Butterfly Garden Quilt Gallery

Quilts and strategies for using Jane's Butterfly Garden fabric

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I've been a fan of Jane's work for many years and thoroughly enjoyed a retreat with her as our teacher a couple of years ago.¬ÝRecently I decided to make a quilt for a young woman named Lauren, who is about to graduate from college. I needed something that would be fast and easy to make. I saw the Butterfly Garden quilt on the web-site and it inspired me to make my own variation in green and blue. I call it Lauren's Butterfly Garden.

The dramatic quilting in the solid navy areas was done by Wilma Cogliantry. The quilt won a second prize at the Northern Star Quilt Show

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I made in this vest in Rosemary Eichorn's class using some Sassaman fabrics from all three of her fabric lines. They were such fun to use and after composing the vest, I decided it had a look of Mexican paper flowers, so I lined it with Day of the Dead fabric and the Virgin of Guadaloupe. I have been quilting for about 6 years, but have sewed as long as I can remember. I make nontraditional quilts, but I particularly love wearables.

Thanks, Janet! Click the link to the left to see pics of the inside and back of the vest.

 
Floral Fantasy Quilt Gallery

Quilts and strategies for using Jane's Floral Fantasy fabric

    

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These next two quilts were made by quilters at Whiffle Tree Quilts in the heart of Silicone Valley, Californi a. ¬ÝYou can visit them at www.whiffletreequilts.com.

Dolores Roseveare created this quilt form a pattern from a recent Rowan publication, A Colorful Journey (ISBN 1-904485-07-3). It's called the Musetta Quilt pattern by Liza Prior Lucy.  We love how Dolores picked up on how easy it is to make dramatic borders using whole pieces of the Floral Fantasy Wild Stripe.

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Calling all Stack & Whackers!

Nancy Archibald's Stack & Whack 60 Degree Triangle quilt takes advantage of Jane's large scale prints in the Red & Orange colorway. Nancy also has used whole pieces of fabric for her border, this time the dramatic Freckled Lily.  Stack & Whack brings out the kaleidoscope potential in Floral Fantasy.

"My niece decorated her room in hot pink and black for her 16th birthday.  Why not?!?  I gave her this wall hanging to celebrate.  Thanks for designing the fabric that made it so easy!"

Sharon isolated individual Freckled Lily flowers and arranged them to her liking.  The border is the much sought-after but now out-of-print Little Leaves in Pink & Green from Jane's Exotic Garden collection.

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We loved what Leanne did with Jane's Kaleidoscope pattern.  Not only did she take free reign in playing with other fabrics and colors in the FF line, but she has created a stunning serpentine border from the Wild Stripe fabric.  Leanne artfully creates excitement by interjecting the Nosegay and Primrose from the Red and Orange color way within the overall Pink and Blue fabrics. Leanne shows what fun you can have by exploring different fabrics and colors while working with a pattern.

Leanne M Baraban has been quilting since 1980.  Several of her quilts have published in books. Leanne teaches quilting in the Overland Park, Kansas area.

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It's hard not to believe Lisa had a field day with the vibrant contrasts and wild floral motifs in the Red and Orange Floral Fantasy line!  Lisa's creation positively pulsates with energy and good humor—like a fantastic garden from another world.  Once again, the Wild Stripe acts as a natural for borders and Lisa's use of the various Dots fabrics really adds to the movement and energy of the quilt.  Finally, the isolated flower motifs positioned off kilter in their designated areas adds the final grace notes of unpredictable humor.

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Opportunity Quilt
Annie Star Quilt Guild, Chico, CA

This is a big, wonderous quilt created by the Annie Star Quilt Guild. ¬ÝIt uses goodly amounts of the Freckled Lily pattern cut out in amoeba-like shapes. Both the positive and negative pieces are used as both background and focus fabric. Wonderful, colorful, complimentary fabrics comprise the squares and are separated in black & white squiggles and lines. ¬ÝThe results are as bright and happy as you could hope for! ¬ÝAlso, the entire back of the quilt is done in the Pink & Green Freckled lily (not pictured)!

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Orlando Rhapsody
by Elizabeth Harris

We love the striped black and white fabric Elizabeth used to set off Jane's intense florals.

