Quilting Arts Magazine Spring 2021

I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW EXCITING IT HAS BEEN TO WORK ON THIS ISSUE OF QUILTING ARTS. Every quilt, every article, and every photo is special. Why? Because we’ve reached a milestone: 20 years ago, this magazine hit the newsstand for the first time, and its impact has been felt ever since. The influence of QUILTING ARTS on the quilting industry has been enormous. It not only elevated the visibility of art quilts and art quilters, but also set high standards for years to come. Having a magazine devoted exclusively to art quilting raised the awareness of the genre, validated an art form, and provided opportunities for all involved. How many art quilters have said that being published in QUILTING ARTS launched their careers? Our list of contributors is a mile long…

Susan Brubaker Knapp is the host of “Quilting Arts TV,” cohost of the “Quilting Arts Podcast,” and a studio fiber artist, author, and teacher. Susan lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and teaches in the U.S. and internationally. bluemoonriver.com Mel Beach is a San Jose, California, based quilt artist, teacher, and lecturer. She stretches her creativity through photography, comedy improv studies, and the completion of 90+ quilt challenges at the local and international level. Her quilts are modern, beautifully textured, and colorful. Mel has appeared on “Quilting Arts TV.” melbeachquilts.com Julie B. Booth is a surface design artist, teacher, and author of Fabric Printing at Home. Julie teaches numerous classes in hand stitching as an expressive art form, including telling stories and sharing memories in cloth and creating appliquéd and stitched works with a…

Dear QA, The last issue (December 2020/January 2021) gets a prized place in the top drawer of my craft table! I would call it ‘Back to the Basics’ … Painting Tyvek (Crites), photo transfers (Koolish), hand stitching (Booth), creating your own fabric (Turner), and paint (Lohbeck). Then, an added bonus on silk thread (Schillig) encouraged me to open that spool I bought some time ago. As always, I love Quilting Arts and am expectantly waiting for the next issue as soon as I finish reading the current one. Stacey Cummings Inman, South Carolina Dear Editors, I would love to see an Artist Profile done on Shin-hee Chin. This woman does amazing and stunning work. I have taken a class from her and came away in awe. She is very modest and humble. You may have to…

looking back on 20 years of QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE, with all the quilt artists and fabric art techniques that have come to the fore as a result, it’s hard to believe the whole thing came about because of a happy accident. As a college student, QUILTING ARTS founder Patricia “Pokey” Chatham Bolton interned at a start-up B-to-B financial magazine. Although she much interested in finance, the internship led to a job there ignited a passion for magazines. key” wasn’t e, re and zines. Fast-forward a few years Pokey, then a full-time teacher working on her doctorate, picked up quilting as a diversion during a holiday break. Fabric and stitch soon consumed her. She connected with an informal group of crazy quilters and saw an opportunity to merge her passion for magazines with…

It all started with a scrap of yellow fabric. Trained as a painter, Irene Roderick took up quilting in 2016 after retiring from her job as an administrator in the art department at the University of Texas. She was intrigued by the idea of making ‘utilitarian paintings’ out of fabric and began experimenting with sewing pieces of blue and white fabric together without a plan. As she worked, she moved quickly from design wall to cutting table to sewing machine to iron and back again, auditioning design elements to see how they interacted. It all came together when she discovered that scrap of yellow and put it into the design on the wall. Something happened to activate the design that “gave me goosebumps,” she said. Irene calls her process ‘dancing with…

congratulations to the winners of Pieces of the Past, an online competition presented by QuiltingDaily.com. This competition celebrated the heritage of quilting by featuring outstanding quilts that echoed the theme “Pieces of the Past.” Ten of the top quilts were featured in the December 2020/January 2021 issue of QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE, and the remaining finalists are shown in the following pages. As you can imagine, the competition was fierce, with entries from around the world that featured outstanding artistry and unique interpretations of the theme. From beautiful landscapes and heartwarming portraits, to whimsical block-based designs, the full range of quilting styles was represented. In all, 21 quilts were chosen—from a field of 250—for in-person judging. Please enjoy this selection of outstanding quilts from an incredible competition. “Picnic on the Pecos” 62" x 33"…