Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2023 i Quilting Arts Magazine

“I make contemporary art quilt portraits of Celtic megalithic Imake (Bronze Age) stones and monoliths—think Stonehenge—and more recent, but still centuries old, Irish monastic ruins. My ‘stones’ portfolio now exceeds 60 quilts. I grew up loving to sew—just being at the sewing machine, working with and holding fabric, discovering each type of fabric’s unique feel and characteristics, sewing late into the night. I started with doll clothes as a child and later became a professional seamstress. I longed, though, to somehow combine my sewing ‘craftsmanship’ with greater levels of creativity. So, after being introduced by a friend to art quilting, I decided to jump in full-time—not as a hobby but as a profession. Brash and perhaps risky, I knew (and hoped) that it was the correct path forward. I also knew…

i discovered a cache of vintage photographs after selling and packing up our family home. The manilla envelope containing sepia portraits of relatives from prior generations are captivating! I have created a series of art quilts using this collection of historic images, transforming them into contemporary portraits with paint. The process starts with a modest amount of digital photo manipulation and ends with the entire surface of the fabric painted in vibrant color. Most of the portraits were large enough to scan with decent results. These cherished photographs were printed commercially on linen canvas in grayscale—they become a ready-made painter’s value map on which I paint with acrylics. At the time I started this series, I was a newly retired art teacher. Not knowing that art quilters used fabric paints,…

1. PREPARE BEFORE YOU STITCH: With turned-edge appliqué, I turn and fold the edges of each piece to the wrong side before stitching the appliqué to the background fabric. First I apply a thin line of glue along the wrong side edge using either acid-free school glue sticks or glue pencils. Then, using the Apliquick rods as turning tools, I fold the edge over the glue by approximately ¼". The glue temporarily holds the edge in place, and I finish the process by pressing the appliqué shape with an iron. The piece is now ready to stitch to the quilt top. 2. HOLD YOUR PIECE IN PLACE: When applying raw- or turned-edge appliqué pieces to the quilt background, I typically tack them in place with either fusible web or, preferably,…

When we thread paint, we use our hands to guide the fabric under the needle of a domestic sewing machine, creating beautiful, embroidered designs—free-motion style. If you have ever machine embroidered, you know a big challenge is to keep the fabric from ruffling up which affects the stitches. Keeping the fabric taut is the key to success. Stabilizers and interfacings are helpful in reducing this ruffling (see “Is it Stabilizer or Interfacing?”). However, with so many choices, shopping for the right product is overwhelming. Let’s simplify things by identifying and comparing four distinct stabilizer types: woven, non-woven, rigid, and wash-away. Woven Stabilizers Woven stabilizers are made the same as woven fabrics (e.g., quilters cotton) and have the same qualities. They are made by weaving threads on a loom, which creates…

the Summer issue of QUILTING ARTS included an article by Jane Davila about “The Migrant’s Alphabet,” a special exhibit of small quilts representing one letter of the alphabet that corresponded to a word the artist equated with migration issues around the world. We were moved by these beautiful and poignant quilts and decided to challenge our readers in a similar way; not about migration, however, but about using particular letters of the alphabet—a Quilter’s Alphabet—that, combined together, would spell out the phrase QUILT ART. Readers created a 10" x 10" quilt featuring one letter—Q, U, I, L, A, R, or T—and what that letter meant to them, featuring whatever techniques and design choices they wished using one or more techniques featured in past issues of QUILTING ARTS. Our readers get…

WE KNOW IT IS EVERY ART QUILTER’S DREAM TO SEE THEIR WORK ON THE COVER OF Quilting Arts Magazine. In the past 22 years, we’ve published 116 issues, each featuring amazing art quilts made by contributors to the magazine. Some of the cover quilts have been gleaned from the work of well-known artists from our gallery pages. Others came from In the Spotlight, Artist Profile, and technique articles. Several cover artists—like Kathy York and Susan Brubaker Knapp—have been highlighted multiple times. Now, it is your turn to shine! Being a cover artist is now a realistic goal—and here’s why. Every magazine needs a cover quilt, and we’re excited to announce that we’ve reserved an issue to showcase the work of an art quilter who’s yet to be featured. The cover…

i love combining my organic style of free-motion quilting to add texture to an art quilt leaving spaces here and there for hand embroidery using embroidery floss or perle cotton. I choose some threads that blend and others that contrast with the fabrics and I try to repeat motifs—or variations on them—to make it cohesive overall. I use a balance of linear and curvy designs and throw in the occasional recognizable motifs like leaves, vines, and flowers. The hand embroidery in these pieces is not complicated but makes a statement—French knots and straight stitches are used in many different ways. The variety of stitches and threads creates a wonderful intertwining of color, texture, and line that adds incredible detail and interest to my work. Making an overall pleasing piece of…