Elizabeth writes: "I have enjoyed perusing the web site and getting many lovely ideas for using Jane's wonderful fabrics.¬Ý I think I already have large amounts of just about everything she has designed.¬Ý I really gravitate to her non-traditional and whimsical florals. ¬ÝOrlando Rhapsody features mostly Jane's fabrics along with some fun black and whites.

Sassaman's Sisters
by Margo Ellis

This is a good month for quilts thinking "outside the square"!  Margo made this quilt for New Quilts From an Old Favorite—7 Sisters Challenge where it appeared in the exhibit and accompanying book.  Margo did a terrific job harnessing the movement within Jane's fabric—the whole quilt looks like a wonderful collection of flowery whirl-a-gigs!

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Barb Hollinger used Jane's Wild Stripe to give her exquisite Seymore quilt some extra radiating "woomph"! Barb created this in a Jinny Beyer workshop. It is machine pieced, hand and machine appliquˆ©d and machine quilted. If you look at the larger image, you will see a single Hydrangea flower smack dab in the center.

Barb says this is named after "The Little Shop of Horrors" plant. This is the second quilt in this gallery inspired by LSOH! Is it a trend?

Exotic Quilt Gallery

Quilts and strategies for using Jane's Exotic Garden

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"I am an admirer of Jane's work and was thrilled when Jan Krentz gave me some of the new fabric to 'test out'!  Jan's class on Hunter's Star was the inspiration for this layout, and as purple is one of my favorite colors, I was happy with the outcome. I believe the black framing strip brought out the intensity of the colors and the floral border finished it nicely.

Betty Alofs is a quilt pattern designer and teacher in the San Diego area. Three of her quilts are featured in Jan Krentz's book on Lone Star Quilts by C&T Publishers. Visit her online at www.bettyalofs.com.

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"I was really looking forward to working with Jane's new fabrics!  As I studied the big, bold designs, I thought of a thousand different ideas — and then thought I would play with simple shapes, to showcase the fabrics in a graphic way.  Inspired by the innovative concepts in Australian quilter Judy Hooworth's "Razzle Dazzle Quilts" book (Martingale Press) — I sewed up a quick project using Jane's gold, purple & orange collection. It was fun to view the large-scale prints when cut apart, catching glimpses of each design.

Jan Krentz is a quilter, author and teacher who lives in San Diego.  She also turned to the Cross-in-the-Square when working with Jane's Exotic Garden.

"I wanted to share with you a picture of a quilt I made with the green and pink colors of your Exotic Garden collection.
I call this quilt Audrey Too (take off on Little Shop of Horrors), and it is the 3rd in a series I developed for my latest pattern design, Dazzling Diamonds. In fact, it will be one of the cover quilts on the Dazzling Diamonds pattern, released at Spring Market.

The hallmark of my pattern designs is the creative use of large-scale fabric. I mostly work with Japanese designs, but I like large florals as well. I not only loved the lines and motifs, as well as the scale, of Jane's collection, but the bright colors, scale variation, and, the inclusion of the Dots, making this a perfect collection for this design. The pieces are all 4x6 rectangles, allowing you to really see the fabric.

Diane Weber is a quilter and pattern designer.  Her latest pattern Dazzling Diamonds is available at her web site, www.webers.org/sewbiz/.

Charlie Daze
by Julia Day

"What to do?  With two years of quilting experience and the inspiration and guidance of my mother, Sandi Ruch, every quilt is an opportunity to not only test my limits but reflect her teaching, creativity and eye for color.  Of course the first step in this quilt design was discovering these fabulous Exotic Garden fabrics - drooling over their intensity and scale range. My biggest struggle was how to capture them in a quilt design that had big enough pieces.  At my local quilt shop. Material Possessions in Lake Forest, California, I discovered Wendy Hager's original Wheels of Whimsy pattern with which I could adventure into the world of sewing never-before-attempted curves, the perfect "movement" to highlight this fabric.  Finally, I had piles of black and white scraps that seemed to jump out of my stash to truly set off not only the color but the motifs without burying the exotic garden before it ever bloomed.  After completing more than enough blocks that left me with multiple choices for the completed quilt, I went to work on my design wall.  A white striped fabric frame with a black border completed the picture.  My husband, Charlie Day, loved it and it is now in his possession and named for him.

