Sherri Lynn Wood Improv Round Robin

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Plaid Portico

What a fun day we had the last day of the Stitch Modern 0214 show, having an improv quilting workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood in the middle of the exhibition space. Techniques were taught, but mostly this was about taking ourselves to places we would never go, working on each other’s quilts, collaborative quilting. We worked fast, and mostly silently, without rulers even. Fears melted away, instinct took over. One could not have replicated this experience alone in one’s own studio. Don’t want to give it all away in case one of these comes to an area near you, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Sherri Lynn Wood kicking off the workshop

We took over the whole main room of the Stitch Modern Exhibition!

As the day came to an end our improv quilts started getting a bit bigger, and one could find many a quilter laying the quilt they just got passed out on the floor and contemplating how to continue the quilting conversation.

And in the end, we went outside on a beautiful day and all looked at our work product. We could each see our hand in several quilts! It was amazing how they all turned out. With all that spontaneity and miss-mash of fabrics, some interesting compositions emerged. But no mistake about it, this was about process, and the experience of it all, though we all still did get a mini quilt top to take home with us…:)

And even more quilts from Stitch Modern

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Ahh, so sad to say Stitch Modern ends tomorrow, and I feel like I should finish the coverage of the quilts at the show before we take it down. I was gallery sitting yesterday and there were many comments about how this show even surpassed the last. Good news about that is that people are coming back. It is the third annual show. One last workshop tomorrow before we take it down–a Round Robin Improv with Sherri Lynn Wood. Yes, I am going. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I will attempt to cover it here later this week. Ta ta for now!

Go Figure by Kristen Hosemann

back of Go Figure by Kristen Hosemann

Color Study by Pati Fried

Nanay’s Stars by Joel Ignacio of Joey’s Planting

Hanging Jewels by Pati Fried

Simple Math by Terri Carpenter of The Quilted Fox

Dia de los Muertos by Lauren Hungler of I Want To Cut You

Cartography Quilt: Sacramento and Surrounds by Adrienne St. John

Basket Weave by Pam Rocco

Brick 36 by Lynda Pires

Sugar Pop quilt by Carol Van Zandt

Good Bye Stitch Modern…til next year!!!

Stitch Modern 2014

More Quilts from Stitch Modern 2014

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Plaid Portico

And here we go for more of the quilts of Stitch Modern 2014 quilt show put on by the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild. There will be one more post after this one with the rest of the quilts and definitely last but not least!

Exploding Diamonds by Margaret Glendening

Rainbow Cloud Quilt by Sherri Lynn Wood

Double Disappearing Nine Patch by Kim Andersson of i adore pattern

Midnight in the City by Ann Haley

Finding the Music by Claire Sherman

A Little Sunshine by Dan Rouse of Piece and Press

Rhett’s Baby Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Spare Change by Tina Machalik

Where the West Wind Blows by Anna Carloni

Undertow by Anna Carloni

The Quilts of Stitch Modern

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Stitch Modern 2014, the 3rd annual quilt show of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild is on again at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, with a packed agenda of events (til Feb 23rd!) and of course all new quilts to gawk at! Here are the first batch I’ll share with you now. More to come…

Mistakes Were Made by Stacey Sharman of Peppermint Pinwheels

Red Cross by Christine McCargar

Alexandra’s Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Untitled by Amelia Terry

Pictures in My Head by Birgit Hottenrott

Flirty Pieces by Valerie Gibbons

Opposing Forces by Terri Carpenter of The Quilted Fox

Grammie’s Garden by Kristen Takakuwa

Interweave by Sue Fox

Field of Poppies by Cathy Roha

Poppy Patch for Two by Cathy Roha

Untitled, Improv Blocks by Shannon Storms

Sugar Pop Quilt

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Well, the Sugar Pop Quilt is finally finished. I had time to sew the binding on over the holidays and good timing too! This quilt is a homage to the original inspiration for my new fabric collection Pop Rox, with Andover Fabrics. And I JUST received the first yard of Pop Rox production! Sneak preview of that with the next posting!

Just how is it inspiration? Don’t laugh. Every year I do extensive color trend research for one to two years out and build palettes to work from, at least as a starting point. When I actually build the palettes in Adobe Illustrator, they look like little horizontal lines with squares of colors. After I group colors together, I always arrange them in an order that makes sense to me. And lo and behold, after a day of making palettes, I woke up with this image of a palette repeated vertically in the colors of this quilt, against a light milk chocolate background. I have no idea why!

Then I sort of said to myself, hmmm, what else can be done with these “wands” and I pictured them in all sorts of different sequences and added circles. With a big magic marker over then next week I sketched out about forty different concepts. Then eventually I started to build the ones I liked best into designs in Illustrator, and then created several colorways. There are about thirteen designs in the collection and six of them we put into the fabric collection with 2 colorways. One is in this colorway but against a white background, and another is in handsome neutrals, brown and blacks. Can’t wait to show them to you!

In the meantime, here is the “Sugar Pop Quilt”. It is my third quilt, and the second quilt that I quilted myself. It was a mixture of a quilt design from a sketch and improvisational quilting for the top and bottom bits. I was going to try to free motion quilt it, but two things: I didn’t want to ruin it since I am such a beginner, and when I decided to do the vertical curvy lines, a walking foot seemed to fit the process best. I know when I get to be a better quilter and sewer I will cringe that I posted my beginning quilts, but I live to laugh and someone has to share what it is like to start to quilt–with all the imperfections!

