Quilting Arts Magazine June/July 2020

HERE’S AN UNDERSTATEMENT: WE ARE LIVING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES. Times when the healing power of art, the necessary purpose of creativity, and the act of making are helping an entire community navigate a worldwide crisis. As I write this note (from my home office, after the first few weeks of social distancing necessitated by the spread of the coronavirus), I am looking forward to a time when I can look back at 2020 and reflect on how art and making not only kept me busy but helped me comprehend the surreal events around me. For the past few years, I’ve hosted a gathering of art quilting friends in June at my home for a party of sorts—one that is full of laughter, joy, lots of good food, and a healthy dose of…

The editorial staff was so pleased with the response to the “Fluttering By” Reader Challenge. Many of those who submitted quilts were new to creating challenge quilts, although you wouldn’t know it from the fantastic pieces they created! Here are some thoughts shared by reader challenge contributors. See the finalists’ quilts on page 62. I just want to start out saying I love your magazine. In 2017, I designed and created my first art quilt so I could enter it in our local quilt show. I not only learned new techniques while I was creating it but finished it in less than four months. Then I subscribed to Quilting Arts, which has made me want to learn more. One thing I promised myself two years ago was I must learn something…

Margarita Korioth is a fiber artist and quilt instructor living in Tennessee. She likes to work with a combination of paper and fabric or fabric alone. Her recent work emphasizes surface design such as dyeing, stamping, and silk screening, with a focus on lettering on fabric. margascrafts.blogspot.com Libby Williamson is a mixed-media fiber artist, quilter, surface designer, and dabbler of most art forms. She uses her sewing machine as a drawing tool-with free-motion stitching as her main design element to enhance her hand-painted fabrics and papers. Libby teaches from her studio in Orange, California, online, and at destination retreats. libbywilliamson.com Heidi Parkes loves hand piecing and hand quilting, along with the affordability and mobility of the artform. Living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she frequents The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art. Heidi enjoys teaching…

As we age, our memories become more significant but sometimes more unreliable. This seemingly inescapable fact has provided me with inspiration for many of my quilts and embroideries. Recent work has been inspired by my fascination with moths and though the connection might seem obscure, it does exist! Largely unseen and secretive, most people are completely unaware of the colorful moths flying in their gardens at night. I’ve used these elusive creatures as symbols of the fleeting thoughts and ideas that come to us in dreams but are often forgotten in the light of day. Their fragility represents transient thoughts and fading memories. My moths are symbolic of loss and failing faculties, but they have beauty nonetheless. I made my first moth-inspired quilt in 2012 and called it “Remembering.” The quilt…

I wouldn’t exactly say I’m an impatient artist. It’s just, when time to create becomes available, I seize it like an enthusiastic toddler going after an ice cream cone. This has shaped the way I choose the materials and techniques I work with. I could take the time to dye my own fabric. I could take the time to mix my own dyes and printing paste. But will I? Most of the time the answer is no. That takes an amount of forethought and planning that often doesn’t complement my schedule. Early on in my fabric printing career, I sought alternatives that work for me. The two main players are commercial solid fabric and textile paint. I often feel like textile paint gets a bad reputation. It conjures images of fabric as stiff…

PROFab: These textile paints are available from PRO™ Chemical and Dye. They come in both transparent and opaque varieties and have excellent pigment saturation. They are my go to paints in the studio. Blick Water-based Acrylic Fabric Screen Printing Ink: These are nice paints for screen printing. I also use them for other printing applications as well such as monoprinting. They come in quart size containers and while the colors are somewhat limited, they are easily mixed and a good value at such a large size. PermasetR These are my absolute favorites for opaque paint. They have some colors with the label Supercover, and it does just what it says. These paints stay true to their color no matter what color they are being printed over. Pēbēo Setacolor: These come in opaque and…