Quilting Arts Magazine February - March 2016

FROM WHERE I SIT TODAY, WINTER REALLY ISN’T THAT BAD. Since we work a few months in advance, I’m enjoying a hot cup of tea on a mild November day, with not one snowflake in the forecast. However, by the time this magazine hits the newsstand, things will likely be different. In New England, the snow and cold of winter are inevitable. But the season doesn’t have to lead to hibernation. On the contrary, some of my most artistically productive months are those where the temperatures dive below freezing. Let’s face it: it is more fun to print, paint, and sew than it is to shovel! This issue has enough material to distract even the most enthusiastic snowbird during the waning winter months. We’ve gathered a wide variety of techniques on the…

At Quilting Arts, beautifully made quilts are our business, and our readers agree. Finishing a quilt is part of that process—one that can make the difference between a good piece of fiber art and a great one. Taking time to finish a quilt professionally by squaring and blocking it might make the difference between being accepted into a juried show or not. We asked our friends on Facebook if they block their quilts and here are their responses: So how is it done? It is easiest to try first with a small quilt that fits on your design wall. Pin the quilt into the wall, spacing the pins every 2"–3" apart. Spray the quilt with water until it is wet all the way through. Use a ruler to make sure all seams…

Lisa Chin is a surface design artist and art quilter living in Utah. She enjoys experimenting and teaching through her blog and classes. She has appeared on “Quilting Arts TV,” written for various magazines, and created two ondemand web seminars, “Creating Prayer Flags Using Sun Shibori and Stencils” and “Printing Fabric with GelliR Plates.” somethingcleveraboutnothing. blogspot.com Julie B. Booth is a surface design artist, author, and teacher who likes to raid her kitchen for art supplies. She has appeared on “Quilting Arts TV” and is the author of Fabric Printing At Home. When her hands aren’t covered in paint, she enjoys picking up needle and thread to turn her printed fabrics into stitched stories. threadbornblog.com Lea McComas is an international award-winning fiber artist, author, and teacher who has developed threadpainting techniques for rendering realistic…

“Holy Sh*t Sherlock” • Kristy Daum 70" × 99" One of the crowd favorites at QuiltCon 2015 was the giant pixilated portrait of British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, known especially for his television role as Sherlock Holmes. The quilt was made by Kristy Daum, founder and president of the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild. But Kristy almost didn’t enter “Holy Sh*t Sherlock” into QuiltCon 2015, because she wasn’t sure it was modern. The Sherlock quilt was actually the second pixel portrait of a pop culture icon Kristy had made. Before that, she had completed a Doctor Who quilt (“Tenth,” at right). But modern quilt shows, full of geometric shapes and solid colors rarely include portraits. “I was a little hesitant to call them modern quilts, because to me, these are more art quilts,” she…

not long after seeing the pixelated portrait quilt trend explode on social media and at quilt shows, I decided on a lark to try my hand at designing my own quilt. With a professional headshot as my starting image, I used the pixelating service at youpatch.com and, within 15 minutes, came away with a design. But that is not all: YouPatch created a personalized pattern, yardage requirements, cutting chart, and detailed instructions for my quilt, all emailed to me as a PDF. I was hooked. As an art quilter, I can see so many possibilities with this software that extend far beyond portraits. Impressionistic landscapes, city scenes, and fabric substitutions are just some of the options I am considering for my next quilts. But the most straightforward use will likely be…

DAPPER: WALK A MILE IN YOUR OWN SHOES This fresh and playful fabric collection by Luke Haynes for Moda is full of classic Haynes-esque iconography including the titular shoes. The color palette of brights and grays will suit many tastes and projects. You can have your wingtips and sunglasses in gray, teal, hot pink, or multi-colors! The collection also contains fabulous geometrics. modafabrics.com INDIAN COTTON TEXTILES: SEVEN CENTURIES OF CHINTZ FROM THE KARUN THAKAR COLLECTION BY JOHN GUY AND KARUN THAKAR The introduction of this book is titled “A Life in Textiles.” Written by co-author Karun Thakar about his personal connection to the collection he has assembled over three decades, this title can also describe the collection itself—which is alive with color, history, and significance. This is an impressive, scholarly text but also a…