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J OURNAL
OF
T HE I NTERNATIONAL Q UILT A SSOCIATION
SPRING 2012
The 2011 IQA JUDGED SHOW
First Place, Art-Abstract Small
Benartex, Inc.
Photo by Jim Lincoln
Sponsored by
A VIEW FROM ABOVE (39.5"
X
63.5")
by S HEILA F RAMPTON -C OOPER of Van Nuys, California, USA. Original design.
con
tents
J OURNAL OF T HE
I NTERNATIONAL
Q UILT A SSOCIATION
V
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letter from the president
We hear the challenge over and over again:
“How do we get young people involved in
quilting?” President Stevii Graves says it’s
easy: Just take them to a quilt show!
the iqa files: timna tarr
One of today’s most interesting artists creates
both her own fabulous work and also quilts for
others through her longarm business—with
more than 700 finished projects to date! Read
how Tarr’s use of traditional patterns with
contemporary fabrics and colors makes her a
woman to watch.
winners gallery:
art-naturescapes
Who says that the beauty of the great outdoors
is best captured in a photograph? The winners
of this category in last year’s judged show
created some lush (and very realistic) fabric
snapshots of trees, flowers, and plants so
lifelike that you can almost smell the greenery
and hear the owls hoot!
on the cover
S P R I N G F U L L B L O O M ( 68. 9" x 76. 7")
by M ICHIYO YAMAMOTO of Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Original design. Photo by Jim Lincoln.
16
iqa judged show sponsors
18
winners gallery:
embellished
26
a crazy history
32
from the iqa library
Find out which industry leaders are sponsoring
cash, non-purchase prizes in this year’s
judged show!
When just fabric isn’t quite enough to make a
quilt really “pop,” artists attach all sorts of
beads, baubles, threads, and trinkets to their
works. See the winning quilts from this category
in last year’s judged show and read what their
artists added to make them a little extra special.
Known for their wild designs, big stitches, and
helter-skelter looks, Crazy Quilts have a rich
history and colorful future. Learn about this
very unique type of quilting and hear from
contemporary Crazy quilters and scholars.
Books by IQA members reviewed in this issue
include: Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World
by Martha Sielman; Precision & Panache by
Susan K. Cleveland; and Prairie-Point Pizzazz
by Karen Sievert.
L E t t E R
BOaRd Of
dIREctORs
president
Stevii Graves
vice president
education
Pokey Bolton
vice president
finance
Brenda Groelz
vice president
membership
Linda Pumphrey
vice president
public service
Susan Brubaker Knapp
secretary
Pat Sloan
treasurer
Marti Michell
founders
Jewel Patterson (1910-2002)
Helen O’Bryant (1914-2005)
Karey Bresenhan
Nancy O’Bryant
jOURNaL
staff
editorial
director
Nancy O’Bryant
editor
Bob Ruggiero
writer
Rhianna Griffin
design and
production
Hunter-McMain, Inc.
f R O M
t H E
P R E s I d E N t
“We have to bring the younger generation into quilting!” is a
statement we have been hearing for decades.
With that phrase in mind, I taught two of my grandchildren how
to use a sewing machine last summer. They both had sewing
machines, scissors, and a huge bin of fabric to choose from. I let
them do their own thing within safety parameters.
The resulting little quilts were true to their personalities. The nine-year-old boy,
Connor, destined to be an engineer, used two fabrics and accurate seam allowances.
His seven-year-old sister, Paige, used over 20 fabrics, and had seam allowances on
the top and the bottom of her piece, that varied from 0 to ½".
They both had fun, but Paige had, and continues to have, enthusiasm about the
creative process of quilting. She has now made a wallhanging (with all seam
allowances on the back side!) that was part of a special exhibit hung at a major
quilt show this winter.
In July, Paige and I were visiting California and took the opportunity to attend
International Quilt Festival/Long Beach. What a wonderful way to introduce a
little girl to the world of quilt shows! The way she was drawn to certain quilts
and her comments about them made me look at some of the quilts with a
fresh perspective.
My friend, Barbara, who was with us, let Paige borrow her camera. By the time
Paige got the camera, she knew that adults were taking full view and close ups of
quilts, so she followed suit. The quilt photos gave us an opportunity to talk later
about the shapes she liked, as well as the colors and the themes she enjoyed.
Paige’s only complaint was that Grandma stops and talks to too many people!
My hope is that in 20 years, she too will be unable to walk a quilt show without
stopping to talk to lots of friends.
I’d encourage all of you to take a child to a quilt show. Let it be their day, let them take the lead in what
they want to look at and encourage them to talk about what they see. It’s amazing what a child can teach us.
Sincerely,
“Grandma” Stevii Graves
President
International Quilt Association
IQA’s Facebook Page!
www.facebook.com/internationalquiltassociation
InstructIons for vIewIng the IQA DIgItAl JournAl on A tAblet or smArtphone:
for ipad/iphone:
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for Android/blackberry:
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• Adobe Reader X is available in the app store for Android.
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader-mobile.html
• Aldiko Book Reader can be used for an Android device, www.aldiko.com
• Kobo for Android, Sony Reader for Android, Amazon Kindle Reader for Android,
Barnes and Noble Nook for Android are also available.
• Mobipocket Reader 5 is available for Blackberry users. www.mobipocket.com
The website www.goodereader.com contains many of these apps that can be downloaded for devices other than the
iPad/iPhone.
3
The 2011 IQA JUDGED SHOW
first Place, Group
APQS Quilting Systems
Photo by Jim Lincoln
Sponsored by
FRIENDS
4
OF
B A LT I M O R E (87"
X
87")
by S USAN G ARMAN , J ERRIANNE E VANS , PAT C OTTER , M ARSHA F ULLER , and G EORGANN W RINKLE
of Friendswood, Texas, USA. Original design.
The 2011 IQA JUDGED SHOW
first Place, Wearable art
Hobbs Bonded fibers
Photo by Jim Lincoln
Sponsored by
BELLE
FOR A
D A Y by R ENAE H ADDADIN of Sandy, Utah, USA.
5
iqa files:
timna tarr
o f
s o u t h
h a d l e y ,
m a s s a c h u s e t t s
sew clothing, but I hated it (I still do
not like making clothes!). However, I
did enjoy other needlecrafts like crossstitch and crochet.
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
In college. I studied Art History,
and was interested in working in a
museum. What I did not realize at
the time was how vital those four
years would be in training my eye.
I think that looking at slide after
slide of artwork drilled the importance of color, proportion, scale, and
composition into my head.
SUNNY SIDE UP
(55" X 55")
6
IQA Journal: First, please tell
us about your personal and
artistic background.
Tarr: I am the eldest of three siblings,
and spent most of my childhood in
Kansas. I went to high school in
upstate New York and now live in
Western Massachusetts with my
husband and six-year-old daughter.
As a child, my mom taught me how to
IQA Journal: At what point in
your life did you begin quilting,
and how did that come to be?
Tarr: My mom is a quilter, as is my
grandma, so I was always around
quilts. Growing up, I was not the
least bit interested in quilting. As
soon as anyone started laying her
latest project out on a bed, I found
somewhere else to be, and quickly!
I made my first quilt in 1997 or
1998—on a borrowed sewing
machine—shortly after graduating
from college. I did not want my
family to know that I might be
interested in quilting, so I kept it
secret until I had the top finished.
(below)
ORPHAN BLOSSOMS
(63" X 63")
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
IQA Journal: You started your
own longarm quilting business
(Q Tailored Quilts) in 2001, and
say you’ve since commercially
quilted over 700 quilts. How
does quilting for business affect
your personal quilting?
Tarr: Quilting other women’s quilts
is the best master class in quilting
anyone could ever have. Most of my
clients have been quilting longer
than I have, and they know all of
the tricks of construction and
design. You can learn a lot about
the quilting process just by looking
at the backs of quilt tops. Those
quilts have taught me how to
technically put a quilt together…
O H A P P Y D AY
(70" X 66")
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
That first quilt was constructed
based on how I thought quilts were
made—with cardboard templates
and 5/8" seams that were
backstitched at every end. I did not
realize the importance of accurate
measuring or cutting—the shapes
intended to be diamonds are
octagons. Even so, I was very proud
to have made it on my own. That
project got me hooked on quilting,
which led me to quilt books and
magazines and to the larger
quilting world.
7
timna tarr
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
and how not to put a quilt together!
If something is not going well
with one of my quilts, I am able
to troubleshoot pretty quickly,
because I have seen and worked
on such a variety of quilts.
X
62")
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
C AT E N A ( 6 7 "
SUMMER SPRINKLES
(27" X 35")
8
One side effect of spending much of
my time with my longarm machine
is that the quilting is not the focus
on my personal quilts. I want to
play with fabrics and color, not with
thread. In the last year, I cut back
on the amount of time I spend
quilting other women’s quilts. Now
I try to spend half of my working
time on my own pieces and the
other half for hire. Right now, that
balance seems to be working for my
family and me.
IQA Journal: And do you ever
discover ideas for your own quilts
in the work you do for others?
Tarr: All the time! I always see
colors combinations or patterns I
like. When the ideas stay with me
long after the quilt was returned to
its owner, I know I need to explore
a little.
The clearest example of this is
Catena. I quilted an Endless Chain
top from the 1950s that my mom
bought at an antique show. Her
quilt was scrappy with a white
background. Even though I loved
the old quilt, while quilting it,
I thought about how I could
modernize it. Catena is the result
of that.
It is a very traditional quilt, with
untraditional colors—a green
background with orange and red in
the foreground. Endless Chains are
usually pieced using templates. I
figured out a way to paper piece it
because I am template-phobic.
IQA Journal: It is often the case
that your quilts—while relying
on traditional patterns—redefine
them through the use of contemporary fabrics and colors.
Do you typically begin with a
pattern in mind, or do you let
the fabrics determine what
pattern they will become?
Tarr: I usually have a block in
mind when I start, but no other
idea. I grab my most recently
purchased fabrics (because I am
excited to play with them!) and
IQa fILEs
IQA Journal: While your quilts
have a certain modern aesthetic,
is it also important to you
that they honor quiltmaking
tradition? And why?
Tarr: Absolutely. My first love is
color. My second love is pattern.
The tradition of quiltmaking is
largely about pattern. Barbara
Brackman’s book, Encyclopedia of
Pieced Quilt Patterns, is my go-to
inspiration source when I need a
little help getting started with a
project. Just seeing all of those
different shapes and designs in one
place gets my imagination going.
IQA Journal: You have a
fondness for geometric shapes
(particularly circles) and bright,
cheerful colors. What message
do you hope your quilts
communicate to the viewer?
Tarr: I hope that people find my
quilts happy and engaging. Often,
I put a goofy novelty print or two
in the quilt to amuse myself. I love
when viewers look close enough
to find the errant cupcake or
chicken head.
IQA Journal: Finally, difficult
decision time—a flood is coming
and you can only save one of
your quilts. Which one is it?
Tarr: I am always most in love
with the quilt I have just finished,
so I would grab my most recently
completed piece, E Pluribus Unum:
Out of Many, One. If you ask me
that question six months from
now, I am sure I will give you a
different answer!
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
My mental challenge is to get those
finite number of blocks to work
together, and not make any more.
By putting that limit on myself, I
have to come up with creative
solutions to get everything to work
together in one cohesive unit.
I also have a deep respect for what
quilters in the past were able to
design and execute with limited fabric
choices, and without rotary cutters,
disappearing ink, or electric lights.
PORTRAITS
(51" X 58")
OF
FLORA
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky
start sewing. As I make more
blocks, I dig deeper into my stash.
I produce as many blocks as I can,
until I just cannot tolerate making
any more! Only then do I lay the
blocks out on the design wall and
arrange them.
E PLURIBUS UNUM:
O U T O F M A N Y, O N E
(63.5" X 63.5")
9
art, Naturescapes
Photo by Jim Lincoln
winners
gallery
fIRst PLacE
M A YA P P L E S ( 7 7 " x 6 2 " )
by T ERRY K RAMZAR of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA. Original design.
10
catEGORY sPONsOREd BY tHat PatcHWORK PLacE/MaRtINGaLE & cO.
Artist’s Statement: “A delightful surprise hides underneath a canopy of leaves.
A small flower blooms in the V stems of the Mayapple. I continue to hike sections of the
Appalachian Trail and make quilts to remind me of the beautiful wildflowers.”
K
ramzar has been hiking the
Appalachian Trails for years,
and just wanted to make a
quilt depicting the unassuming
Mayapple wildflowers. However,
getting just the right picture for
study proved challenging.
“It was difficult getting the
composition, because the tiny
blossoms hang below the canopy of
leaves,” she remembers. “With a 35pound pack strapped on my back, I
tried to photograph the flowers
underneath. But I lost my balance
and sprawled on my back like an
overturned turtle, sending my
hiking partner into a fit of laughter.
But the photo was perfect and
provided the pattern!”
She adds that she loves to combine
elements of traditional quilting—
such as the grid structure or
square-in-a-square blocks—with
painterly art quilt composition.
And she’ll continue to use this
technique for constructing quilts
in future projects.
Kramzar has been sewing since
she “could hold a needle or operate
a sewing machine,” and believes
she’s made “every kind” of garment
worn today and all sorts of home
dec items.
“I had quilting on the back burner,
and finally took a class at a local
quilt shop about 20 years ago,”
she explains. “Never looked back,
and haven’t made draperies or
clothing since!”
11
Photo by Wilma Hart
art, Naturescapes
sEcONd PLacE
CHERRY BLOSSOMS (29.5" x 26.75")
by M ASAKO S AKAGAMI of Toyama, Japan. Original design.
12
CATEGORY SpOnSOREd bY THAT pATCHWORK pLACE/MARTInGALE & CO.
Artist’s Statement: “I cut cherry blossoms from old Japanese kimono fabric and
used them to create this beautiful spring scene from my hometown of Toyama, Japan.”
Attention teachers!
