Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i Quilting Arts Magazine

SPRING IS THE SEASON OF NEW BEGINNINGS AND ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. A dozen years ago, I shared that heartfelt sentiment in my first Editor’s Note for QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE. I was thrilled to have been tapped to lead this cuttingedge publication and to carry on the vision as its editor. What a gift these last 12 years have been! From day one, bringing each issue to print has been a team effort. I appreciate the many artists who have shared their work, the hundreds of contributors whose innovative articles expanded our knowledge of art quilting, and the scores of people behind the scenes who made this content shine. I am especially thankful for my longtime friend and Managing Editor, Kristine Lundblad, whose expertise, good humor, and attention to detail helped keep…

Now that you’ve experienced our latest issue, isn’t it time for you to become part of QUILTING ARTS? What do you want to read—how about writing it yourself! Share your inspiring work, unique techniques, and new ideas with us and our readers. If you are teaching, blogging about, or exhibiting your art quilts, we want to hear from you! To submit, send us a short summary of your idea along with three images and we’ll get back to you within 12 weeks. Visitquiltingdaily.com/quilting-arts-magazine-submission-guidelines for our submissions guidelines. Questions? Email QAsubmissions@goldenpeakmedia.com.…

WE KNOW THE READER CHALLENGES ARE FAVORITES among our readers—they tell us so and they show us with their participation! One reader wrote just after the new year—“I am going to need you to stop putting out such interesting challenges if I am to make any progress on my UFOs this year,” she said with a laughing emoji. This is precisely why we present these Reader Challenges—no, not to distract you from other projects but to inspire, motivate, and challenge you to create something special, using a theme or prompt, and perhaps working outside of your comfort zone. We all know that is good exercise for quilt artists! For only the second time in QUILTING ARTS history, we invited a select group of past Reader Challenge participants to submit their best…

this spring we installed a beehive on our property and I have been inspired by the honeybees’ dedication to making the colony function successfully. And, as frequently happens, I wanted to capture in fabric some of what I see and feel watching them. I have written, lectured, and taught workshops on my technique, Thread Sketching on a Photograph. My students are always amazed and delighted that they can so easily create with thread what looks remarkably like a pen-and-ink style drawing. This article takes that process a step further—I’ll show you how to enhance the composition of a thread-sketched image to create a more realistic portrait by adding layers of fabrics and ink shading. MATERIALS • Fat quarter of light-colored fabric for the background, solid or almost-solid (TIP: I use…

in the Fall issue we shared a lament of many quilters—the unfinished project … or 2 … or 20. We all have them—how can we not? With so many wonderful fabrics, designs, techniques, and tools, the thrill of starting something new is almost a gravitational pull! Many of us feel a longing to complete these ‘babies’ and yet they linger. No more! This challenge was about taking up one of those past projects and completing it. Special credit is given to folks who started but never finished a past Reader Challenge. In these pages, there is a sprinkling of them plus other UFOs that our intrepid readers completed and submitted. We hope you enjoy this gallery of their now-completed work! My Meadow 9 ½" × 8 ¼" ELLEN WITHERLY PRINCE…

ahaiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. Haiku often capture the beauty of nature through simple observation. Here is a haiku poem by the Japanese master of the art form, Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), translated from the original Japanese. The formal structure of these poems consists of three lines. Line one and three have five syllables; the second line has seven. This framework reduces decision making and challenges the writer to work within limitations. I wondered: How can I transfer these qualities and influences to my art quilting practice? Furuike ya Kawazu tobikomu Mizu no oto [English translation] The old pond A frog leaps in. Sound of the water.—Matsuo Basho Begin with play As a visual artist, I value structure for creating. A cohesive series of work uses this quality…

AS QUILTERS, WE ARE CONSTANTLY EXPLORING color, shape, texture, and construction. For many of us, though, color is the ‘fun part’ of the journey. We looovvvvee color! Whether we’re searching our stashes for that perfect daisy yellow or inspecting the bolts at our LQS for something that evokes the morning light, our color senses are dialed up to a 10. This issue, we are challenging you to work monochromatically to fully flex that color muscle—choose one hue and create a 10" × 10" quilt using only shades and values of that color. You may also add one of the following hues to the composition: black, white, or gray. The final part of this challenge: Work outside of your comfort zone and choose a color that is not your favorite or…

Those of us who have been making art quilts since the term was first coined have often been told we should work in a series, especially if we are to be taken seriously as fine artists and if we plan to display in galleries, enter shows, and participate in exhibits. I have admired my fellow art quilters who have explored and developed concepts, deconstructed, abstracted, extended, played with, and followed their bliss down beautiful rabbit holes of theme and variation. This was not me. After spending weeks and months on a new artwork, even when pleased with the result or responding to a theme or challenge, I realized I was done. My magpie brain needed something new and shiny: a different palette, some lovely random scraps of fabric, or a…

Our Readers Respond! In the last issue, we asked our readers to respond to this prompt: Time Change. We asked them to share their thoughts, experiences, advice, and even their quilts to examine how the transition from one year to the next—or even the change from Standard to Daylight Savings time—affects them. Thank you to our readers who took the time (get it?) to respond and we’re delighted to share a few responses with you here. DEAR QUILTING ARTS, I was diagnosed with lupus in Winter 2022. It was a shock that my body was fighting within itself. Your magazine, sewing, and fabric dyeing kept me going through to Spring 2023. July found me fatigued but my mind wanted to create. I grabbed purple scraps—not a color I favor, BTW—and…

the quilts at International Quilt Festival, Houston, represent the finest examples of craftsmanship, artistry, and design. Every year, hundreds of entries pour in from around the world, but only a percentage is selected for exhibition. The night before the opening of Festival, the top-winning IQA quilts are revealed during the awards ceremony. The following pages feature a sampling of the exceptional quilts from the show. BEST OF SHOW Sponsored by Handi Quilter® Monkeys in my Hair—Evie 41" × 48" DEBORAH HYDE WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICHIGAN “This art is a celebration of my granddaughter, Evie—her portrait and her personality.” Original design. GAMMILL MASTER AWARD FOR MACHINE ARTISTRY Sponsored by Gammill® Filigree Calligraphy 60" × 76" • JANET STONE • OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS “I wanted to use linen fabrics, a collection of solid…

Sarah Lykins Entsminger is a fiber and mixed-media artist, photographer, writer, and curator who lives and works in northern Virginia. The primary subject of her work is landscapes. Sarah’s art and imagery reflect personal memories of place that evoke a sense of calm for viewers. Her work has been shown in museums, galleries, and exhibitions around the world. studioatripplingwaters.com Karen Fricke is a quilt artist, specializing in Judaic ritual fiber art. She teaches classes and workshops, lectures to guilds, and works from her studio in her home in New Jersey. karenfrickequilts.com Valerie Komkov Hill is an award-winning artist working in a variety of media including painting, fiber arts, and mixed media. Her work has been shown regionally and internationally. She is a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and the Caprock Art…

What is a modern quilt? What distinguishes it from an art quilt? What defines the modern aesthetic? Interesting questions, all. But for some, the answer boils down to this: It’s not your grandmother’s quilt. Don’t believe it? Google “not your grandmother’s quilt” and you’ll be rewarded with millions of hits in 0.42 seconds, all of them announcing that modern quiltmakers have wrested quiltmaking out of the hands of boring old matrons and made it something new and vital. There are variations on the theme—“not your grandmother’s log cabin,” for instance, and “not your granny’s quilt show”—but the message is clear: Modern quilts are fresh and exciting quilts made by fresh and exciting young people. It’s time for some myth-busting. In more ways than one, the modern quilt is, in fact,…