Carole here! I'm thrilled to be joining the 52Quilters Blog.
Let me start by saying a bit about my self. I'm a quilt pattern designer, quilt maker and quilt instructor. I blog over at www.CaroleLylesShaw.com and on Instagram. I'm a Board Member of The Modern Quilt Guild, and I co-founded the Sarasota Modern Quilt Guild.
I LOVE to teach quilt making! In January 2016, I'll be teaching two modern quilting workshops in Orlando at World Quilt Florida. I teach for traditional and modern guilds all over the USA because I love introducing quilters to fun and creative ways to make their own unique modern quilts.
Oh--my profile picture was taken when I visited Hong Kong a few years ago. I've been fortunate to travel all over the US, Canada, Singapore, Jamaica, US Virgin Islands, Indonesia, Egypt, England, Germany, France, Italy, Morocco, Canary Islands [Spain]. Some of it was work related and some was fun travel. Have Passport...MUST travel! Now I live in sunny Sarasota FL--we call it a little bit of Paradise.
How I Started Quilting
I started quilting over 20 years ago by getting quilt instruction books from the library so I could make lapquilts for young nieces and nephews. Back then, I made traditional looking 9 patch quilts and log cabins. I met some wonderful quilters and quilt teachers who helped my learn my craft. They also gave me a great gift--they looked at my strong need to develop my own style and gave me lots of encouragement and understanding--even when they didn't quite get it...smile.....I am also a mixed media artist--and I've studied art on my own all my life. When I started quilting and creating my own designs, I was heavily influenced by mid and late 20th century modern art. Before there was a modern quilt movement, I was experimenting with some of the ideas that so many quilters are embracing. Here are a couple of my modern quilts made over 20 years ago. Notice that, back then, I was creating negative space with the color black.
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| Small wall hanging--curved piecing and improv asymmetrical layout |
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| Angularity #2--cottons, hand woven kente cloth. Still one of my oldest and favorite quilts--I was experimenting with improv blocks even though the grid is based on squares, triangles and rectangles. Hmmm....Maybe....I need to make this again...and play even more. |
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| Detail of Angularity #2--a very early modern quilt |
What I'm Doing Today....
As you know, the modern movement has one foot in quilt tradition. We love and honor the quilts made by those who came before us. Today, as a modern quilter, my log cabin quilts often look like this--improvisational centers and no measuring free hand cut logs:
In my early days as a quilter, I discovered art quilts and I still make occasional art quilts today. Here's a recent one called Dear Dorothy. I transferred some old letters onto fabric and tea stained them. I used old dress and curtain fabrics along with cottons and other fabrics to make this memory quilt for my Aunt Dorothy.
This week, I'll give you a peek into my design process, the tools I use and the quilt book I'm writing. I'll also share my thoughts and experiences on the modern quilt movement. Stay tuned--and let me know if there's more you'd like for me to talk about this week.
Fondly,
Carole
Loved the early work - shows how you've evolved over the years! Thanks for highlighting that it took encouragement to try something different ... and for passing that same courtesy on to your students (even when it doesn't make sense!)
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