Artistry in Quilting: The giraffe and the zebra

Recently we shared a behind-the-scenes look at Valerie Funk's "The Lion and the Paintbrush" quilt made using our Painter's Palette Solids. Today we've invited Valerie to talk about her giraffe and zebra quilts. (The best part, besides the eye candy? Valerie is selling these patterns, so you can make your own! See end of the post for details.) Enjoy!

Q. What inspired you to create animal quilts?

VF: My goal this year has been to try to expand my creativity and do something that would appeal to a broader audience—designing patterns that I could sell. Everybody likes animals, so I started there. I started with the lion and it turned out beautifully. The lion is so complex that I’m pretty positive I’ll never have a pattern I could sell. Next I moved on to a zebra. The zebra really turned out to be a pretty easy pattern to work with. The giraffe, I think that one I would call an intermediate pattern.

"Gypsy the Giraffe" by Valerie Funk;
featuring Painter's Palette Solids

Q. How did you end up with a lime, pink, orange and blue giraffe?

VF: When I was looking online for inspiration, Andy Warhol’s art kept coming up. The more I looked at his artwork and the colors he used, I really liked the different look it created: Taking something that you’d expect to see in “real” colors and giving it a pop with colors you didn’t expect.

After I drew the giraffe, I thought it would be adorable hanging in a kid’s room. I started with the Easter egg family of colors because I thought they’d be perfect in a girl’s room. I also created one with more lifelike colors in shades of brown with a blue sky. Next I’m going to go back and do one in brighter, primary colors.

Q. The giraffe also has a tree and leaves in it, but your other designs are the animal head only. Why did you make that decision?

VF: I wanted to add visual interest. The giraffe’s head was tall and narrow, and I didn’t want such a skinny quilt—I needed to fill space! Anyone making the quilt can ad lib a bit—picking and choosing where to put the leaves.

Q. Tell us about the quilting on the giraffe—it’s so different from the lion!

VF: The giraffe and zebra quilts were both planned to be patterns. My goal was to show people that if they were creating it, they wouldn’t have to do custom quilting. I didn’t want quilters to shy away from making the quilt because of the quilting. I wanted to show them how nice it can look with an edge to edge design. There’s really no wrong way—you can quilt it any way and it’s going to look great.

"Ze Coat of Many Colors "by Valerie Funk;
featuring the Leather collection

Q. You’ve made both the zebra and the giraffe in a couple different color combinations. Why?
VF: I wanted to show a little variety—not just what’s on the pattern cover. I hope that by seeing these different versions, I can help people unleash their creativity.

 

"Ze Coat of Many Colors" Zen Zebra by Valerie Funk;
featuring Painter's Palette Solids

Q. Do you have a favorite among these three patterns?

VF: I love them all, but the zebra is probably my favorite. I like the eyes, and the close crop of the zebra itself. And the variety of colors! There’s just something about the zebra. For me it’s a captivating look.

"Ze Coat of Many Colors" by Valerie Funk;
featuring Painter's Palette Solids

Thank you, Valerie, for sharing your beautiful animal quilts with us!

See the post on Valerie's "The Lion and the Paintbrush" quilt here.
Visit Valerie's blog here. 

Visit Valerie's Facebook page here and check out The Lion and the Paintbrush photo album to see more close-ups of the quilt. 

Want the patterns? Purchase Valerie's giraffe pattern here and zebra pattern here.

See all 168 colors of our Painter's Palette Solids here and ask for them at your local quilt shop. 

Find a list of shops carrying the Solids here. 

Fall Quilt Market Recap

You may have seen sneak peeks of our Houston Quilt Market booth on Facebook or Instagram; we're offering the full recap here! 

First, an overview: 

Much of our booth's focus was on our Painter's Palette Solids (168 colors!). The booth included a Pop Up Shop where quilt shop owners could purchase precuts or yardage to take home and sell in their shops.

We collaborated with Indygo Junction on a booth this year. If you're not familiar with Amy Barickman and all the patterns Indygo Junction has to offer, check out her website! All of their displays are made from our fabric.