Sign up now to be included in the IQA Teacher Directory in the Summer 2012 issue of Quilts. . . A World of Beauty!
You must be an IQA member to be listed. There is a $10 charge for this listing.
Name ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Web Site or E-Mail __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Check the box that most accurately describes you or what you teach (LIMIT 4):
❏ MACHINE QUILTING
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❏ FABRIC PAINTING OR DYEING
❏ HAND APPLIQUÉ
❏ EMBELLISHMENTS
❏ AUTHOR
❏ QUILT DESIGNER
❏ MINIATURES
❏ BARGELLO
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❏ OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY): __________________________________________________________
IQA membership renewal: $25, plus $13 international mailing fee, or $10 North American mailing fee outside the United States.
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Must be received by July 15, 2012. Clip this or make a photocopy and mail to: IQA Teacher Directory, 7660 Woodway, Suite 550, Houston, TX 77063 USA
13
Photo by Wilma Hart
art, Naturescapes
tHIRd PLacE
CYPRESS SENTINELS (36" x 42")
by M ARY A NN H ILDEBRAND of Comfort, Texas, USA. Original design.
14
catEGORY sPONsOREd BY tHat PatcHWORK PLacE/MaRtINGaLE & cO.
Artist’s Statement: “I took photographs of cypress trees along a creek. The
scrunched fabric technique was learned in a workshop with July Sisneros. For the
background and water, I tried to emulate the styles of Cynthia England and Ruth
McDowell. The leaves closest to the viewer are more realistically done in appliqué.”
I
And although she never saw anyone
quilting when she was growing up,
there were always lots of quilts on
the beds in Hildebrand’s world.
“Although I have done several
pictorial quilts, this was the first
time I did an intricately pieced
background of my own design.
Hand appliqué was my early
favorite, but these days I find I am
relying on my sewing machine to
do almost everything.”
“Some were made by my mother
before she got married. One of
them, a Dutch girl pattern, always
fascinated me when I was little
girl,” she says. “But I never tried
quilting until I inherited two
sets of quilt blocks made by my
grandmother in the late 30s. I
assembled one set of blocks and
hand quilted them. I was hooked
enjoy appliqué more than
piecing…because I am better
at it!” Hildebrand says of her
fabric favoritism, and this project
in particular which utilized
fusible appliqué.
and have been passionately
involved in quilting since then.”
She has also had the opportunity
to take many workshops and
seminars that she says have
challenged her to keep improving
her skills. And Hildebrand plans to
continue doing pictorial quilts and
learning new techniques because
she “loves the challenge.”
15
T h e 2 0 1 2 Q u I lT S : A w O r l D O F b e A u T y J u D g e D S h O w S P O n S O r S
$96,250 in non-purchase cash awards
Note: Click on a company’s logo to visit their website
The Handi Quilter® Best of Show Award
$10,000*
The Founders Award
International Quilt Festival
The World of Beauty Award
eQuilter.com
$7,500*
$7,500*
The Robert S. Cohan Master
Award for Traditional Artistry
The Fairfield Master Award for
Contemporary Artistry
The Pfaff Master Award
for Machine Artistry
$5,000*
$5,000*
$5,000*
NEW AWARD SPONSOR!
The Maywood Studio Master
Award for Innovative Artistry
$5,000*
The Superior Threads
Master Award
for Thread Artistry
The Future of Quilting Award
Omnigrid–New Sponsor!
$1,000
$5,000*
16
*These prizes also include airfare to and hotel accommodations for Quilt Festival.
Each Category Award Totals $2,000
($1,000 for first place, $700 for second, and $300 for third)
!
EW or
N ns
o
Sp
Art-Abstract, Large
Art-Abstract, Small
Art-Miniature
Art-Naturescapes
Art-Painted Surface
Art-People, Portraits,
and Figures
Art-Pictorial
Art-Whimsical
Digital Imagery
Embellished Quilts
Group Quilts
Handmade Quilts
Innovative Appliqué
Innovative Pieced
Merit Quilting – Hand
Merit Quilting – Machine
Miniature
Mixed Technique
Traditional Appliqué
Traditional Pieced
Viewers’ Choice $500
www.
quilts.
org
Wearable Art
Judge’s Choice $250 each
17
Embellished
Photo by Jim Lincoln
winners
gallery
fIRst PLacE
B.S. I LOVE YOU (58" x 68")
by J ANET S TONE of Overland Park, Kansas, USA. Original design.
18
catEGORY sPONsOREd BY BaBY LOcK
Artist’s Statement: “This quilt is a tribute to my husband, who is the best husband
a quilter could have. He’s an honest critic who accompanies me to quilt shows (even though
he drives too fast), and does his own laundry!”
t
alk about scoring marriage
points! Stone made this quilt as
a tribute to her husband who
she calls her “number one supporter.” But maybe for not the reasons
you’d think. “Actually, he says he
encourages me to quilt because it
keeps me quiet! ” she says.
