Detail of Jeweled Amish

Jeweled Amish- Modern Quilt Challenge #4

Here is my third entry into the Modern Quilt Guild Challenges.  The Challenge was to find your own voice.  This is the paragraph I sent with it.

To find my own voice, I followed my intuition by letting this quilt grow organically. My starting point was bold colors and geometric design, a modern log-cabin single block in jewel tones.  I went outside my comfort zone by not using a ruler for the individual strips. I decided to add jewel-tone strip piecing on the sides of the green center. The blue top and green bottom cooled down the jewel-tones. I wanted the four sections to appear to keep going off the edge of the quilt like an infinity pool.  Thank you for the challenges.

This paragraph was edited down to 100 words, very hard to do.  This is what I started with.

Each of the past three quilts I have made for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenges have led me on a creative journey to push my color and design choices to be more intuitive.  I am now focussing on what I love about quilts- bold color, unique design and the creative process itself.  For this quilt I wanted to make a medallion single block quilt. Log cabin is one of my favorite classics that look totally modern. My colors are jewel tones reminiscent of the Amish clothing colors I saw as a child visiting Lancaster, PA. I was drawn to these bold colors and simple geometric designs.  Seeing Amish quilts with these jewel tones inspired me to become a quilter originally.  This quilt is a nod to these early influences.

The Jeweled Amish quilt grew organically.  For the first time I pinned on the design wall and sewed each section after trying it out on the design wall. The overall design was not preplanned before I started sewing.  I wanted some strip piecing with all the jewel tone colors on the sides. I went outside my comfort zone and did not use a ruler for the individual strips.  I decided the quilt needed to cool down with the two toned blue top (for the sky) and green (for the land). I wanted the four sections to appear to keep going off the edge of the quilt like an infinity pool, so I used different fabrics in the binding to help with the illusion.

I will miss these challenges and hope I find something else to prod me to keep reaching and exploring as an artist.

Detail Spring Green

Spring Green- Modern Quilt Challenge #2

I am getting my blog a little more up to date.  Here is my submission last Spring 2010 for the second Modern Quilt Guild Challenge #2. This is the paragraph I wrote about it.

This study in green is named "Spring Green".  Being in the Midwest in winter creates a longing for spring yellow-greens.  Hence, my color choice of green.  The design is based on an old-fashioned wooden window frame.  Since I love geometric designs, I took a picture of the window frame in a coffee shop liking the strong vertical lines which draw your eyes upward.  To emphasize the weight of the bottom section, I decided to block it up onto different size rectangles of color to provide a solid base for the quilt.  Then I used the same blocks to create the vertical dividers.  I did not want the quilt to actually look like a representation of the window frame, but I just borrowed the structure.