Attach the stabilizer to the back of the background fabric with fusible products, hoops, or safety pins. After stitching, remove excess stabilizers (if desired), and then add batting and backing. Finish as desired. NOTE: Pins will get in the way. Avoid pinning in the design area. Remove pins as you work. (figure 4) • Fusible stabilizers are the easiest to use; follow the manufacturer’s directions to fuse the product to the back of the design. • Hooped designs add increased stability. Use a hoop that will fit within the machine harp (neck) and under the presser foot. Hooped fabric should lay flat against the bed of the machine with the design positioned in the recessed ‘tray’ side of the hoop. Larger designs will require repositioning the hoop as you stitch.…

BERNINA 770 QE PLUS—KAFFE EDITION If there was ever a right time to trade up to the ultimate Bernina sewing machine, it may be now—especially for the most ardent fans of designer, author, and artist Kaffe Fassett. This amazing machine is the ultimate in sewing luxury plus this edition has an exclusive faceplate designed by Kaffe himself. The features and merits of the 770 QE Plus are vast and include 31 exclusive decorative stitches and 64 machine embroidery motifs for this machine. It can be upgraded with a special embroidery module for even more options. There is also a Bernina 475 QE Kaffe Edition—fully aqua colored and having some of the features of the 770 QE in a smaller machine. The precision and quality of Bernina machines is almost beyond…

We can thank the Great Depression for the awakening of American art. Before this time period, when wealthy Americans wanted to decorate their homes, they looked to Paris or London for fine art. They were searching for figurative art, landscapes, and old masters. The idea of purchasing artwork from a living artist, much less one in the United States, just wasn’t the norm. America spent the 1930s and early ’40s building up a support system around artists, musicians, and other performing arts. And these ideas took hold during the Depression when artists were hired under a program managed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). They were paid monthly wages and in return, they worked as teachers, performers, and creators of public art projects. The shift from so-called starving artists to…

i love photography and lucky for me, camera phones have made it easier to take photos. It seems that no matter where I go there’s something interesting to capture—trees, rocks, water, old buildings, flowers, doors, and even chairs. When the time comes to add these photos to a piece I’m working on, it’s an opportunity to decide—how am I going to transfer the image to my work? What method will I use? Sometimes the answer is simple, like using transfer paper, but sometimes it’s not. I like the images in my work to blend with the background and not look like a ‘rectangle’ just sitting there. And that has its own challenges. Printing on tissue paper became the answer. Why tissue paper? It has many advantages: it is inexpensive, easy…

Appliqué—noun ap·pli·qué: a cutout decoration fastened to a larger piece of material —Merriam-Webster feedback from my workshops consistently reinforces the importance of not only teaching the ‘how to’ of different techniques, but also each technique’s unique and comparative strengths and benefits—when to use them to best effect, when to perhaps do something different, and why. One such family of techniques central to my own quilting is appliqué, a process of sewing (or otherwise attaching) smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger foundation or background. I use appliqué to build my ‘stone’ art quilts but the techniques are completely generic and applicable to most any quilting efforts, regardless of quilt theme or design. I variably rely on three techniques—raw-edge, turned-edge, and reverse appliqué—each of which delivers different effects and benefits. In…

in each of our art quilting spaces you may find boxes full of fabric scraps, threads for machine and hand sewing, and various mixed-media art materials. Among my materials is quite a collection of beautiful fusible-backed laser-cut lines, shapes, and patterns—some are quite simple while others are intricate. (figure 1) Along with these items is an abundant supply of silk organza. MATERIALS • A collection of fusible-backed fabrics—laser-cut lines, shapes, and patterns or pieces cut with a die cutter• Variety of silk organza pieces• Lightweight fusible web (I use Mistyfuse® White.)• Teflon press sheet or parchment paper In 2001, I created a piece called “Ground Zero.” My goal was to express the chaos of 9/11 by working very spontaneously. I was drawn to the inventiveness of Jackson Pollock’s ‘drip technique’…

Draw a design directly on the stabilizer or use a washable glue stick to attach appliqué fabric pieces. IMPORTANT: You must layer the stitches in a cross-directional pattern to keep them from becoming a puddle of thread when the stabilizer is dissolved. Start by filling the design with a thin layer of stitches in one direction (e.g., horizontally). Then apply the next layer of stitches perpendicular (e.g., vertically). Continue stitching, alternating direction, to fill in the shape, and then wash away the stabilizer. NOTE: The design will shrink after soaking.…

“I come from a large artistic and generations, my grandmother and great-grandmother were cotton weavers. Both my mother and father were keen craftspeople. I am the youngest of 13 children and have been immersed in textiles from a very young age. All my siblings are still very much into art and traditional crafts in some shape or form. They are dressmakers, Aran jumper knitters, woodcarvers, and artists. Now their children are also very much artists in their own right. My work is inspired by the beautiful Irish countryside, the ever-changing seasons, and of course the weather. It’s true what they say about the Irish weather: you can have all four seasons in one day. My inspiration also comes from Irish folklore and stories of farmers refusing to cut down lone trees…