Inspired by two antique quilts, Rising Sun by Mary Totten made in 1810 and Star of Bethlehem by Rachel Trundle made in 1860.  Laura and Sandi worked together on the project over a period of 14 weeks using machine techniques to give the quilt the look of fine hand work.

The Grannies’ Delight is made to honour the amazing needle women in our family tree.

EXEMPLARY WORKMANSHIP HAND QUILTED

Formal folkart style features weeping willows surrounded by wreath of flowers.”Don’t Park Beside Your Troubles” is from a 1980’s quilt by Helen Fleenor, E. TN. in the collection of Merkax Walduogel. This quilt is very personal and truly from the heart. Notice “Tinks” footsteps she left on my heart in the center as she prances around.

This quilt has a whole cloth batiste layer done with shadow trapunto over a pieced underlay. The center medallion was adapted from an applique pattern by Karen Kay Buckley. The center motifs were repeated in the border sections and enhanced with trapunto feather quilting designs.

APPLIQUE - AMATEUR

The Fancy Roses quilt pattern was selected by my husband, Robert, who especially admires intricate  applique quilts with traditional origins.  The quilt was started in August 2007 and completed in January 2009.  The machine quiliting pattern was selected to highlight the applique designs.

This quilt started with 12 blocks as a Block of the Month from a local quilt store. I decided to do the other 12 blocks from the pattern. I took a class with Susanne Marshall and did embroidery on each block and then put all blocks together with beads.

As my daughter is spending 8 years working on her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree, I set out to make her this for graduation. It is truly a work of love.

My inspiration comes from antique quilts. This quilt was inspired by the Samuel Williams Quilt. I used patterns made by Baltimore Applique Society and I designed the center and 6 blocks. One block is inspired by a Hot Air Balloon ride I took for my 50th birthday. The quilt is hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Autumn Urns uses a machine blanket stitch over a fused raw edge to applique the designs. I added details using both free motion machine embroidery and hand embroidery. All quilting was done by machine, mainly free motion. The feather designs used are all original. I hand-dyed many of the fabrics myself.

This quilt was inspired by a number of spectacular antique quilts from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted with a wool batting.

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There are 2,816 traingles in this quilt. Modified original design by drafting the blocks to 12” from 16”, using navy background instead of white, and adding the border.

The inspiration for this design was the challenge to make a quilt for the Pensacola Quilter’s Guild 2008 show that used the New York Beauty block. It has over 1,500 paper-pieced points. I enjoy designing quilts in non-traditional settings.

When I sat down with my graph paper to draw this quilt I had two things in mind. I wanted to use a stripe fabric and I wanted many stars. The 20 red stars were pieced and then hand appliqued onto the quilt top, the black outer border was machine appliqued on. I used black cotton batting; there is white batting under each piece of black and white stripe fabric.

I used many colors in my original design, featuring bright colors with black. I adapted the final border from the East of Eden pattern from “The Quilt Design Workbook” by Jeff & Beth Gutcheon.

Diamond Feathers Nine is a elegant version of a historic design-making the most of the rich colors of reproduction fabrics. Careful piecing of the traditional 9 patch and hour glass blocks create the illusion that the blocks are set on point. The feathers in quilitng continues to soften the lines and enhance the antique feeling of the quilt.

Diamonds is a 15 fabric star with an additional 15 fabrics used for the watercolor setting squares and triangles.  Machine quilted with feather designs inspired by Karen McTavish.  Over 700 Swarorski crystals, Hobbs wool batting and Superior So-Fine threads.

Being a fiber mixed media artist, I was intrigued by Modigliani’s style of portraiture, and wanted to explore the notion of translating it to cloth by using fabric and acrylic paints, embellishments and hand quilting.

Batik, hand-dyed and commerical fabrics were used in this hand appliqued, machine pieced, and finally, machine quilted piece. The electric colors in the center seemed to need the pink flames in the outer border to explain the heat. There is a hint of art nouveau in the plant life.

This quilt has 112 bugs stitched into the background. Design and execution of this quilt took over 4 months. Double batting, 100% cotton sateen.  This quilt was quilted first then color was applied using colored pencils and textile medium.

My love of the alphabet, batiks, beads, and a naked wall in my house inspired this quilt. Each block was pieced, appliqued, and quilted separately and then hand stitched together. Alphabet and bead embellishments were added. The back features 26 different alphabet fabrics. Did I mention I love the alphabet?

