Quilting Inspirations

Since I started by blog and reading other blogs, I have seen many post on how artist and jewelry designers get their inspirations. But nothing on quilters, so I decided to write how quilters get there inspirations.

Besides being one of the most warm and cozy blankets, quilts are use as wall hangings and are exhibited through out the world in art shows and have their own quilting museums. Hundreds of quilters each year for their rewards and master pieces. Quilters are much more than crafters they too are artist in their own right.

To help me with this I called upon 3 other fellow quilters and asked each of them 3 questions.
Were do they get ideas, how do they choose fabric and their favorite block. There are hundreds of block styles to choose from and you can combine then to make more of an interesting design.

Pam Cole tells me that the fabric itself inspires her. She is able to visualize what she wants to make beforehand and then the rest of the designs involves as she works on it. She has lots of favorite blocks, but decided to use the crazy patchwork heart block for her logo, because she puts her heart into all her projects. Pam completes her quilts with free motion quilting on her sewing machine. Pam's quilts can be found at pamspatchwork.com and her quilted bags at pamspatchwork.etsy.com

My fellow quilter Kathy Norton says her inspiration comes from the Show & Tell at her Quilting Guild. She says that"fabric itself can sometimes scream for a particular block." She also takes the customer request into considerations. She has a large stash and chooses a focus fabric and goes from there for the coordinating fabric. If she were to have to choose a block she likes the star blocks. Kathy uses a long arm machine to finish off her quilts. Kathy can be found at QuiltsWithHeart.com and her etsy shop QuiltsWithHeart.etsy.com

Shirley Wahlreen and fellow machine embroiderer receives most of her ideas from quilt magazines. She chooses fabric based on color and price and prefers a simple block as here style of quilting. Shirley complements her quilts by finishing them with machine embroidery. Shirley can be found at EmbroiderybyShirley.etsy.com

As for myself I get my inspiration from many places,Quilting Guild, magazines. Since I now have my own quilting/embroidery machine many times I choose the embroidery design first and design a quilt around it. I choose my fabric by the block design and my favorite colors. As for by favorite block I too like something simple and if I not embroidering my block, I like the log cabin block. I use to hand quilt, but now I"m with Shirley and finish off with machine quilting patterns.
By doing this we can do quilts as you go with the blocks then stitch them together and then add the sashing or borders.

The above pictures are some of the quilts the ladies and myself have quilted.
The first 2 are mine. The next Pam's, then Kathy's and Shirley's.

You can also find Pam, Shirley and myself at Handiworkshowcase.com