So You’ve Set Up a Local Guild — What Next? You may have read my first article about setting up an MQG a few months ago, encouraging quilters who don’t have a guild near them to set up their own. It was something I decided to do when I returned to the UK last year, and I want… Read More
Exploring Minimalism Minimalism can be defined as “made with an extreme economy of means and reduced to the essentials of geometric abstraction.” – Guggenheim Minimalism in Art In the 1960s, minimalism as an art movement emerged in America. Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, and Sol LeWitt produced works of art that… Read More
Collegiate Quilting: The Intersection of Mentor and Teacher By Stephanie Ruyle When you must design and execute original design as part of a college-level course, many would immediately think of fashion. This past winter, at the Makers Space Idea Forge, on the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder, a group of mostly engineers, both young men and… Read More
Quilt Display: Tips from a Preservation Perspective Above: Antique Star Quilt, photo courtesy of Amy Smart, www.diaryofaquilter.com. By Amy Friend, Seacoast MQG This is the second installment of my quilt preservation and care series. In my last article, I spoke about quilt storage. Today’s topic is quilt use/display. Before continuing on, I want to make clear that… Read More
Organising a Gallery Space at a National Event The Knitting and Stitching Shows are the UK’s premier craft events for the general public with shows held in different locations around the country. They have a mixture of vendor stands, workshops, demos and textile gallery spaces. Last year they held their first event in Edinburgh and I became… Read More
False Dichotomies One of the things I love about being a professional quilter is that I get to travel around the country and meet and talk with other quilters. I enjoy doing lectures and workshops, but the best part is always sitting over lunch or dinner (or a drink) and talking about… Read More
Exploring Non-Block Based Quilts Blocks are the foundations of many quilts. Blocks make quilt assembly easy, and they bring order and symmetry to the design. We love blocks (hey Block of the Month program!) but what happens when we design quilts without the block as the centerpiece? Block-Based vs. Non-Block-Based Quilts… Read More
Using Asymmetry in Modern Quilts Asymmetry is featured in many modern quilt designs and is a hallmark of modern quilting. Use of intentional imbalance can lend real interest and uniqueness to a quilt layout. Be it with where the piecing is placed within negative space, or with block or color placement, there are many ways… Read More
Quilt Photography: 5 Tips to Improve It’s true. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Especially when those pictures are your quilts. Photographing your work is often tricky, but it’s important to document. You need clean and clear pictures for your blog, social media, and when entering your work in competitions, such as QuiltCon. There’s no doubt,… Read More
Why Modern? Why Modern? “Why?” is such an underappreciated question. While “what?” and “how?” get all the attention, it seems to me that “why” has long been the bedrock of the quilting tradition, and is now the question that is truly bringing modern quilting to prominence. Every aesthetic choice can be related… Read More