Now, the close-ups of the quilts...what you've been waiting for!

"The Lion & the Paintbrush" by Valerie Funk, made using our Painter's Palette Solids.

 Maria Pate's bug jar quilt, made using the You Bug Me! collection:

More quilts featuring Painter's Palette Solids:

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill with her "Sun Salutations" quilt made from Painter's Palette Solids (gorgeous--it glows!). Purchase the pattern here.

Valerie Funk's "Gypsy" quilt--love the colors on the giraffe!

Barbara J. Eikmeier's Cowboy Quilt featuring her Kick Off Your Boots fabric collection. Find the free quilt pattern here.

This zigzag quilt features the solids and coordinates from our Mayfair collection. 

These fun Painter's Palette Solids quilt made a reappearance! Download the free quilt pattern for the Hashtag quilt (right) here.

Hello to Amy Barickman! 

Hope you enjoyed our booth recap!

The "America" quilt

Earlier this week, during our Quilt Market booth tour post, we showed you the "America" quilt. Today, designer Cynthia Wismann is here to tell us more about this amazing design, as well as share a few process shots from when she was making it. 

Q. What fabrics did you use in the quilt?

CW: I used the Valor line [by Ro Gregg] and the Painter’s Palette Solids. I think I used 47 different colors from the solid line. I wanted to use as many as I could. The makeup of America changes across the U.S. and I wanted to reflect that in a variety of colors.

Q. How did you come up with idea for the quilt?

CW: Paintbrush Studio asked me to make a quilt with the Valor collection. I talked about design ideas with friends on a retreat and then with my daughter. I knew I wanted one big American flag that looked like it was flowing, but I also wanted to make the quilt look like America, like the people of America. I felt really honored to do a Valor quilt in an election year. I wanted to show our true colors—America from east to west. Houses, fire departments, high rises, Hollywood, farmland, lakes...

Q. How did you design this quilt?

CW: I I taped pieces of butcher paper together and drew on it with pencil to create a full-size sketch. I did a ton of erasing! I wasn’t sure how I would grid it out, but my daughter suggested 15” squares, four across and four down. 

I started drawing the red, white and blues. I wanted the blue to look as though it was the beginning of the flag, with the flag continuing on. For the red sections, I went with a fusion of all the different reds in the Valor collection. I knew I wanted the houses to be in the center, between the red and blue sections.

My daughter suggested the eagle watching over because the eagle represents America. I chose a sturdy oak tree.

Q. Why is this quilt so special to you?

CW: I I have family members that were in the military and I feel like this quilt would be a tribute to them. After 9/11, I worked with our guild to make little star quilts to hang in the windows of families with service members. My mom said that my grandma had done something similar during WWII. When I was asked to make a quilt with the Valor prints, it touched my heart—it was a connection to my grandmother.

Q. How did you construct the quilt?

CW: The whole quilt was fused onto cotton batting. I made my 15" squares where I could, in the red and blue sections. I made the whole America scene separately, as one big flowing piece that I added later. I built the tree and eagle separately and added them last.

 

Seeing how the various pieces will look together

The technique I used for the tree, eagle and stars is to fuse the shapes to felt. Then I stitch on it. Both the tree and the eagle had a fair amount of quilting. Then I freeform cut next to the stitch line so a little bit of the felt shows and creates a slight dimensional look.

To finish the quilt, I fused the blocks and the row of houses to the batting, and then I steamed it and fused the backing to the back of the batting. It was really heavy to quilt!

I quilted it and then added the tree and the eagle. Last were the stars. I just laid them out without a set pattern, just following the sky.

The binding is a facing. It’s a nice finish, especially since I wanted it to look like the flag was continuing on, rather than a regular binding.

Q. What was your favorite part of making this quilt?

CW: Designing it. And then seeing that it all came together and worked—going from the drawing, making sure the fabrics all worked, and seeing the end result. I think it worked because the Valor collection all goes together so well.

Thanks, Cynthia, for telling us about your beautiful quilt!

