Chelmsford Quilt Guild Presentation

Tonight I gave a presentation on modern quilting as well as "my quilting journey" to the Chelmsford Quilt Guild.  My mom kindly babysat the kids and my husband came with me to help transport the 34 (!) quilts and show them during my talk.  I was a little nervous initially but it was fun and I soon became more comfortable.  People were very kind afterwards and gave me words of encouragement.  One lady said my talk was, "very interesting," in a tone of voice that made me wonder if it was actually a compliment :)  But it was good and fun and really not hard to talk about what I love and am passionate about.

In preparing for this, I looked at several books and websites to find the hallmarks or traits of modern quilts.  I thought you all might be interested in reading the list I put together.  The sources I used include the MQG website, Sunday Morning Quilts, an article on the Modern Quilt Guild in the 1st issue of Quilty, Modern Designs for Classic Quilts, and Liberated Quiltmaking II.  I felt like I was writing a term paper! 

Here's the list I made of things that modern quilts often are or sometimes include:

• Minimal fusing – appliqué is not very dominant or used very often
• Are inspired by modern art or architecture
• Throwback of very, very traditional quilting
• Make primarily functional rather than decorative quilts
• Internet driven projects (quilt-alongs, flickr, pinterest, etc.)
• Use asymmetry in quilt design
• Rely less on repetition and on the interaction of quilt block motifs
• Utilize alternative block structures or lack of visible block structure
• Contain reinterpreted traditional blocks
• Embrace simplicity and minimalism
• Incorporate increased use of negative space
• No borders
• Frequently use improvisational piecing/design as you go/use what you have
• Multiple-fabric pieced backings
• Contain bold colors, on trend color combinations and graphic prints
• Often use gray and white as neutrals
• Reflect an increased use of solid fabrics
• Focus on finishing quilts on home sewing machines (rarely pay for someone else to quilt them)
• Large scale- quilt is one large block of made from a handful of large blocks.
• Celebrity designer fabrics are very popular/sought after
• Bold fabrics, single fabric line quilts:
• Novelty, large-scale, and graphic prints- color in action, clear and bright colors, no earth or jewel tones, non-conventional color combinations
• Extremely dense quilting
• Fairly simple piecing – focus on fabric, not block design
• Use of different kinds of fabrics – quilting cottons, velveteen, linen, muslin, etc.

Did I miss anything?

P.S.  Hello to any CQG members visiting my blog.  If you are also interested in the BMQG - you can find more information here.  We'd love to have you join at us at any of our meetings.