JWD Publishing Blog

Quilts of Valor Display, Brooking, South Dakota

The Brooking, South Dakota Quilt Show was filled with a wide array of quilts of all interests, skill levels, styles, techniques, and subject matter.  It’s always fun to see what surprises await us as we visit a quilt show. This past rainy, windy weekend amidst beautiful farmland and rolling hills the convention center in Brooking was packed with fascinating quilts and avid quilters.  The quilt show’s  theme was a Fanfare of Quilts.

Here is a glimpse of the quilt show that might give you a sense of the quilting flavor of this northeastern South Dakota region. (Sorry to all of you in the Brooking area when I said you lived in the northwestern part.  I know you’re on the eastern side near Minnisota,  but my fingers automatically wrote northwestern late last night, probably since  my brain was asleep and I live in the northwest.)

Quilts of Valor Display

   In the front lobby of the convention center, there was a wonderful display of quilts made for the veterans from this region who are soon to be returning home. My very favorite of these quilts is the one shown above.  It is such a beautiful quilt.  The quilting is exquisite in this quilt. I could not find any label, so I have no idea who the piecer and quilter are.  Isn’t this a superb quilt!   (If you know the maker, please let me know.)

Never Say Never by Belinda Kruse

This New York Beauty quilt, Never Say Never, was created by Belinda Kruse.  It’s a relatively small quilt that really called to me.  I thought Belinda used really interesting fabrics that worked so well together.  What a grand batik stash she had at her fingertips when beginning this quilt at a Pierre quilt retreat.

The quilting was done by Andi Rudebusch. I really like the way she quilted this design.

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In the last post we discussed the fourth color scale—the tone scale. Since toned colors are the most prevalent in the world, it’s worthwhile thinking about how we can work most effectively with them. Tones are the workhorses of color. They are the hues that hold most designs  together. Pure colors get most of the attention and receive most of the accolades and rave reviews. However, it’s the tones that work the hardest and bring support to those pure colors . Learning how to use tones to the best advantage of your design is really an exciting adventure. Let’s begin with some basic tone concepts in this post.

First, let’s look at the sunset image (above).  Except for a tiny bit of pure yellow in the sky, all of the hues in this image are toned (grayed), including most of the yellow hues. We can see the grayness very readily in the mountains and sky, as these colors are softly muted. Some even appear filmy or veiled. The foreground hills are also toned. Because of their limited amount of grayness and the  fact that their color value is quite dark, the hills are very pronounced. Most of the yellows in the sky are only slightly toned, so they also attract our attention with their brightness and glowing warmth.  Altogether, this image illustrates some of the following principles when working with tones:

• Colors can exhibit a wide range of tonality: some colors are slightly grayed; others mildly grayed; and others are extremely grayed.
• When all of the colors within an artwork or scene have the same degree of grayness and are in the same relative value, the design can be difficult to see. It can also appear flat and/or uninteresting.
• A color’s value (lightness or darkness) has no bearing on the amount of grayness in a color.
• Tones and values, working together, can form a team to create amazing results in all designs.
• Colors of all value ranges can be toned.
• As a rule, the more a color is toned, the more it fades into the distance. This is accentuated when the colors become both lighter and grayer.

In the image below, the grayness throughout the scene is almost equally distributed. Everything looks evenly filmy or veiled. Also notice there is very little value change. The closest hills are slightly darker, but their color value doesn’t provide enough contrast to make this image understandable.  This image illustrates an important concept:

• When value and tonality are the same throughout, it is difficult to understand or interpret the design (or scene).
• .Varying the tonality of colors within an artwork, as well as having some value contrast, makes for a more successful visual statement.

Now let’s look at tones and how they work within the realm of fabric:

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A RARITY—-LUSCIOUS, RICH SHADES

The Shade Scale

There are four color scales in the world of color: pure color scale, tint scale, shade scale, and tone scale. During these next two weeks we’re going to investigate the shade scale.

A shade is created when black is added to a pure color. A shade can be slightly darker than its pure color, almost black, or it can be a color that lies anywhere between these two extremes. Every color that is a shade belongs to the shade scale.

