JWD Publishing Blog

COLOR CASCADE—- It’s a show-stopper!

A COLOR CHALLENGE FULFILLED!

Four of these color-challenge quilts are featured in this post, as well as artists’ thoughts.

This exhibit features a wall of beautiful quilts flowing with colors. This wall of color was a group challenge for the Sewjourners, a group of quilters in Oregon. This challenge was Inspired by the  3-in-1 Color Tool (designed by Joen Wolfrom with C&T Publishing). This group of twenty began their color exploration by each randomly drawing a color card that would determine her featured color.

Today’s post features four of the quilts and the artists who created them for this challenge.  (A later post will include an additional selection of these color-challenge quilts).  Let us what you think.

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Having been away for much of the last few weeks, behind in everything, and with an exhausted mind and body, I decided my brain is not worthy of thinking clear thoughts this week. This is a perfect time to share a few photos that I took at the Houston IQA show. I wasn’t able to take pictures of all of the quilts that I thought were so impressive, but I did take sevral handfuls. Today I have selected eight to show you. They are not in any particular order. I visited the show during Quilt Market. At that time, no awards had been awarded, so I have not information on any of these quilts being award-winners. However, as far as I am concerned, these are all award-winning quilts as they are a visual feast for our eyes.

First a few photo comments:  These pictures are very informal and taken with my little point ‘n shoot Nikon camera. You will see signs, pipes, barrier ribbons, and other items in some pictures. I apologize, as there was no choice in the matter. If I wanted the picture of the quilt, sometimes extras went along with it. Also, some quilts were impossible to view straight on, so they are skewed a bit. My apologies. No doubt, the actual quilts will be more beautiful in real life than what you see here in my snapshots, but I think you’d like seeing these quilts regardless of the quality of photo. The colors shown may not be true to the quilt, but I think the quilts still look great. Enjoy!

Again, in no particular order, here are eight exquisite quilts:

Oriental Triptych

This triptych  by Karon Huggler of  Columbia, Missouri is stunning. The color use is dramatic. The curves set an elegant, sophisticated mood. Karon used both hand and machine piecing, applique, and quilting. She included three-dimensional feathering on the cranes. Karon’s original design was inspired by Louisa Smith’s work. At the time of the exhibition, this piece was available for purchase.

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This week the colors of the leaves are getting so beautiful, so I decided we needed to take a breather and celebrate fall with quilts. Some of these quilts are my all-time favorites in autumnal colorings or in theme. They are a wide variation in technique. Some of these quilts were made in the 80s and 90s while others are more recent. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Autumn Praise by Carol Webb

This is one of my all-time fall favorites!  When Carol made this quilt, she lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, she now lives in the Bend, Oregon area. She is a most talented quilter, as you can see. I love the way Carol used value in this quilt, allowing some leaves to evaporate into the leaf background while others catch our attention. If you look carefully at this quilt, Carol has used fillers between each leaf block. These fillers allow her extra space to play in the background. It also gives the design breathing room.  Because of the fillers and her value play, this quilt has a very organic feel to it. It’s still one of my favorites after all of these years!

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Alex Anderson’s The Grape Escape debuts at Quilt Market this week. If you are going to Quilt Market in Houston, be sure to stop to see this quilt and order patterns for your shop.  Our booth number is 333-335. See you there. For more details about the quilt, see below:

The Grape Escape by Alex Anderson

When Alex showed us this quilt and asked if we would be interested in patterning it, we immediately said, YES! It’s not only beautiful, but after taking a close look at it,  we realized even those of us who are not skillful appliquers could actually make this quilt because the pieces are fused (or glued for those of you who prefer that route) and then everything is machine appliqued. Alex used a small buttonhole stitch to finish off her edges. Now those who prefer hand applique can prepare by adding seam allowances to their pieces.

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We’ve spent the last few months concentrating on  24 of the most popular pure colors—–all of them very beautiful.  As you have probably noticed, these colors are very much like people: they have their own unique personalities. Many of them are emotive; several cause physical reactions in our bodies when in close quarters or surrounded by them. It’s now time to think about the roles they can play in our designs. To be sure, these brilliant, clear, intense colors are the ones most responsible for creating the WOW factor in a design.

In this post,  I would like to present some ideas about the use of pure colors in our designs. In the next week or  two, we’ll expand the discussion twofold: First, we’ll see how  pure colors can play an important role as an accent rather than a focus. Then we’ll move the discussion to interior design—using pure colors in our  homes and businesses—–and perhaps our clothing.

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To get you into the mood for fall and give your home a new seasonal quilt to decorate your walls with, here’s Alex Anderson’s classic fall quilt Welcome Home. Welcome Home is our most popular fall quilt pattern. It comes in three sizes: wall, lap, and twin bed.

Welcome Home by Alex Anderson

This charming quilt can decorate your entry hall, your family room, or some wall that needs a quilt to bring it warmth and cheerfulness this fall season. If you have a twin bed that is need of a fall quilt, perhaps this is the quilt for you. It is entirely pieced. Here you can see  the wall quilt. It is made from three different blocks: a leaf block, a house block, and a star block. Two detail views of this quilt can be seen below.

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