Front of the Sugar Pop Quilt

Sugar Pop Quilt

detail of Sugar Pop Quilt

Sugar Pop Quilt in Action

Here is the quilt back. I did originally make a different one, but several people suggested it should be its own quilt, and when I realized that the quilting pattern I wanted to do for the front design wouldn’t look very good on that back, I decided to make a new one. Indeed, I have saved the original one to be its own quilt top. I put this together one Sunday afternoon and thought it fun to really capitalize on the pink/brown color combos. It’s simple but sweet. The old back is more greys, greens and blues.

Back of Sugar Pop Quilt

And may I add, Best wishes for a Fantastic 2014 to you all!

More Quilts from the 3rd edition of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Plaid Portico

I told you I would be back with more quilts from the new edition of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. And autographed copies are now available here. I was lucky enough to get a preview of all the physical quilts plus see some of the photography sets. I have learned so much from my visits with Diana McClun, and it is also such an honor when they use my fabric. Diana was supposedly retiring, but everyone laughs at that as she’s been pretty busy, especially producing this new book with Laura. Laura continues their business now on her own with patterns, teaching and lecturing and the popular blog See How We Sew. She is so kind.

If you’ve been following this blog you know that I am primarily an artist and now a fabric and surface designer who licenses her art, but I have also finally been bitten by the quilting bug. To get myself started I have been doing improv quilting where I just cut up fabric and sew. Well, not totally- I usually sketch out an abstract design. I don’t think I would even have attempted this if it wasn’t for what I have learned from Diana talking about her design considerations, color placement and the world of quilting etc. Most importantly were the comments about quilting being about love and community. Then I crack open one of Diana and Laura’s books, or watch one of their video’s to get a few quilting basics. And I have another design friend, Tara Faughnan, who does amazing quilts, who just looks at me straight on when I am stewing about maybe doing this or maybe doing that and says “Just sew. Just do it.” It takes a village to get me sewing again.

Without further ado, more of the quilts from the quiltmaking “bible” Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! taken at the book signing party and here with permission of the authors. I have my eye on a couple to make sometime in the future….

Square in a Square, by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Kathy August, p. 28 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Snowball, by Diana McCLun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Victoria McEnerney p. 48 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Flying Geese by Dale Fleming, quilted by Victoria McEnerney, p. 45 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Log Cabin by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson, p.34 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Nine-Patch Leftovers by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Kathy August, p. 33 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Nine-Patch with Alternate Blocks by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by kathy August, p. 31 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Somersault by Denise Killingsworth, p. 24 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Times Square by Jill Schlageter, quilted by Melanie Meadows, p. 50 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

1000 Pyramids by Pauline Stone Pearsall, p. 52 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Beginning Sampler by Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson, p. 178 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

By The Sea by Gail Abeloe, quilted by Sharon Winter, p. 37 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Half-Square Triangles by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, p. 40 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Beginning Sampler by Kathy August and Joni Tremreull, p. 180 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Lilac Rose by Diana McClun, for Kerby Smith, photographer of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition. The lilac rose image is a photograph by Kerby Smith that he printed onto fabric.

Beginning Sampler by Nikki Vilas, p. 182 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Star Medallion by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, p. 86 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Beginning Sampler by Diana Mc Clun, quilted by Victoria McEnerney, p. 176 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Sawtooth Star by Pauline Stone Pearsall, quilted by Kerry Reed, p. 56 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

All Stars Sampler by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Victoria McEnerney, p. 75 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Chevron by Diana McClun, p. 72 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

It’s finally here, the new Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Plaid Portico

What a fun book signing party. Gorgeous quilts in a garden nursery setting, with sweets galore and a couple hundred people. Celebrating the 3rd edition of the million copy best selling quilting “bible” first published 25 years, Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!! 3rd edition by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes is now out with all new quilts using modern fabrics. Stunning.

So many people have said they learned to quilt with the previous editions, maybe I will be one of the first ones to learn to quilt from the new edition…after I finish all my initial get-my-feet-wet improv quilting projects I’ve started.

I think I got shots of all of the quilts that are in the book and some extra quilts that were being exhibited and with their permission will be showing them all here but it may take a few posts to go through them all so stay tuned. Here are some shots of the event, and the first round quilts. Enjoy!

Diana Mc Clun and Laura Nownes signing books

The third edition of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!

The Giant Tumble by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson
p. 62 of Quilt! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

The Giant Tumble by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson
p. 62 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Circles by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson
p. 70 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Lazy Day Quilt by Gail Abeloe
p. 26 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Rectangles by Diana Mc Clun and Laura Nownes, machine quilted by Kathy August
p. 22 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Rectangles by Diana Mc Clun and Laura Nownes, machine quilted by Kathy August<br />p. 22 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!

Rectangles by Diana Mc Clun and Laura Nownes, machine quilted by Kathy August
p. 22 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Grandmother’s Flower Garden byMcClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Victoria McEnerney with fabrics by Valori Wells, p. 64 in Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Spoolin’ Around by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Victoria McEnerney, p. 59 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Pinwheels by Ashley Pevy, quilted by Marla Monson, p. 42 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Star Light, Star Bright by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson, fabric ‘Terrain” by Kate Spain

Kaleidoscope by Dawn Guglielmino, quilted by Beth Hummel, fabrics “licorice Fizz” by Carol van Zandt, p. 54 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Kaleidoscope by Dawn Guglielmino, quilted by Beth Hummel, fabrics: “licorice Fizz” by Carol Van Zandt, p. 54 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Quilts from Quilt Market Houston 2013 #9

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Finally we have our last Quilt Market report. Little bit of a gap here as we dealt with the holiday. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And last but not least, my final picks from the many, many quilts in the exhibitions at Quilt Market Houston 2013, and some of my absolute favorites for different reasons: