Quilting Arts Magazine August - September 2018

JOIN US FOR THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST QUILT SHOW! SEE more than 1,500 great quilts and fiber art works in scores of exhibits! SHOP at more than 1,000 booths! LEARN in 550+ classes for all skill levels! FREE educational activities on the show floor including Open Studios, Tool Time, Demo Alley, and Meet the Teachers! JUST SOME OF THE EXHIBITS INCLUDE: The 1876 Centennial Quilt Project • 25 Years of American Patchwork & Quilting Cover Quilts • Along the Road • The Best of Dinner at Eight Artists • A Celebration of Color • A Collection of Color Stories • Easy Stack Quilts • Flowers of My Mind, Florence in My Heart • Genesis • Hands All Around • In Celebration of the Doll • In the American Tradition • In Full Bloom • Inspired by Elvis…

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT WORKING WITH THE ARTISTS AND CONTRIBUTORS OF QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE? They have the ability to look at the world with fresh eyes and the courage to explore the possibilities they uncover in their fiber art. Of course, artists who work in every genre do this. Impressionist painters were rebels in their time as they added what appeared to be layers of paint in an unruly manner to their canvases. Architecture was forever changed by visionaries who opened up public spaces and private homes with new arrangements of light, metal, and concrete. And jazz composers created an enormous stir in the music world by writing scores with dissonant chord changes and room for lots of improvisation. But how do art quilters innovate? The answer lies on the…

Dear QUILTING ARTS staff, This is my “from-the-bottom-of-my-heart” thank you for the June/July issue! Seeing the studios and finished quilts has inspired me more than another article on fabric-dyeing techniques. In my mind I can make art quilts. Perhaps my hands will finally connect with mind, and produce an actual art quilt. Meanwhile, I’m delighted to savor every photo in this issue! Best, Merrilyn Scott, Lakeview, Arkansas Hi QA, I have been a reader of your magazine for some years now. Some things appeal to me and others don't, but you can’t please everyone all the time! I am a quilter and have won prizes in shows so I am not too bad. I like art quilting—I dabble in using software for digital manipulation and love freehand work. Best wishes for the magazine. May it…

Nancy Bavor holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Northwestern University and a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, with a History of Textiles/Quilt Studies emphasis. She joined the staff of San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles in 2013 and was appointed Director in July 2017. sjquiltmuseum.org Julie Bohnsack is a retired special education schoolteacher and also taught at Southern Illinois University. Julie has been quilting seriously for 25 years and is always looking for opportunities to improve her quilting knowledge and abilities. Julie B. Booth is a surface design artist, teacher, and author of FABRIC PAINTING AT HOME. She has written for QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE and appeared on “Quilting Arts TV.” Julie teaches numerous classes in hand stitching as an expressive art form, including telling stories and sharing…

using the modest, unassuming tea bag as a substrate for art quilts continues to intrigue and fascinate me. Despite my preference for working in larger formats, I enjoy the challenge of creating tiny bits of art on used, empty tea bags. In my earlier work, each stood alone as a piece of art. Now, the individually stitched tea bags are separate components of a larger composition. Grids and circles remain as favored motifs in my work. “Circle Blues” (right) incorporates 25 tea bags, each a separate study of a circle. Bits of hand-painted fabrics and papers were first appliquéd onto the individual tea bags using free-motion machine and hand stitching. A remnant of upholstery material, layered with strips of fabrics in a grid pattern, became the substrate. The tea bags were…

“I’m all about color, and my studio reflects that. I like having all of my favorite things around me.” Looking at Jamie Fingal’s colorful dream studio heavily adorned with a juxtaposition of pattern, print, and whimsy, it is hard to imagine this space is located in an industrial park. “It’s really a concrete shoebox,” she explains, “about 1,000 square feet of pure bliss. I have one giant room with a bathroom, good lighting, a truck door, and double doors that create a window to the outside world.” But it is the inside of this creative space that is so inviting. Jamie’s studio, like her artwork that includes drawings, quilts, and fabric lines, is all about color and pattern. The room is a visual feast for the eyes. It is filled with charming…