Find more of Cynthia's work here. 

See the entire Valor collection here.

See the entire Painter's Palette Solids collection here.

Take a tour!

While we were at Quilt Market, we showed some photos from our booth on both our Facebook page and Instagram account, but today we're going in depth! We'll show you the quilts and projects that were on display and provide you with information about the fabric lines and patterns used. 

Enjoy!

A view of our entire booth: 

Do you do yoga? Maureen Stephan used our new Yoga Fabric (92% poly/8% spandex/jersey knit) to sew the jacket and pants. Comfy and stretchy! 
The quilt behind the mannequins the Paintbrush University Quilt 1, made by Maria Pate using fabrics from the initial 84 Painter's Palette Solids.
Bags on the ground, from left:
Stand 'N Stow Tote by Atkinson Designs (ATK-153) constructed by Robin Bell using Ro Gregg's Valor prints
Wine & Dine Lunch bag by Atkinson Designs (ATK-155) constructed by Maureen Stephan using Ro Gregg's Valor prints
To Market, To Market Tote (Patterns by Annie) constructed by Maria Pate using Ro Gregg's Sophisticates prints
In front: Divalicious Wallet by Sisters' Common Thread constructed by Maria Pate using Ro Gregg's Sophisticates prints

Our Painter's Palette Solids were definitely highlighted in the booth. A photo is worth 1,000 words, but when it comes to fabric, so is a touch. We encouraged attendees to touch our solids and feel their silky smoothness. 

A banner displaying our original 84 solids. This will grow before the next show!

We had several quilts showcasing our solids:

The "Spinning Palette" quilt featuring the Painter's Palette Solids. Made by Kylah Kay Jackson 

"Starry Compass Rose" by Elizabeth Eastmond and machine quilted by Denise Marieno, featuring our Painter's Palette Solids collection.

"Lighthouse Steps" by Kate Colleran of Seams Like a Dream, made using our Bayshore Snack Pack of Painter's Palette Solids. 

Paintbrush University Quilt II by Maria Pate, a block sampler using the newer 84 Painter's Palette Solids.

"America" by Cynthia Wismann, made using our Painter's Palette Solids combined with Ro Gregg's Valor collection (we'll have a separate post on this quilt later this week).

"Walkabout" by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis using the Goanna Walkabout collection. Soon to be available as a free pattern download on our website!

The "Kisses" quilt by Sue Linam using our Doodads collection. Love those puffed up trapunto-style lips! Additional projects made using various prints from the Doodads collection, including the "To Market, To Market" tote (Patterns by Annie) constructed by Maria Pate, the purse, constructed by Maria Pate, and the Beach Bag (hanging at left) is Sandy's Beach Bag from The Handmaiden's Cottage (THC103).

Flights of Fancy in fabric! This quilt pattern, designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts, is available as a free download from our website and features Ro Gregg's new line, Flights of Fancy.

Linda Frost designed the Freeform quilt using our Freeform collection (plus Painter's Palette Solids). The apron is the Lilly Apron from Busy Bee Quilt Designs, and the Beach Bag is Sandy's Beach Bag from The Handmaiden's Cottage (THC103).

The "C'est La Vie" quilt, made by Maria Pate using the fabric line of the same name. And yes, that's an umbrella re-covered in C'est La Vie fabric! 

The "Asian Antics" quilt by Viv Smith and constructed by Sheila Reinke, made using our Samsara collection. Available here. 
The pillows are Vetmari Sewing patterns: Beauty in Bloom in the front and Swept Away in the back, both constructed by Robin Bell of Robin's Nest Quilting.

Barb Eikmeier's Vintage 30s Ruby's Treasures fabric, introduced at Spring Market and still going strong here! 

Barb's new line, which debuted at Fall Quilt Market, is Waddington Road. She's designed another BOM, shown below, and all kinds of fun small sewing projects. We'll be sharing a separate blog post to introduce Waddington Road later this week. 

Hi Barb! 

We hope you enjoyed our booth tour!