Quilting Arts Magazine December 2015 - January 2016

HOW DO YOU MARK SPECIAL OCCASIONS? With parties, cards, or cakes? Do you gather your friends together, pop open a bottle of champagne, or set off fireworks? It all probably depends on traditions started years before and here at QUILTING ARTS, it is no different. As quilters, we usually celebrate milestones in stitch. This issue marks QUILTING ARTS’ 15th year of celebrating the joys of art quilting with a special Reader Challenge gallery featuring 15 quilts contributed by talented and dedicated readers, some of whom are also contributors. The challenge was to create a small quilt inspired by articles found in past issues of QUILTING ARTS. Some readers learned techniques to incorporate into their work. Others were inspired by interviews with master artists and galleries showcased on these pages. They all have…

Dear QUILTING ARTS, I love this magazine and grab it from my postman when he delivers it. I especially gulp down every word of Jane Dunnewold’s columns. She has been an inspiration to me as I forge onward on my art quilt path. Thanks to Vivika and everyone at QA. Gratefully, Linda Waugh St. Louis, Missouri Dear QUILTING ARTS, I recently had to downsize and move to a different town. The move was first to a rented room while I found a house, which I moved into several months later. In the interim, my quilting supplies and equipment were stored at my daughter’s home nearby. Well, yesterday I brought my sewing machine to my new place and I finally felt settled. My clothes didn’t matter, nor my dishes and pots and pans. What signaled “home” for…

Lisa Thorpe lives, works, creates, blogs, and teaches art at The Bishop’s Ranch retreat and conference center in Northern California, where she is the resident artist. She loves to try out new techniques and mediums and share them with her students. lisathorpe.com Colleen Harvey’ first sewing projects were appliqués for her blue jeans in the 1970s. Her artistic inspiration comes from unexpected journeys that crop up along the way. She and her husband Jeff have two grown children and live near Nederland, Colorado, with two dogs and a retired racing donkey. Jane Dávila is a fiber artist, media mixer, and collector of found objects. She is the author of Surface Design Essentials, and the co-author of Art Quilt Workbook and Art Quilts At Play. She has appeared on “Quilting Arts TV” and has…

Created from shipping tags that can be picked up at your local office supply store, this little book makes excellent use of ordinary objects and leftover snips from previous projects. Each tag is decorated on one side then glued to its mate to make back-to-back pages that are bound together with sari silk ribbon. I made this book as a birthday gift for a friend, but it is a fitting tribute to QUILTING ARTS on its 15th year of publication! Customize your book to tell a personal story for any occasion. These instruction are intended as guidelines. Some of these techniques and materials may be new to you. Working in this small size with inexpensive materials can give you the freedom to experiment and become more comfortable with these processes. Make this…

Here are several of the techniques that I used to make my Birthday Book. Most of these processes allow for some spontaneity and serendipity—so relax and enjoy! Wrinkled deli paper with raised stencils 1. Paint a sheet of deli paper with acrylic paint that has been diluted with water. 2. Spray randomly with Liquitex ink. The paper will wrinkle as it dries. 3. When the paper has dried, place a stencil over it and apply a light coat of modeling paste with a spatula. Remove the stencil. (figure 1) 4. Paint the background with diluted paints. 5. Paint the dried modeling paste with gold acrylic. 6. Glue the decorated deli paper to a shipping tag and trim to size. TIP:You can use this method with organza instead of paper, but you will not be able to paint the…

i’m a mixed-media artist and I love to combine all types of artist materials in my quilts. Lately, I’ve been working with cheesecloth as a base for paper collage, creating what I call paper-cloth. This technique combines all of the things I love about mixed-media projects—the glue, the paint, the papers—with a woven base that can be sewn into my quilts. For this project, I’ve reached into my collection of found and saved papers and chosen delicate papers like sewing pattern tissue, printed or single-color tissue paper, napkins, and even newsprint. If you don’t have a collection, there are many resources online or visit a craft store’s scrapbooking and paper department. DIRECTIONS 1. Cut or tear pieces of the delicate papers and set them aside. TIP: Torn edges are easier to hide, if you…