Day of the Dead in quilts

The Mexican holiday known as Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated on October 31st, November 1st and 2nd. It overlaps with All Hallow's Eve (Halloween), the night before All Saints Day.  The tradition honors those who have passed, whose souls are thought to come back to be with their loved ones. Here are some fun and colorful quilts that reflect the holidays!

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Catrina's Halloween by Michelle Howe (Irvine, California)

We were captivated by the gorgeous fringed and flower-bedecked hat worn by the skeleton, who is also holding a giant red peony.  This is a great example of broderie perse - a quilting style where flower motifs are cut from fabric and used as design elements. 

Michelle says that she fell in love with the "Catrina" quilts in the special display by Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli at the 2018 Road to California quilt show.  This is Michelle Howe's second "Catrina" quilt.  The colorful painted face was created using the face-painting techniques of Patt Blair.

The black and white background fabric, featuring bats and crows, provides a perfect haunted setting for "Catrina". The design elements, including skeleton parts, flowers, hat and dress were appliqued.  Many of the elements were edged with black blanket stitching, helping the pieces to stand out.

Emily by Jane Rua (Arizona)

Jane Rua made this fabulous quilt as a wedding gift for a great niece who loves skeletons and haunted houses. The piece was inspired by a quilt made by Jane Impey. In this delightful scene, a skeleton is enjoying a relaxing bath while shipping on a glass of wine.  Meanwhile, bugs rain from the shower head! 

In the closeup photos, spiders can be seen weaving webs on the wall above the bathtub (above).  A skeleton cat is having fun chasing after a huge spider (see the photo below)!

Save the Last Dance for Me by Nancy Arsenault (Tucson, Arizona)

This is the eleventh quilt in Nancy Arsenault's renowned Dia de los Muertos series!  Our photo does not do justice to this quilt, as the lighting was very uneven at this show. We hope you can appreciate the outstanding design nevertheless.

This original design was created in a workshop on mandalas.  Nancy says, "Everyone else was drawing beautiful flowers.  The more I drew, the less I liked it.  The teacher, Sharon Schamber, noted my frustration.  She said, Nancy... do what YOU do.  Then she walked away and I thought - does she mean SKELETONS?"

The center mandala features a ring of grinning skeleton heads with flower eyes.  They are surrounded by an outer ring of colorfully-dressed male and female dancers. The dancer shown below is elegant attired in a red dress with a striped Mexican shawl, with a cockatoo perched on her shoulder.

Image credits: Photos were taken at the 2020 Road to California show (Catrina's Halloween and Save The Last Dance for Me) and the 2020 Quilt Arizona show (Emily).

A Winter Whole Cloth Extravaganza - Part 2

Whole cloth quilts, done in icy white or pale pastels, remind us of winter.  Here is the second part of our series.  Capturing the texture of quilting in a photograph is really challenging, especially with white-on-white quilts.  We hope that our photos will convey some sense of  the magnificent quilting by these artists.

All My Rowdy Friends by Ann McNew

Ann writes about her original design, "A wholecloth designed to represent many different quilting styles, each round is dedicated to a different friend's taste. I wanted to use as many longarm rulers as possible. My challenge was to keep the quilting looking cohesive throughout the quilt."

Close up, All My Rowdy Friends by Ann McNew

Look at the fabulous variety of feather patterns that Ann created. Each one is unique, yet they all fit perfectly into the overall design.

Close up, All My Rowdy Friends by Ann McNew

In this close-up you can see Ann's precision work on the "Greek key" style quilting motif which adorns the diamond-shaped center medallion.

Bella Be Blue by Rebecca Stewart-Bartell, Australia

Rebecca notes, "This wholecloth was inspired by my blue and white china collection, as well as my quilting heroes Libby Lehman, Sharon Schamber, and Sue McCarty.  I have combined all the things I have learned from them to make my quilt."

Close up, Bella Be Blue by Rebecca Stewart-Bartell
 

Rebecca's techniques for her elegant, vintage-inspired creation include free-motion longarm machine embroidery, hand-guided longarm quilting, and corded binding. For materials, she used cotton fabric, metallic thread,  Superior Bottom Line thread,  and hot fix crystals.

Close up, Bella Be Blue by Rebecca Stewart-Bartell
 

Bella Be Blue is Rebecca's original design. In this close up, you can see one of the four darling little birds that appear to be floating and drifting through each side of this quilt, as well as the glittering embellishments that adorn the inner borders.

Blue Ice by Inger C. Blood, California

Inger writes of her lovely original design, " This whole cloth quilt was quilted on my Bernina 820 on constant speed, without the stitch regulator engaged. It was [first] dawn out by pencil on paper, quilted, then painted after the quilting was completed. "

Close up, Blue Ice by Inger C. Blood
 

Inger continues, "[My] inspiration was a National Geographic TV program about Alaskan glaciers. I was fascinated by the color of the ice. This quilt is # 2 ( winter) in a series of four.

Close up, Blue Ice by Inger C. Blood

Blue Ice was displayed at the 2014 Pacific International Quilt Festival in California, where it attracted  many admiring viewers. Look at this gently scalloped outer border, whose curves mirror the half-fans of the inner border. Hundred of sparkly crystals really add shimmer to this quilt.

Field of Feathers by Jane M. Rua

Jane notes,  "This is my completed project for my Craftsy.com class,  "Beyond Basic Machine Quilting",  taught by Ann Petersen. This was my first serious attempt at free-motion quilting".  We think Jane did an outstanding job at creating this elegant depiction of a spring flower garden, replete with a charming dragonfly.

Close up, Field of Feathers by Jane M. Rua
 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.