2017 Seattle MQG Quilt Tour @ NW Folklife Festival

The Seattle Modern Quilt Guild is honored to be showing our quilts at the NW Folklife Festival. Each quilt is identified by a number with corresponding descriptions below so you can learn more about each quilt as you view it. Thank you for sharing our love of quilts by taking care when viewing: please avoid contacting the quilts with hands, food, or oils.

“Vamp” Created by: Matt Macomber

This quilt started with a photo of Grace Jones from the 1986 movie Vamp. The pattern was created using Youpatch.com, an online software program which pixelates a photo you upload and matches it to commercial solid fabrics. This quilt was made with over 3,000 pieces ranging in size from 1″ to 8″.

“The Inbetween” Created by: Kathleen Munns

This quilt was inspired by the colors in the Creative Rockstar fabric line as they reminded me of sunlight and moonlight. This idea evolved into a larger theme of the line between light and darkness and how these lines are drawn in the world and in our lives. These lines are often defined as simple and clear but as you examine them you find complexity.

“California Poppies in Seattle” Created by: Linda Kucera

As new residents of Seattle, recently moved from California, I snapped a photo in our alleyway of California poppies blooming in a patch of freshly fallen snow. The blues in the quilt represent all the water surrounding us, and the blue skies that make their appearance more frequently than we’d been led to expect!

“Jondrian” Created by: Lotte Clark-Mahoney

Quilt as you go two sided.

“Guardian of the False Well” Created by: Lotte Clark-Mahoney

Whole cloth Marimekko abstract fabric art; Unelmia, by Miina Äkkijyrkkä.

“Chaos Quilt” Created by: Elizabeth Litzler

This quilt utilizes some traditional blocks that are placed using a random number generator for a completely chaotic quilt. The use of the Charley Harper feather fabric adds movement to the piece.

“Hawaiian Molehills” Created by: Elizabeth Litzler

This quilt was made using the Molehills Quilt Pattern by Latifah Saafir. I had recently returned from Hawaii with some blue batik fabric and wanted to use it in a quilt. Most batik fabrics are not considered very modern, and this fabric in particular is not modern. However, by alternatating with solid fabrics in light and dark blue it begins to feel a bit like Japanese Kimono design. I learned new skills with this quilt and now have a lasting memory of my Hawaii vacation.

“POW!” Created by: Erica P. Johnson

I decided to work with some bright color to help alleviate my winter blahs. As the Lone Star pattern developed, it began to remind me of Lichtenstein or 1960’s Batman, so I added the POW! exclamation.

“Equinox” Created by: Patty Ladd

I made this quilt starting with a few scraps and some low-volume prints. After using up the scraps, it was too big for a pillow case and too small for a quilt, so I added, and improvised extending out the diamond/square past the original design. My Equinox Quilt is modern for it’s use of negative space and the stopping of some of the outlines of the diamond\square.

“Untitled Quilt – freeform stars on a field of purples and grays” Created by: Michelle Bruno

These free-form stars are inspired by Maui quilter Robin Ferrier’s rulerless technique to splice in star stripes into a background. The mix of purples and grays are lovely hand-dyed fabric from The Dye Smith on Etsy. This is made modern by the improvisational layout and lack of a pre-defined pattern during construction.

“9 diamonds” Created by: Michelle Bruno

When I just joined the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild last year, I decided to try out something new during the quilt retreat – this traditional “drunkard’s path” block, but with modern colors and layout choices. The guildies shared many tips and tricks for sewing curved seams, helping this come together easily. The guild is a great motivator to stretch outside what you already know and to try something new!

“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” Created by: Aly Bazeley

“Spectral Creatures” Created by: Deborah A Christensen

Fun House Mirrors is an original design that was made for an American Patchwork Quilt Modern 9 Patch challenge. Modern elements-bright colors, primarily solid colors with lots of negative low volume space, and is borderless.

“Indonesian umbrellas” Created by Elizabeth Gould

This quilt is made up of batiks that I collected while traveling in Indonesia, which have a very different feel from the ones sold in the U.S; some of them were shirts that my better half decided he didn’t want any more! I combined them with Cherrywood fabrics and the progression from dark to light really enhanced the colors in the batiks. The pattern was inspired by a class taught by Latifah Shaafir.

“Tuliip Time” Created by: Monica Guckenheimer
“Freddy’s Flowers” Created by: Monica Guckenheimer
“square in a square” Created by: Monica Guckenheimer
“No Mountains Here” Created by: Megan Vanderburg

For a lot of quilters, myself included, piecing curves is a daunting prospect. Learning to piece the gentle curves in Latifah Saafir’s “Molehills” during her class lat year she told us “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” It was much easier than expected so I named my quilt “No Mountains Here” in response. Modern aspects of this quilt include pieced binding, bright, bold colors, and no borders.