An Important caveat: A shade NEVER has gray in its makeup—even a tiny bit.  If there is any hint of grayness in a dark color’s makeup, it is not a shade. It’s a tone. Only black and a pure color can be present in a shade.  Don’t be fooled into thinking a dark color is a shade because most darkened colors have a hint of grayness in them.

The Changing Colors

When you first add a touch of black to a pure color, the pure color becomes a bit darker. Also it begins to lose its intensity. It is not quite as brilliant as its pure form.  As each bit of black is added, the color lessens its intensity and increases its darkness. Eventually the color will appear almost black—-with a hint of the pure color as a subtle  influence.

You can probably see the effect of the black added to this green.

The color is darker than its pure color, but not dark enough to call it dark green. 

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It’s a beautiful time of year with the anticipation of all that December has to offer. I am madly attempting to finish a project by Friday noon. I assume all of you have your own deadlines and seasonal stresses to deal with too. Recognizing that we are all maxed out on time and energy, there will be no color lessons this week or next.

In this post I am featuring another  group of quilts that caught my eye at the Houston IQA show this fall. They are each amazing in their own unique ways. Whenever possible, I have added links to the quilt artists whose works are shown. I hope you check out their pages when you have time. (Again, you’ll find black stands with white papers, ribbons, and other distracting objects in front of some of these quilts, which couldn’t be helped. Photos are informally taken with my little Nikon point ‘n shoot.)   Enjoy!

Summer Fantasy by Joanne Baeth, Susan Massini, Dona Ford, Cheryl Carbone, and Louise Page

I absolutely love this quilt.  When my eyes fell upon it, it reminded me so much of a delicate watercolor painting. Later I learned this quilt was a recreation of a watercolor painting by Bev Barmore, Joanne’s cousin.  Summer Fantasy was created by a five-member art group from Oregon. A photo of this painting was divided into five sections. Each member completed one section. Joanne pieced together the sections and then quilted the artwork.

I find this a fascinating group quilt, as it’s not an easily divisible image at first or second glance. Without a doubt, this art group is both talented and skilled. Perhaps this quilt will entice others to create a different group quilt—one that is both challenging and fun.
Now for those of you who love pieced quilts based on traditional roots, this next quilt is a real delight!

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It’s a busy season and much of our energy and time are taken up this month with the holidays, family, special friends, and the celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah. So this is a good time to share a few more photos of quilts from the 2011 Houston Quilt Festival.  No doubt, the actual quilts are more beautiful in real life than what you see in my informal snapshots. The colors shown may not be true to the quilt, but I think the quilts still look great. Enjoy!

Autumn Splendor by Noriko Endo from Tokyo, Japan

If you have been in the quilt scene for a few years, then you will be well aware of Noriko Endo’s glorious naturescapes. They are filled with exquisite textures, subtle colorings, and enticing imagery.  Autumn Splendor fills the bill. It is amazing. Standing in front of this quilt brings you into the scene. The realism is extraordinary.  This particular quilt really speaks to me, as it’s a scene reminiscent of many years of woodland walks. This original design is created with cotton, tulle, and luminescent fibers. If you would like to create your own woodland scenes filled with textures, or if you just want to be inspired by Noriko’s beautiful creations, consider purchasing her book Confetti Naturescapes.

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When Alex Anderson designed her Holiday Lights quilt many years ago, she designed a winner. It’s been extraordinarily popular with people of all ages.  This year has been no exception. The pattern keeps selling and Holiday Lights quilts continue to brighten the homes of people during the month of December.

This year The Piece Corps and Friends chose to make Holiday Lights their selection to raise funds for the Sutter Hospital Quilt Auction to benefit breast cancer research and patients.  The Sutter Cancer Center holds their auction every three years at the Sutter Hospital in Sacramento, California.

The Piece Corps and Friends named their auction quilt Trees of Hope. You can see their finished quilt (above) with several of the fourteen-member group:  Sally Scholz, Barbara Wexted, Martha Flanagan, Della Goss, Connie Seale, and Donna Bays. They enjoyed making this quilt and were extremely happy with the results.

Below are several in-progress photos that you will enjoy seeing. Also, if you are part of a quilting group that might want to make a group quilt for an auction or any other purpose, you’ll be interested in reading how this group organized themselves and how they worked on this quilt.  At the end of this post, you can see Alex’s latest version of Holiday Lights.

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