice really lets the piecing blend together.

Next up is "Let's Connect" by Christopher Thompson of New York, New York.   This is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  He did his own version of matchstick quilting in a wavy pattern.





I really had to look closely to see how he pieced the lamps in his quilt.





Those aren't appliqued on, nor are they Y seamed.  They are just really well lined up strip piecing!  The heavy quilting really helps hide some of the seam lines in the black sections; you really couldn't see them at all unless you were extremely close.

This next one is called, "Spikey Molehills" by Myrth McDonald of Silverthorne, Colorado.  She was inspired by a pattern called Molehills by Latifah Saafir.  It was machine pieced (paper piecing) and machine quilted without a frame.





I really found this one interesting.  It is like a cross between Clamshells and New York Beauties.




And of course, the curved piecing is really lovely.

I couldn't help but snap a shot of this one!  "Jungle Abstractions: The Lion" by Violet Craft of Beaverton, Oregon.  It is machine pieced (paper piecing) and machine quilted on a frame.



Violet has really gone to town with her "abstractions" patterns.  She has all kinds of animals now, and each one is pretty darn cool!

This next one is called "Piece 12" by Lissa Alexander of Dallas, Texas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





I love how the blocks turned on point with the skinny sashing created this look.




Next up, "Plaid on Point" by Jennifer Jones Rissotti of Kingsburg, California.  It is machine pieced.  It was machine quilted by Darby Myer on a frame.





I just found it very striking, and I really like the use of transparency.

This next quilt might look familiar.  "Big Love" by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Woodbridge, Connecticut.  It was machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  It was constructed using 1 inch strips that finished at 1/2 inch!



If the quilt looks familiar, it is because it is the 2nd in a series that Sheri created.  The first won the mini category at last year's QuiltCon in Austin.

I'm going to end the post here.  Please tune in next Sunday for more from the Piecing category of QuiltConWest 2016, including the winners!

As always, thanks for reading,


Jen