ALTERNATIVE GRIDWORK

Breaking away from square block-based layout or construction in quilt design.

In this historical quilt example, Square in a Square, the maker is starting to step outside the traditional block-based quilt layout by setting blocks on point, and alternating them with empty squares. Geese Off Grid was created by modern quilter Janelle Vogler with the intention of acknowledging three types of grids: rectilinear, radial, and a traditional block- based grid. Can you see all three? Mary Rudy’s quilt Goldendoodle is smartly designed so the intersections between blocks aren’t ‘seen’ by your eye and does not have a traditional grid pattern.

APPLIQUÉ

Ornamental needlework in which fabric shapes are stitched to a larger piece of fabric in a decorative manner.

Traditional hand-appliqué is seen in the historic quilt, Rose Wreath, with shapes cut and stitched on top of the background while modern quilter Beth Salistean features raw edge reverse machine appliqué in her quilt, titled Self Love. The words are cut out of the black fabric with the colorful letters appearing on fabric from behind.

HANDWORK

Constructing, quilting or embellishing the quilt by hand rather than machine.

The art of quilting has been around for centuries, long before modern sewing machines. Crazy is an example of the “crazy quilt,” which was immensely popular during the American Victorian era. These quilts offered makers the opportunity to decorate their parlors with their best fabrics and stitching down to the tiniest of details. How many different stitches do you see? Work done by hand is still a popular element in modern quilting. In 60 Degree Improv, Shauna Smith has hand-stitched each individual piece of fabric together in her triptych using a technique called English paper piecing, where small pieces of fabric are wrapped around a paper template, then hand stitched together. Local artist Ellene McClay has added layers of texture to her map quilt, Homage to Omaha, using a variety of hand embellishments such as macrame, hand quilting, and couching.

IMPROVISATION

As in life and comedy, improvisation in quilting is to create without an explicit plan or pattern.

While Improvisational quilting has become almost synonymous with modern quilting, its methods are deeply rooted in history. Strip Quilt is a playful example of early improvisational work. The unknown maker of this quilt took a controlled-chaos approach to improv by using fabrics in plaids, stripes and checks...until two unexpected floral squares appear. Did she run out of blue fabric, or was this an intentional choice? Modern quilter Christiana Juliano creates harmony in her improv quilt, Connecting the Pieces, by limiting her color palette. In Prairie Smoke, Kimberly Doss-Bane demonstrates improv with a plan by recreating an image of a flower, piecing the image together one section at a time from the center out.

MINIMALISM

Extreme spareness or simplicity.

Historically and today, many Amish quilts can be interpreted as minimalist. Beautiful in its simplicity, Plain Quilt is aesthetically minimal yet remains visually impactful. Reversing the values seen in the Amish Plain Quilt, Alexis Pappas makes a big impact with simple dots in her modern quilt, Untitled. Sheri Oakes’ quilt eye to arts shows that minimalism can be colorful when the shapes are kept spare.

MODERN TRADITIONALISM

Pulling inspiration from, or visually updating, traditional quilt designs.

The traditional tumbling blocks design, first appearing in quilts in the 1850s, can be seen as early as ancient Greece, where the motif was used in floor tiles. Despite being over 100 years old, Tumbling Blocks maintains a subtle modern feel due to the monochromatic color palette. Modern quilter Stephanie Jacobson used a die cutter to cut pieces for Modern Economy Redux, then assembled the blocks randomly. Snowtie by Susie Bonder is a blend of the traditional Bow Tie and Snowball blocks. She used brightly colored solid fabrics and the large scale of the blocks to bring it forward as Modern Traditional.

NEGATIVE SPACE

A design with creative use of empty space, or one that features interesting use of foreground and background

The historical quilt Rob Peter to Pay Paul plays with the idea of foreground and background. Which color pops out in front, red or white? While the bold red letters seen in Uvalde, Texas by Alexis Pappas are the first visual element to catch one’s eye, the impactful story of this quilt is only fully realized when you look at the not-so-empty negative space in the center of the quilt. Ashley Lundgren’s Stealer of Souls utilizes high contrast to create negative space, putting emphasis on her imploding star.

SCALE

Using the ratios of size and shape to create visual impact.

Historical quilt Nine Patch Variation provides variation in scale of squares and shapes creating a unique design. Stepping back from the quilt, one can appreciate the visual impact of the small dark blue squares, but also the varying sizes of squares and squares-on-point visually created by the layout of the light and dark fabrics. In modern quilt 1863, Casey Cline uses scale to create a dramatic representation of the traditional log cabin block. While the overall visual impact of her quilt has to do with its large scale, the small scale of the fabric pieces used to construct each color panel create a playful contrast in size. Modern quilter Megan Patent-Nygren brings big impact to a tiny part of everyday life in her quilt, Blades of Grass.

TRANSPARENCY

Designs featuring carefully placed blocks of color to give the illusion of overlapping or a “see-through” effect.

Log Cabin features a beautiful play between lights and darks that seem to overlap and flow across the surface of the quilt. Jill Straight’s Rainbowlicious is a deliciously simple example of overlapping colors seeming to blend into new hues. GTFO, made by a group of modern quilters, uses transparency to bring clarity to a message made with overlapping letters.

PRAIRIE

This is a special category featuring quilts made by members of the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild, based on the theme “prairie.”