We are excited that several of our members’ quilts were accepted into two different exhibits for the International Quilt Festival – Chicago show April 7-9, 2016. In case you are not able to go, here are our members’ quilts that will be shown there.
The first exhibit is the Modern Quilts – Drunkard’s Path.
Donna Moscinski’s quilt is titled “Drunkard’s Path: Elongated and Elliptical.” The design is based on Australian Helen Richards work, and she shared her templates with Donna. The fabrics are Cory Pepper Shot Cottons and were sold in a FQ bundle. She hand quilted it in the Sashiko style.
Amy Struckmeyer’s quilt is called “Pete and Repeat.” She shares, “Pairs of drunkards path blocks with varying organic curves form stacks of semi-circles in different colors and prints. Creating this quilt was all about playing with repetition and variation. How often did I need to repeat a color or orientation of the blocks to see a pattern? How much variation could I add — of shape, color, orientation, size — while still maintaining the simple concept of the quilt? How do the different shades and substrates of the background fabrics affect the overall design?”
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| Detail of “Pete and Repeat” by Amy Struckmeyer. |
Rebecca Cynamon-Murphy’s take on the drunkard’s path block led her to ponder confetti blocks. “When the challenge came to create a modern interpretation of the drunkard’s path, I had a perfect match. Confetti + drunk = New Year’s Eve! And “Persimmon Champagne” was christened. It takes advantage of modern batting, which allows for minimal quilting and a softer drape and I took advantage of that chance for some hand quilting with a unique construction method that pieced and quilted simultaneously.”
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| A close up view of Rebecca’s “Persimmon Champagne”. |
Emily Lang’s use of negative space resulted in this beauty called “Runaway Flowers.” It was quilted by T & F Quilting Studio, Lemont, IL. It measures 57” x 71”. Emily says, “inspired by the stark, colors and shapes of graphic art, this piece was made as a challenge of my color choosing ability. I stretched my comfort zone to choose fabrics that reminded me of summertime. Like summertime, these colors remind me of popsicles, pure blue skies, and rich vibrant flowers. A play off the daisy-chains I wove as a child, the drunkard’s path blocks connect into flowers and create the basis of this light and airy summer quilt.”
Sarah Shulman’s play with the drunkard’s path block led her to challenge herself to only use drunkards path blocks she had leftover from a previous project. It is called “Disappearing Drunkards Path.” “I pieced them together to make half square triangle blocks and when laying those out on the design wall saw a secondary pinwheel design. I used negative space to define the pinwheels, and I chose concentric circle quilting to further emphasize the circular shapes.”
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| Detail of Sarah Shulman’s “Disappearing Drunkards Path” quilt. |
And finally in the Drunkard’s Path challenge, Sarah Evans designed “Pretty Good for a Drunk” especially for this IQF -Chicago Drunkard’s Path challenge. It was quilted by Nikki Maroon. Measuring 80”x80” the drunkard’s path block gets exponentially larger each time it’s added.
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| Detail of Sarah Evans’ “Pretty Good for a Drunk” quilt. |
The second exhibit at the IQF Chicago Quilt Show is the Mod Squad exhibit.
The following are our guild member’s quilts that you will see on display in the Mod Squad exhibit.
Laura Hartrich had two quilts accepted for this exhibit. The first is titled “Leftovers a la Gwen” and was quilted by Nikki Maroon. She shares that these blocks were mostly leftovers from a previous project. “The layout, with the lighter inner border, was directly inspired by a favorite Gwen Marston quilt. I hesitated to use the word leftovers next to my quilt heroine’s name, but I decided leftovers don’t have to be lukewarm meatloaf or some other blob. Sometimes leftovers can be surprisingly delicious if they are well prepared and paired with something fresh. That’s how I’m choosing to think of leftovers in this instance. The light inner border, inspired by Gwen’s work, was the something fresh that brought my leftover blocks to life.”
Laura’s second quilt is titled “Quilt for our Bed.” “I have been a quilter for 5 years and had never made a quilt for our bed. I decided it was time. I was inspired by Jen Carlton Bailly’s phenomenal “5HTP Squared” quilt, which used quarter circles in a way that almost looked like letters but weren’t. I decided to run with that inspiration and actually make letters from quarter circles, squares, and triangles. The words are something my husband and I say to each other every night before drifting off. I figure, if I stay up too late sewing, now the quilt can say it for me.” It was quilted by Nikki Maroon.
Erin Davis’s quilt is called “Atomic Age Color Study.” The post-war era saw homes built with simplistic lines and uncomplicated aesthetics; homeowners sought out furniture and art with bold pops of color and pattern in an attempt to complement the modern architecture.
This quilt features authentic reproduction mid-century (1950s) upholstery swatches in a variety of period-appropriate colors, textures and styles. The swatches are juxtaposed against Osnaburg cotton, a background fabric I chose for two reasons: as it has a gorgeous linen-like texture, which complements the colors and textures in the upholsteries, and, because Osnaburg can also be used as an upholstery fabric or upholstery lining.
In homage to the simplistic lines and architecture of the mid-century, I kept the quilting minimalist and uncomplicated; the quilted atom to the right of the swatches is a playful throwback to the Atomic Era.
In creating this quilt I wanted to showcase the bold and whimsical fabrics which would have been chosen by the 1950s housewife, and, create something that people who see this quilt just want to reach out and touch.”
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| Detail of Erin Davis’ “Atomic Age Color Study.” |
About her powerfully personal quilt titled “Survivor” Jennifer Benoit-Bryan says, “At some point in life, most people live through a terrible event. I lived through such an event and afterward I struggled to label myself; neither Survivor nor Victim felt completely right, although I felt much closer to the victim side. This quilt represents the shift I’ve experienced over many years along the continuum toward the survivor side while the victim label has faded into the background. I hope that this quilt offers a message of hope to those at other points along this continuum. You are a survivor, too.”
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| Detail of Jennifer Benoit-Bryan’s “Survivor” quilt. |
Donna Moscinski’s “My Answer is Yes” was modeled after and inspired by Amy Garro’s “Bachelor” quilt pattern. It was paper pieced and quilted by Frank Karls of T & F Quilting Studio, Lemont, IL.
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| Detail of “My Answer is Yes” by Donna Moscinski. |
Here’s is Amy Struckmeyer’s “Deconstructed Lonestar.” In this quilt, a traditional lonestar is pieced in a scrappy arrangement of bright blues and greens. Then, giving it a dynamic twist, two points of the star are broken, with improvisationally pieced shards flying off into space, as if the star is in the process of exploding. She says, “I wanted the bright colors to pop against a dark gray background, and so I hand-dyed many of the fabrics to obtain the deep grays. It was my intention for the spiral quilting to amplify the movement and energy of the pieced design.”
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| Detail of Amy Struckmeyer’s “Deconstructed Lonestar” quilt. |
The International Quilt Festival – Chicago will be at the Rosemont Convention Center and runs April 7-9, 2016.
– written by Sarah Evans
– posted by Erin Davis
– written by Sarah Evans
– posted by Erin Davis