Kickstart 2003
by Dorothy McLeod

"After being in a quilting slump for several months in the latter part of 2002, much to my surprise, my husband presented me with Jane’s fabrics on Christmas morning.  WOW!  These fabrics are so vital and alive and over the holiday season I could not stop thinking about how best I could use Jane’s fabrics.  I turned to another quilt artist, Kaffe Fassett, whose use of colour and prints have always appealed to me. I thought, what better combination —Jane and Kaffe — two quilt artists who I admire, and especially Jane, after taking a workshop with her in June 2002.  So I used Kaffe Fassett’s “Japanese Brocades” quilt pattern from his “Passionate Patchwork” book and on New Year’s Day 2003, I pieced most of the top of this quilt.  This was the “kick start” I needed to get me back into my quilt studio for 2003!

This quilt travelled to Waterloo County and Area Quilt Festival in Waterloo, Ontario in May 2003, along with 34 other quilted pieces representing Yukon quilt artists.  This festival is attended by 40,000 visitors and is Canada's largest quilt festival.

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Gabriella's Garden
by Sandy Berry

"I am for the most part a traditional quilter but when I saw Jane's Exotic Garden fabrics I knew I just had to make a quilt out of them. The toughest decision I had to make was which colorway to use as I liked them all! I designed a pattern with large blocks so the large scale prints would not have to be cut into tiny pieces. I called mine "Gabriella's Garden" and it is quite simple to make. This was one of my new patterns for 2003 for my company, Berryvine Designs. The fabrics make a dramatic effect and practically everyone that sees it wants to know what fabrics I used.. I think it would also look just as striking in Jane's new line as well. Keep up the good work.

Sandy Berry is a quilter and pattern maker. You can find her company Berrywine Designs at http://groups.msn.com/BerryvineDesigns .

First Prize goes to John Scibran of Congers, Rockland County, NY

The winners of "My Fantasy Fabric Garden" quilt challenge using Jane's Exotic Garden have been posted at www.quiltstock.com.  Quiltstock.com is the online home of Woodstock Quilt Supply, a gorgeous little shop in Woodstock, New York, and they've posted some lovely examples of quilt possibilities using the EG line.

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Growth and Transmutation #1
by Jamie Kalvestran

"I have never written a fan letter before. But I am a big fan of your quilts and now your fabric line, too! I have attached a quilt that I made using your fabrics along with some of my hand dyes and one other fabric (in border). It's a bit more helter-skelter than some of my other quilts but I am pleased with it and have just purchased more of your fabrics to do another. Thanks for being such an inspiration. And my hats off to FreeSpirit for reaching beyond the traditional quilt fabrics with you. . . for us!

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"I just wanted to tell you how much I love your fabric. I have made two projects so far with the fabrics, and will probably make many more since I have collected so much of your wonderful fabric. I am attaching some pictures of the two projects I have made so far. One is a lap quilt made with a traditional pattern, but I like how contemporary it looks with you fabrics. I used various batiks and other fabrics to coordinate with each large print.

Your fabrics are perfect for this type of quilt, and so much fun to embellish with fancy threads.  Thanks for designing such great fabrics.

And now for something completely different!  For ages, we've been meaning to showcase non-quilt examples of Jane's fabrics in action.  We're pleased to start with this regal, Chinese-influenced top created by Harriet for Fantasy, Bernina's 2003 fashion show of wearable art designs.  

Harriet's top is part of an ensemble which includes a jacket and pants.  The entire outfit, as well as other clothing using Jane's fabric, is contained in the show's book, which is available here.

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"I've been a fan of Jane's ever since I took her class at Quilting by the Lake.  Her fabrics are scrumptious.  The Moondance quilt was inspired by those great big blossoms... a moonlit garden complete with fireflies. This quilt hung in our Art Quilts Maine show at the Chocolate Church Gallery in Bath, Maine last summer.  I loved to hear how many people began humming, singing or whistling my favorite Van Morrison tune after they walked by this piece. My favorite song, my favorite art quilter's fabric, and my favorite fantasy location. What could be more inspiring?"

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Dazzling Diamond
by Charlotte Hickman
quilted by Ann Skitt

"I saw Diane Weber's Dazzling Diamond quilt on your web site I wish to share a photo of the quilt I made using Diane's pattern and Jane's fabric.
I'm flattered when my OK friends and quilt guild members tell me that the Sassaman fabrics reflect my personality. The large scale prints, bright colors, and the zingy dots make the
Diamond truly dazzle."