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December 2021: HOW GREEN IS YOUR QUILT?

My first thought for this month's newsletter was to work around a theme dear to my heart - "Red is a Neutral" (this is a quote from Freddy Moran). Yes, we normally think of "neutral" colours in this context; grey, brown, cream, black, but take a moment (and follow the links below) think about it.. A background colour can be altogether more exciting and still be a "ground" I had a seriously outraged reaction to this suggestion when I put it forward on a Facebook group, but I still think it holds true...

My "Modern Jazz" pattern, made for The Quilter magazine, has turned up in all manner of colours - yes, lots of people made versions rather like mine, with rainbow colours on white or black, but I have also seen blue, lime green, turquoise, and orange backgrounds, and all of these backgrounds worked perfectly well as neutrals... So, yes, think about that, perhaps. Here is our PINTEREST board for this month with some ideas on this theme.

Secondly, and with a particular eye on the various initiatives and thoughts about climate change, I have written an INSPIRATIONS page about greening up (or at least considering the impact of) our lovely hobby/vocation/timesuck... Some of what we do is perfectly rational and economic, but I do have some views on the wastefulness we might avoid. Have a look at my HOW GREEN... Pinterest board.

January's newsletter will have lots of ideas for using up that wee mountain of scraps...

Helen Howes and AitchBee

Contact us direct on newsletter@modernartquilters.co.uk

HEADER IMAGE: SUNSET HEDGES 2 by Helen Howes


MODERN JAZZ by Helen Howes. Pattern available from Helen's website - click on the image for a link
OCEAN STAR: MIDNIGHT Block of the Month by AitchBee. The gift that keeps on giving - treat yourself to something that'll last all year.


And talking of the gift that keeps on giving, a magazine subscription could be just the ticket! How about a little bit of magical inspiration arriving on your doormat at regular intervals. This link will take you to The Contented Cat who offer a fantastic range of quilting magazines from home and abroad.

If you want to read a review of a couple of our current favourite magazines, CLICK HERE to visit our BOOK REVIEW page

This quilt is also an excellent example of red used as a neutral - and gorgeous quilting!
THE GATHERING by Margaret Pratt found on a blog called 'piecedgoods' (sorry can't find any more details than that) in a report on the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2013.

I would recommend you click on the photo and have a look at this quilt in its entirety. You will have to scroll quite a long way down through the blog, which contains many other interesting quilts, but take a look and tell me if it doesn't make you think of the seaside at sunset!
Bluebird Garden is an American website that specialises mainly in vintage and pre-loved textiles in a style I would refer to as 'kitsch'. Strangely enough this 1950s quilt of butterflies does appeal despite my dislike of the way they are generally depicted on modern printed fabrics - perhaps it's that yellow ground that appeals.
Sheri of WHOLE CIRCLE STUDIO posted a review on her blog of '20 Modern Quilts from the 2018 Modern Quilt Showcase'. This lime-coloured beauty is FELICITOUS PICKLE by Kelly Spell (what a great euphonious name for a quilt) but all the others are worth looking at too.
These beautifully darned socks have become a sort of textile equivalent of kintsugi where the visible repair has made the original item more lovely by accentuating the imperfection rather than hiding it. This is the ethos of Flora Collingwood-Norris, designer and maker of Ethical Scottish Knitwear. On her website she shows in detail how to do 'visible creative mending' as she calls it.
Yes, well, since I love turquoise and orange (often together!) including this one was a bit of a no-brainer. It was found on a blog called GRIT'S LIFE which is written in Grit's native German, but completely readable through Google translate. Apart from this great example, Grit also has several beautiful quilts on display - I particularly like the rainbow of New York Beauties on black, stunning.
This truly modern quilt by Cécile Trentini of Zurich, Switzerland was created as part of an UGLY BLOCK CHALLENGE. Click on the image and follow the links from our Pinterest board RED IS A NEUTRAL to see what the original block was (you won't believe the transformation)

Click on the words HOW GREEN IS MY PLANET to see the second board of the month
This a great example of a scrappy Half-Square Triangle (HST) quilt made with a limited colour palette. All these fabrics have been carefully curated to fall within two very specific set of colour values producing a harmonious result with so much more interest and movement than would have been the case if fewer fabrics were used. Do follow the link through and look at the super quilting close-ups - not that you would expect anything less of professional long-armer, Karen, from QUILTS ON BASTINGS
Robin Pickens designs colourful florals for Moda Fabrics, but she is also a quilt designers and all round crafter. In this quilt, DASHINGLY DIVIDED, Robin has turned the usual emphasis of a quilt on it's head and made the sashing jump out leaving large areas of blank, lilac, canvas for her big stitch floral embroideries.
This bit of purple paradise for part of an article by Andi Stanfield on her blog TRUE BLUE QUILTS which gives an extremely useful and succinct explanation on the process of choosing colours for a quilt. It includes some excellent images - we particularly like the diamond-in-a-rectangle quilt.
We do get about a bit, metaphorically speaking, on our travels around the internet while bring you these little seeds of joy. Here are are at pink, taking us neatly to the end of our rainbow of neutrals
OK so just a very little bit of Christmas! As promised the SPRUCED UP pattern is now available to purchase as a PDF or paper version. There's still plenty of time to make your own version of this light-up wall hanging as well as small gifty things for friends and family. Have a look at this months SPECIALS page to see links to kits and patterns for bags and purses as well as a few ready made items in case you really do run out of time.
In the words of Sarah of the blog CONFESSIONS OF A FABRIC ADDICT: I may have a scrap problem, but I am working on it!

In next months issue we hope to be able to make some suggestions on what you can do with your mountain of scraps
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4, The Raveningham Centre, Beccles Road, Raveningham, Norfolk, NR14 6NU. United Kingdom