Week of September 23, 2018 – Art Quilts
One of the best things about moving to a new home is that you touch absolutely everything you own. It also allows you an opportunity to decide if it is important enough to keep or time to throw it or share it. That is what I have been doing the past two weeks. Of course, I kept most everything but at least I got to touch and look at all my quilts as I found new places to hang them or store them while I was unpacking.
Today I want to share three of these that I would call Art Quilts. The first one was made by Valerie White and I was fortunate enough to win the highest auction bid at Fabric & Friends several years ago. It is a beautiful mask quilt that she called “Midsummer Nights Dream”. Her quilting on this piece is amazing and I love her color choices in the fabric painting. She is such a talented artist. I am hanging it next to several sculptures of Kudu animals that I picked up in Zambia years ago when I visited. They are carved out of Ebony and go very well with this “African” art quilt.
If you have followed this blog very long you know I am a very traditional 
quilter and seldom branch into the art quilt world. But I have a fascination with labyrinths and when the opportunity came to create a quilt with opposite colors on the color wheel for a Heather Thomas class, this blue and orange labyrinth was what I came up with. It is made up of all little one-inch (finished) squares and you can follow it with your finger the same as you would with your feet to walk a full-size labyrinth. It is a very calming exercise. Even with all the twists and turns, it creates a bit of a rhythm as you go back and forth, around and around.
The last quilt I want to share was designed by a friend of mine named Donna Cook. She now lives in Chicago, but she has done quite a series of op-art quilts and made up this pattern of one of them. If you wish to see more of her work, one of her pieces was featured in this years’ Quilt Art Engagement Calendar the week of February 19-25. I took a class from her and made this quilt of just two fabrics: a light cream and the other fabric is from the border and has gradations from light gold to dark brown. It made an interesting pattern when cut up and sewn into this op-art. I love it and sometimes when I look at it I am amazed that I made it myself! I believe it is good to adventure into a style you have not done before and take a class to learn a new technique or pattern. I challenge you to try it soon.
Just for You – Quilt Quote “Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint your garage!”
If you have any comments or questions, please contact Phyllis at: MtnQltr@aol.com