Stone first began quilting in the
‘80s—without the use of a rotary
cutter. It was a Trip Around the
World design in her high school
colors (red and black), and she tied
the intersections with yarn. She
came back to quilting in 1999, got
serious in 2006, and entered her
first judged show two years later.
“My quilts are always original
designs, usually drawn on graph
paper, and I favor a more
traditional look with a twist,” she
says. “I love raw edge appliqué with
a blanket edge finish. I won a
Bernina sewing machine at a quilt
show in 2010 and use it exclusively
for the blanket stitch. I also love
machine quilting on my Janome and
have a need to embellish every quilt.
Stone drew the main design for this
quilt when she was at Festival in
Houston in 2010. She purchased a
silk fabric to use for the bee wings
at the show.
But when she started working on
the quilt, she decided the silk was
too flimsy for the bee wings. “So I
went shopping at a local fabric store
and found crinoline, the fabric used
for petticoats. It was 100% cotton
and very stiff and see-through,”
she says.
“Because I always wet and block my
quilts when finished, I tested the
crinoline to see how it would react
from being wet and, luckily, it went
back to it’s original condition after
it dried. It was also very easy to
sew on. I designed the border of the
quilt while I was waiting for my car
to get new tires and an oil change!”
Stone is in the process of designing
and making a total of 26 quilts, all
featuring the alphabet. B.S. I Love
You is number nine, and she is
currently working on number
eleven. Eventually, she hopes to
write a book on the project and
have an exhibit featuring all of the
quilts together.
19
Photo by Wilma Hart
Embellished
sEcONd PLacE
STARRING BEADS (30" x 50.5")
by E LLEN YAMAGUCHI of New York, New York, USA.
Traditional Lone Star pattern and inspired by Nancy Eha’s workshop “Kaleidoscoped Beads.”
20
catEGORY sPONsOREd BY BaBY LOcK
Artist’s Statement: “The complexity of Paula Nadelstern’s fabric adds interest to
the simplicity of the simple Lone Star pattern.”
L
ike many quilters, Yamaguchi
learned the basics of the art
form from her mother and
grandmother, who she says were
“talented needlewomen.” She was
also fortunate enough to inherit
their fabric stashes!
In her previous quilts, she would
decide to add embellishments after
she had completed the quilt top.
But this quilt has other ideas.
“I had built a large bead stash and
wanted to make a quilt top that
would be heavily embellished,” she
offers. “This required me to find
fabric and [create a] design on the
surface that would have sufficient
open space to allow for the
beaded kaleidoscope.”
And, though her goal was to use
many of her beads, Yamaguchi
made only a small dent in her
stash. “Many people ask at what
point do I decide to stop beading.
And the answer is that I stop when
I need to submit a quilt to a show!
Otherwise, I would have continued
beading on any unembellished
space. In my world, more beads are
always better! ”
Yamaguchi prefers hand appliqué,
hand quilting, and—of course—
embellishing. And she notes that
while she still has more beads in
search of a quilt top, she want to
explore using more crystals on her
future quilts.
21
Photo by Wilma Hart
Embellished
tHIRd PLacE
T H E “ B I G E A S Y ” C E L E B R AT E S M A R D I G R A S (66" x 89")
by J AYNETTE H UFF of Conway, Arkansas, USA.
Original designs and use of traditional blocks.
22
CATEGORY SpOnSOREd bY bAbY LOCK
Artist’s Statement: “This 15-block quilt represents New Orleans, Louisiana, and
Mardi Gras: its history, buildings, culture, and major events. It is heavily embellished with
over 15,400 embellishments, many taken from my grandmother’s old costume jewelry. I
used paper foundation piecing, hand and machine appliqué, and it was machine quilted on
my home sewing machine, hand-guided.”
O
f all her quilts, this one
has a special place in
Huff ’s heart, because it
forced her to go in an entirely new
direction. After agreeing to present
a lecture at a quilt retreat where
the theme was Mardi Gras, she
quickly realized that she had no
Mardi Gras quilt to back it up!
“I got busy doing research about
New Orleans and Mardi Gras and
Louisiana. These blocks tell the
story of my study from the blocks
representing the food and drink,
telling the story of Hurricane
Katrina and the city’s recovery, and
so much more,” she says. “For me,
this quilt made me use much
brighter colors and many, many
embellishments. It became truly a
journey of love!”
Huff began quilting more than
35 years ago when she encountered
a group of women in an antique
store sitting around an old
pot-bellied stove.
“They were laughing and having
such fun. When I asked what they
were doing, they responded, ‘We’re
quilting! Want to learn?’ I immediately answered ‘yes!’” she says.