An original design inspired by the hymn, “America the Beautiful”. It depicts the extraordinary view of majestic Pikes Peak in Colorado. The impression of our American flag waves among the clouds in the sky. See verse and chorus subtly quilted around the border.

You, the one reading this, you are beautiful, no matter what anyone has told you or what you erroneously believe about yourself! Believe you are beautiful!

As one of five quilts in my simply sensational series on the five senses, Delicious depicts the sense of taste featuring a patio set with treats for two. Life is Delicious!

This quilt is a continuation of a series in which I am experimenting with repeating and progressively diminishing squares and illusions of varying depths. The silk quilt is constructed with blocks which are printed, painted, and pieced and includes pastels, colored pencils, and textile inks.

I wanted to capture in fabric my trip to Tobago. The hidden treasure of the rain forest, the vibrancy of the colorful people, the beautiful sunsets and hummingbirds. Colors rule in Tobago.

Scott Murkin’s eye-catching piecing caught my attention. It was a good way to use an odd bundle of fat quarters. The colors remind me of our muddy gravel roads.  The crystals add the sparkle of early morning frost.

The insert curves in the outer blocks, couched fibers in the center, and “floating” squares of color in the inner border were all techniques learned from Carol Taylor. She taught “Sensuous Lines and Curves” at IHQS in 2008.

A simple four patch becomes more dramatic with my square in a square quilting design.

Circus Series--Design was inspired by the circus posters of Lautrec.

Initially created for an annual guild challenge. The scene was inspired by an old movie I had enjoyed watching as a child. Using commercial fabrics, I over-dyed and painted the elements in this quilt.

New treasures roll in with every tide. Who will find them first? 1240 individually hand appliqued pieces.

Learning a new technique from Esrita Austin made this quilt possible. Hopefully, you can hear the music.

A group of endangered lowland gorillas somewhere in Africa. An original hand appliqued design.

A traditional double wedding ring made in non traditional colors with an asymetrical border of vines and flowers. I made this pattern as a connection to my grandmother who also made one.  She was born in the Bean Blossom Indiana area. It is fitting the quilt would hang in a show in Indiana!

The quilting designs are original, inspired by antique embroidery. The borders and center panel come from a 19th century folk art vest and the inner borders are from Elizabethan work. The bright sari-like colors of the Indian shot cotton inspired this quilt’s name.

The inspiration for this quilt came from a photograph of antique quilt made about 1810. The pattern was freehand drawn out and quilted on a hand-guided longarm machine.

Approximately 50,000 yards of thread and 5 million stitches created the thread painted designs. No embroidery cards were used. The background fabric was hand painted and Tsukieniko Inks were used to ink the doors and windows on the houses and bias sided stores. My grandchildren are the merchants in the town. It took approximately 1500 hours of frustration, a ton of trial and error and incredible fun and ultimately total joy to complete the quilt. Take a look around the town and step back in history a bit.

This was a little take-along hand piecing project that took over my life. The traditional background blocks are hand pieced. All else is completely original with the edge treatment inspired by Sharon Schamber.

The Grannies’ Delight is made to honour the amazing needle women in our family tree.

July bouquet uses fusible machine applique with a blanket stitch.  It is embellished with free motion machine embroidery and hand embroidery. I free-motion quilted using fine silk and polyester threads. I used trapunto in the narrow purple border.

The Silk Experience: silk fabric; silk threads; silk batting.

I try to reflect my Chinese heritage as I develop my love for designing and making quilts which I have been doing for eight years. In this quilt I wanted to represent happiness by emphasizing the color red. Happiness also emanates from the music played by the girl.

This miniature was designed to combine two of my favorite patterns.  Both the log cabin blocks and the compasses were foundation-pieced. I used needleturn applique to sew the compasses to the background fabric. I also challenged myself to try a very narrow border and small scale binding.

This piece started with 1/2 yard of Phil Beaver’s Indiana Harvest commerical fabric that had the look of hand dye. I loved the colors but I thought it still needed something more so I got out the paint. I reluctantly cut about 3 inches off one end and mixed paints to match the burgundy, green, blue and carmel/tan colors. I used Setacolor and Jacquard paints diluted only about 20% so I could get good coverage. While painting, one eye just seemed to appear by accident. Once I saw it I added the other eye and strengthened the sinister looking face.

This quilit was inspired by a photograph I took while passing through the Lake Tahoe area. It was a perfect day. The lake was breathraking. I was with good friends. It was a day to remember.

Embroidered floral sprays using stitches accented with small appliques made from feed sacks.

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