Quilting Arts Magazine December 2017 - January 2018

A FEW MONTHS AGO I TOOK A BIG STEP and went to our local hardware store for a color fix. My master bedroom had been cornflower blue for 13 years—long enough to get tired of that hue, but not so long that it had entirely worn out its welcome. My husband still loved it, but I was ready for something new. With my husband traveling on a business trip and a free weekend in front of me, what better time was there to make a change with a fresh coat of paint? With a gallon dangling from each hand and a few paint rollers tucked under each arm, I made my way to the car … with only a slight hesitation. Why the pause? Because I’d gone from blue to purple,…

Dear Quilting Arts, I was excited when I opened the August/September issue and read the first article about art retreats by Abby Glassenberg. After turning to the last page, there was my quilt on the lower right of page 13, a work in progress I was making while attending the John C. Campbell Folk School. I became an art quilter after taking my very first quilting workshop at the Folk School, and it changed my life. The pictured quilt, “Florida in Flowers,” was from my second visit, and since then I've been back again. Ellen K. Heimlich Hollywood, Florida Dear Readers: The October/November 2017 issue elicited a tremendous reaction from our readers. Although the overwhelming response to the focus on bold statement quilts was supportive, some of our readers felt differently. As an editorial team,…

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 a Quilting Arts Workshop™ video, “Mixed- Media One-Page Book.” Jane lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut, with her husband Carlos, an oil painter and sculptor. janedavila.com Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum is an avid maker. As a child, she was always making something from salvaged fabric, paper, string, wood, or interesting rocks. She is still happiest when creating. Art quilting is Enid’s third career. She loves colors, textures, fibers, and interpreting experiences and images into quilts. Her design book is full of inspiration for the projects to come. enidgjelten.com Candy Glendening teaches biology at the University…

having recently moved to this town on the Gulf of Alaska just west of Anchorage, Maria was looking to make a mystery quilt out of textiles she’d collected over the years. The box she carried into the quilt shop included ’60s and ’70s fabric, upholstery pieces, and the odd— but interesting—bed sheet. It did not contain quilting cottons. The owner, Trudy, could have patiently shepherded Maria over to the bolts of calico and batiks, suggesting she select some traditional quilting fabrics for her project. But she didn’t. “Trudy didn’t shut me down,” says Maria. Instead, she peered into the box and said, “‘Well, we can try.’” Trudy, as well the other teachers and staff at the Calico Whale, “encouraged my work from the very beginning. They just let me go,” says Maria. That was…

PIECED STRIPES AND REPEATING BLOCKS although I work without a ruler in an improvisational manner, I am always thinking about color, line, and shape as I stitch. You might say I do improv with intention. In this Master Class, we will be discussing ways to use line to create shape—or, in quilting lingo—we will be piecing strips into blocks. I make these linear blocks with and without rulers. The majority of the time I cut strips of fabric without a ruler, and then when it comes time to square things up, I use my ruler. Here are some guidelines for creating linear blocks. Tips to cut improvisationally • Use the lines cutting mat lines as a guide for cutting without a ruler. TIP: Use a rotary cutter that lets you see the blade and the line…

marbling is a centuries-old technique of creating patterns that look like stone or swirls on paper and fabric. Originating in Japan in the 12th century as suminagashi (floating ink), then moving to Turkey, Persia, and India as ebru (cloud art), it spread to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, where it was used mainly in bookbinding. To make marbling designs, paint is first floated on the surface of a liquid. Patterns are created by dragging implements through the paint, and then paper or fabric is laid onto the surface of the paint to absorb it. Traditionally, marbling is created with water into which chemicals have been added to support the paint. Marbling supplies can be hard to locate or expensive, and the preparation times can be long, putting marbling out…