“They provided the fabrics, the
instructions, the answers to all
my questions, and my passion for
quilting began. It has not wavered
since. My only regret is that no one
in my family had quilted, so I have
no heirloom quilts—I guess I will
have to create my own.”
One amusing story about this quilt
concerns the “Jazz” block. While
Huff knew New Orleans was famous for its jazz music, she didn’t
know much about it. One day, while
working on the quilt as she sat in
a waiting room while her husband
was doing rehab, a young man
began talking to her about the quilt.
“It turned out that he was a refugee
from Hurricane Katrina. He told me
about ‘zydeco’ music,” she recalls.
“I had never heard of it, but immediately went to a local music store
and purchased an album. And I
loved it!”
This fall, Huff will release a new
book, Quilts That Celebrate Classic
Hymns of Faith. She will also
continue to work with brighter
colors and more embellishments.
23
Embellished
HONORaBLE MENtION
WINDY (42.5" x 35")
by J ANEENE H ERCHOLD of Redding, California, USA. Original design.
24
catEGORY sPONsOREd BY BaBY LOcK
Artist’s Statement: “Windy was named during an especially strong windy storm
viewed outside through my studio window. Looking first at the moving tree branches
outside, then indoors at the quilt on the design wall, it appeared that the quilt flowers
were blowing in the wind.”
M
any quilts are named from
fanciful imagination or
inspiration during its
creation. This one’s moniker was
grounded a bit more in reality.
“It was nameless for a long time,
until we were having a series of
very windy rain storms,” Herchold
explains. “I was watching tree
branches move in the wind along
with many bending flowering
plants—hoping all the time
that nothing would be broken
in the morning!”
As her quilts continue to become
more and more complicated
with hand sewn (instead of
quicker applied methods) surface
embellishing materials—especially
with glass beads—Herchold says
she finds the process calming.
“I like the slow, relaxed feeling
acquired from hand work, touching
the fabrics while looking closely
at the combined colors, and then
finding just the right way to place
an object in the design.”
Herchold began quilting at a
previous job that offered a variety
of lunchtime group activities for
employees. One of the craft
gatherings was “Quilting for
Beginners.” “During these weekly
gatherings I discovered a lot about
quilting and the quilting community,” she says. “I was hooked from
that time to now, with the desire to
create with fabric.”
As for a favorite style or technique,
Herchold says she doesn’t have
one—yet. “I’m still learning how to
use fabrics, trying different ideas
to see what will happen, and then
enjoying the many moments of
happy discoveries,” she sums up.
“I enjoy trying out different ideas
and materials especially with the
thought of enriching the quilt
surface with a variety of
embellishing materials and
techniques. So I try out the idea,
sometimes even on the working
quilt. It’s easy to undo a section if
the idea doesn’t work out. Plus,
sometimes, the new thought is a
keeper, which can be a happy
moment of discovery.”
25
crazy
quilting
101
experts detail a rich history and colorful future
b y
d e b o r a h
q u i n n
h e n s e l
t
ake a one-of-a-kind pearl
button, a silk ribbon flower, a
cherished scrap from one of
Dad’s old neckties, and add some
decorative embroidery stitches.
All of these are enticing elements
by themselves, but together, they
bring life to an art form known as
the Crazy quilt.
Detail from c.1892 Crazy quilt, Cindy Brick’s collection. The George
Washington ribbon is actually a copy of the original c.1876 Centennial
design; it’s been used many more times since then. The embroidered music:
“Auld Lang Syne.”
26
“This quilt style operates by far
fewer rules than any I know,” says
Cindy Brick, quilt historian and
author of several books on the
subject. “Want to embroider in
classic Victorian style? Fine.
You prefer the fabrics to the
embellishments, instead? Great.
Go for it. You’re not big into hand
stitching, and want to sew by
machine––or just fuse everything,
instead? Or do a little bit of
everything in what you do? The
sky’s the limit. Crazy quilting,
by its very definition, can go
anywhere it likes.”
“I find putting the different colors
together and seeing how they play
against each other endlessly
fascinating. Crazy quilting is so
forgiving that it is possible to use
all sorts of techniques including
the latest art quilting methods,”
says Linda Steele. an awardwinning quilter and textile artist
in Melbourne, Australia. “The
Crazy quilt has no rules, like
sewing straight seams and getting
points to match, which can be
frustrating. Any mistakes can be
easily remedied with a few stitches
or a lace motif or bead.”
Like its freeform, seemingly
unplanned style, Crazy quilting
has an equally meandering and
uncertain history that’s not easy
to pin down, but just as colorful.
