John of Quilt Dad has created this new block, "Modern Starlings," for Generation Q. I like the fresh take for this piece - good inspiration for the new year!
Quilting
George over at MAKE recently shared this amazing math-based dragon curve quilt by Camilla Fox. Fox explains some of the challenges behind the design and the process of making the quilt on her website:
The curve is framed (within the quilt) with space to allow a rotated interlocking copy of the dragon curve, and this second curve is picked out in the quilting. In hindsight, I should have been thinking more about area fills and less about where the lines go, for quilting it, since the line is hard to follow.
This cute pillow project from Maureen Cracknell would be a great Valentine decoration for your home. It uses simple quilting and reverse applique to create a sweet pillow cover that can go right over your existing cushion and be easily changed out after the season. You could even use the same idea and techniques to create a whole wardrobe of pillow covers to switch out throughout the year!
Related:
How-To: Felt Garland Pillow
How-To: Mod Pillow
Project: Halloween Pillow Covers
I am regularly in awe of the gorgeous and inspiring quilting projects we feature here on the CRAFT blog. I had a lot of fun going through the 2011 Quilting archives to pick ten of my favorite quilting projects for our Best of series, but it was truly hard to narrow them down. Whet your appetite with these projects and the dive into our rich quilting archives for even more inspiration!
Zombie Quilt
If you were wondering if zombies can be beautiful, this quilt should answer your question. Gorgeous!
Duran Duran Rio Mini Quilt
Our own Lish blew me away with this totally rad quilt based on the Duran Duran Rio album cover.
Fabric And Crochet Blanket
The mix of fabric quilt squares and crochet edging in this quilt from Heidi of Sewing Daisies is a clever and fresh approach to quilting.
Luke Haynes Self Portrait and 3D Illusion Quilts
The stunning work of Luke Haynes' self portrait quilts is made even more fascinating by the fact that he makes a new one every year and uses it on his bed. Love it!
Nyan Cat Quilt
What more does a fun geek quilt need than everyone's favorite flying Pop Tart cat?
R2D2 Quilt
OK, ok, I admit it: I'm a sucker for geeky quilts! The piecing in this R2D2 quilt is phenomenal.
Spock Quilt
One last geeky quilt and then I'll lay off my geeky tendencies. One work for this quilt: fascinating.
Rad Godzilla Quilt
This Godzilla quilt is rad, indeed. The details are absolutely stunning.
How-To: Color Spectrum Pet Bed
Small scale quilting is loads of fun, especially when it's bright and colorful and made for your pet.
How-To: Starburst Quilted Floor Pillow
This beautiful starburst quilted floor pillow maybe be small in scale, but it's big in detail.
I can't wait to see what cool quilting projects are created and featured in the coming year!
Here's a great way to dress up plain fabric napkins and get practice making log cabin blocks all in one project. Caitlin from Salty Oat shares her tutorial for bright and cheery log cabin block napkins over on Fat Quarterly.
When I was looking for the video montage of "I'm not here to make friends" for my last post, I stumbled on this amazing post from our pal, Jenny Ryan, over on xoJane. Jenny shared the amazing work of fellow Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild member, Alissa Rowinsky-Wright.
My socks are regularly knocked off my the work people bring in to these meetings. One guild member in particular, Alissa Rowinsky-Wright, also made me laugh my head off when she unveiled a project she has embarked on called the "I'm Not Here to Make Friends" series, an exploration of reality show "villains" as interpreted in thread-and-fabric.
She's captured favorite villains from Survivor and Top Chef, and has more in the works (including Gretchen from Project Runway!). Read more about Alissa's project from Jenny over on xoJane.
Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! wins the award for Aunt of The Year. She's in the progress of making a spectacular Space Invaders quilt for her nephew, and I'm more than a little envious of the little dude. She's created several of the "invaders" blocks and is sharing her progress over on her blog. I can't wait to see it all come together!
Related:
Space Invaders Christmas Cross-Stitch
How-To: Space Invaders Woven Gift Topper
Post-It Note Space Invaders Roundup
Lego + Star Wars + Space Invaders = Awesome
I have to sheepishly admit that I've never made a quilt before. As a pretty hard-core crafter, I can't believe I still haven't tried this quintessential craft. I find myself getting scared off by the task of cutting out tons of tiny pieces of fabric and making sure they all come together in just the right way. The idea of a whole cloth quilt warms me up to quilting much more. I'm a hand embroidery gal through and through, so hand stitching layers together sounds down right dreamy. Melissa at Bolt Fabrics in Portland, Oregon shares how she's taking advantage of extra wide prints to create simple whole cloth quilts with hand stitching. I love that the back side is a solid color and shows the stitches so beautifully, while they almost disappear into the print on the front. Perhaps I can try this quilting thing after all ...
I have to sheepishly admit that I've never made a quilt before. As a pretty hard-core crafter, I can't believe I still haven't tried this quintessential craft. I find myself getting scared off by the task of cutting out tons of tiny pieces of fabric and making sure they all come together in just the right way. The idea of a whole cloth quilt warms me up to quilting much more. I'm a hand embroidery gal through and through, so hand stitching layers together sounds down right dreamy. Melissa at Bolt Fabrics in Portland, Oregon shares how she's taking advantage of extra wide prints to create simple whole cloth quilts with hand stitching. I love that the back side is a solid color and shows the stitches so beautifully, while they almost disappear into the print on the front. Perhaps I can try this quilting thing after all ...
Kara of Craftastical! has a fun set of paisley embroidery patterns that can be used to make this cute patchwork pillow. Download the set of embroidery patterns and then get the pillow tutorial over on her blog. Thanks for sharing, Ann!