“What we do know is that the Crazy
patchwork style goes back hundreds
of years,” Brick says. “A 16th century
silk Crazy patchwork kimono still
exists; it was the property of a
Japanese general named Uesugi
Kenshin, who wore it about 1560.”
Detail from C R A Z Y A B O U T B A L L E T by Linda Steele.
Other quilting experts have
theorized that the style can be
traced to large, colorful diamond
patches on the costumes of
Harlequin, a lead character of the
Italian commedia dell’arte.
Still others believe that Crazy
quilting began as a “make-do”
method when fabric scraps were
at a premium, or that it arose from
the practice of patching holes in
garments, Brick says.
27
deborah Quinn Hensel
There was an interest in stitching
randomly-pieced cotton Crazies
even decades before, she adds.
Those quilts were also referred to
as “kaleidoscope’ quilts,” after the
device patented in 1817 that
features a circular tube of mirrors
and colored bits of glass which form
a symmetrical pattern when viewed
against a background of light.
Crazy-pieced block, featuring Cindy’s baby photo. Collection of the maker.
“When I first began studying
Crazy quilting, I kept running into
references about the Centennial
Exhibition in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania––and broadfaced
hints, if not downright
statements––that Crazy quilting
all started about 1876, due to that
event,” Brick says. “The problem
with that theory is that Crazy
patchwork shows up hundreds of
years prior.”
28
Brick says that the Japanese and
Chinese pavilions at the 1876
Centennial Exhibition in
Philadelphia––the first official
“World’s Fair” in the United
States––may have had a strong
influence on later quilts. Far East
motifs were popular in the
decorative arts right after the
exhibition, partly because the
Aesthetic Movement of the late
1860s to 1900s adopted Asian
influences, she adds.
If Crazy quilting was popular in the
United States decades earlier, it
was most likely being crafted in
cottons, not silks, and without
much embroidery. The Civil War
may have changed that, Brick says.
Not only did the war create a
CRAZY QUILTInG 101
shortage of new fabrics with which
to work, but it may have created
a nostalgia for better times which
the nicer scraps represented.
Crazy quilting certainly didn’t
originate in the western United
States, where there was less access
to an abundance of fabric scraps,
Brick contends. And it didn’t begin
in big eastern cities, where it would
have reached the notice of women’s
magazines much sooner. All known
articles seem to reference a trend
that already had a firm foothold,
she says.
In 1882, Harper’s Bazaar, a popular
magazine of the period, referred to
the quilts as “a mosaic patchwork of
odd bits” and “Japanese Patch.”
Instead, it must have originated in
rural areas and spread gradually,
influenced by the needlework skills
that were a mark of a true lady,
Brick says.
“One of my favorites is a cotton
Crazy in the collection of the
Maryland Historical Society. It was
probably made by Martha Ellicott
Tyson and her daughters; the
D E L I C I O U S by Linda Steele
backing has a cross-stitched date of
1839,” she continues. “But this
‘kaleidoscope’ was accompanied by a
1913 note by Lucy Tyson Fitzhugh,
29
Deborah Quinn Hensel
who watched her mom and sisters
make it in 1838, in Jericho Mills,
MD. This piece is extremely fragile,
and it’s not pieced on a fabric
background. Instead, all the
patches are sewn to each other,
willy-nilly. Think of all the grains
fighting each other!
DRAGON EASTERN
E L E M E N T S by Linda Steele
S H A D O W C R A Z Y block,
using the Light Speed technique
mentioned in Brick’s book, Crazy
Quilts. The photo transfer is of
her grandparents, Art and Rena
DeVries, and their children.
Collection of Cindy Brick.
30
“There are very few cotton Crazies
out there that can be reliably
dated–– by fabrics––to this period.
I think it’s because they didn’t last.
I have examined at least a dozen
pieces from this time period––and
they’re all not pieced on a fabric
foundation,” she said. “The
Victorian silk Crazies, on the
other hand, are pieced on a fabric
background––a big difference
in stabilization.
“But I think it’s more accurate to
say that, when quilts are preserved,
it’s often the ‘best’ quilts that were
carefully taken care of. And Crazies
were generally considered the ‘best’
or show quilts,” she adds.
Crazy quilts have unique stories
stitched into them, according to
Brick, who cherishes two quilts
pieced by her great-grandmother
and great-aunt. Quilts tell tales
of love and death, celebrations
of children and memories of
ancestors. She calls them a “textile
scrapbook of the maker’s innermost
thoughts and feelings”––a
description echoed by Steele, who
says stories and themes help her
with the design process.
Steele says she developed her style
from a more traditional quilt
structure––a setting which, she
says, allows a place for the eyes to
rest. At first, she didn’t like Crazy
quilting at all.
“I found that it was a bit too
overblown and busy for my taste,
although I love the fancy Victorian
style now,” she says. “When
Quilting Arts magazine was first
published, the first few issues
included a lot of Crazy quilting
that was a bit different than the
traditional, and I fell in love with
it instantly.”
CRAZY QUILTING 101
“I teach a lot of Crazy quilting
and find that everyone’s work is
different in the end, even if they
use the same pattern,” Steele adds.
“Even the most timid sewer finds
that they have a style after a
few months.”
Everyone has a creative side, but
they may be too timid to use it,
Steele says. While she loves using
cotton fabric, Steele also dabbles in
silks and suffers no hesitation
about cutting into a piece of luxury
fabric. There’s always more where
that came from, and it is better to
use it while you can, she advises.
Brick says other contemporary
Crazy quilters are experimenting
with a wider variety of materials
and techniques than ever before,
including hand-dyed fabrics, holographic materials, phototransfers,
and embellishments influenced
by the popular “steampunk” trend
that melds the Victorian era
and more modern technology.
Artists like Terrie Mangat are
combining Crazy quilting with
other quilting techniques, and
others like Allison Aller are starting
with the traditional style, then
building on it in a very modern,
eclectic look. Quilters like Judith
Baker Montano, Nancy Kirk, Gloria
McKinnon and Christine Dabbs are
among many contemporary artists
Brick says she admires as “giants in
the field still out there teaching and
working.” “It’s a wonderful time to
be Crazy quilting”, she says.
“I think that there is a future for
Crazy quilting in the modern
world,” Steele adds. “Everyone is so
busy and endlessly running around,
it can make a person feel empty
inside. Creative endeavor is very
satisfying. The idea of sitting down
with the tactile feel of fabric and
thread and the thought process of
creating the stitches can still the
mind and has a calming,
therapeutic effect.”
E A S Y W A Y S , cottons and
‘fancy’ fabrics; a paper foundationpieced Crazy example for Brick’s
book, Crazy Quilts. Trims include
holographic sequins and peacock
feathers! Photo by Mellisa
Mahoney, collection of the author.
CRAZY ABOUT BALLET
by Linda Steele
31
from the
iqa library
b y
s t e v i i
Art Quilt Portfolio:
The Natural World
Martha Sielman
Lark Crafts
192 pages, $24.95
g r a v e s
Precision & Panache
Susan K. Cleveland
Pieces Be With You
112 pages, $28
Prairie-Point Pizazz
Karen Sievert
That Patchwork Place
80 pages, $24.99
This is an eye candy book. The
quilts are works inspired by things
found in nature: water, flowers,
insects, animals, and more. Each
section features two artists who
describe their creative process with
words and images.
Susan promises fine workmanship,
fabulous details, and outstanding
quilts, and that is what she delivers
in this book. She gives precise
instructions for using a variety of
thread types to add details to your
quilts, as well as several techniques
that can give quilts additional pizzazz.
Karen layers prairie points over halfsquare and quarter-square triangles
when making quilts with traditional
pieced patterns. The prairie points
are smaller than the base triangles,
which allow the color of the base
triangle to show as an edging around
two sides of the prairie point.
Each section has a gallery of quilts
that relate to the section. It is always
delightful to see new work by wellknown artists, but even more exciting
to see pieces by lesser-known artists
being published in a major book. Of
particular interest are the features of
IQA members Cassandra Williams
and Barbara Barrick McKie.
Piping in curved seams and prairie
points embellished with decorative
threads are just two of the techniques
featured in the book. Using Susan’s
Prairie Pointer pressing tool can
prevent burnt fingers when pressing
to form precise prairie points. Also
included in the book are eight projects
featuring Susan’s fabulous details.
Her method of constructing the
triangle units and keeping the
layers in place is genius. Ten
projects are included in the book.
The Peekaboo quilt is a fun baby
quilt with “fussy cut” teddy bear
fabric visible when the prairie point
is pulled back.
If you are a current member of IQA (or publisher of a current member) and have a book or DVD that you would like to submit for
potential review, please mail it to: Bob Ruggiero, c/o IQA Journal, 7660 Woodway, Suite 550, Houston, TX 77063.
Materials cannot be returned regardless of whether or not they are chosen for review.
32
The 2011 IQA JUDGED SHOW
first Place, art-Painted surface
Ricky tims, Inc.
Photo by Jim Lincoln
Sponsored by
LOVED
AND
WA S L O V E D ( 5 5 . 5 "
X
55.5")
by I NGE M ARDAL and S TEEN H OUGS of Chantilly, France. Original design.
The 2011 IQA JUDGED SHOW
First Place, Innovative Pieced
Omnigrid
Photo by Jim Lincoln
Sponsored by
C O L L A B O R AT I O N ( 6 9 "
X
69")
by K EIKO YAMADA of Kusatsu-shi, Shiga, Japan. Original design.