Modern Applique Illusions Blog Tour (and giveaway)

Today I’m so happy to be participating in Casey York’s blog tour for her new release: Modern Applique Illusions: 18 Quilts CreatePerspective & Depth. I’m so happy that more books are coming out on modern appliqué! I think it’s a truly underserved part of quiltmaking and one that has the most potential for creative expression!

Casey’s book is about perspective and illusion. Each quilt, although very minimal and modern, packs a huge visual punch done with techniques borrowed from the art world – perspective, depth and shadow.

Perspective is the illusion of depth achieved through line and space. Perspective makes a flat surface look 3-D. Depth is a word often talked about in quiltmaking. Typically, in traditional quilting and modern scrap quilting, depth is achieved through color placement – light colors recede and dark colors advance. Depth makes a quilt more interesting to look at. And shadow makes elements pop off the quilt. 

Casey’s designs are full of perspective and depth. The book is broken out into Architecture, the Natural World and Concepts. She uses all the concepts above to make her quilts look like no other modern quilts I've ever seen. It truly is a brilliant blending of art and quilts!

As part of the blog tour, Casey asked me to make a project based on one of her quilts. I chose the koi from “Ripples.” We have a koi pond at my house and I love watching them glide through the water, occasionally popping up to beg for food! They are so beautiful and calming to watch at the end of the day!

For my project, rather than make the quilt, I chose to take the fish from “Ripples” and make a purse. It was a fun project to make! I chose two of the koi templates and appliqued them with fusible web and a loose zigzag stitch in matching thread.

I used my favorite modern color combo – orange/blue/gray for the outside and lined it with a bright orangey-gold. You probably noticed that I didn’t use the shadow for my koi – my thinking was that there wasn’t enough room on this small purse for the shadow to be effective. In hindsight, it probably would have been okay. Just chalk it up to one of those real-time decisions that didn’t pan out! But it’s still a fun purse and I plan on using it everyday!

Of course there are 17 other projects in the book to choose your next project from. I think next to “Ripples,” “Chicken Scratch” is my next favorite. I grew up with chickens and miss the fresh eggs. (Although I’d be hard-pressed to butcher a chicken for dinner today!) But what I love most about the quilt is Casey used 30s reproduction fabrics in her modern quilt. I’m a big proponent that modern is what you make it, and Casey must agree! No rules for her either!

For your chance to get a copy of this fabulous book, leave a comment below saying something about the book! Be sure I can get ahold of you if you’re the winner. I’ll post the name Friday, Nov. 14.

And head to Casey’s blog to read more about “Ripples” and to win her prize, a package of Pellon Wonder Under 805 and a package of scraps she collected from the making of “Ripples!”

Here’s the entire tour. Be sure to go to each blog to hear more about Modern Applique Illusions and enter for a chance to win more prizes!

11/10: C&T Publishing, http://www.ctpub.com/blog/

11/11: Jenifer Dick/42 Quilts,  http://www.42quilts.com/

11/12: Debbie Grifka/Esch House Quilts, http://www.eschhousequilts.com

11/13: Pink Chalk Studio,  http://www.pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/

11/14: Shannon Brinkley/Bottle Tree, http://www.thebottletree.net

11/15: Pellon, http://blog.pellonprojects.com

11/16: Kevin Kosbab/Feed Dog Designs, http://feeddog.blogspot.com/

11/17: Generation Q Magazine,  http://generationqmagazine.com/

11/18: Krista Robbins/Sew What's Cooking?, http://www.sewwhatscooking.com/

11/19: Violet Craft,  http://www.violetcraft.com

11/20: Fat Quarter Shop/Jolly Jabber,  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

11/21: Kristy Daum/St. Louis Folk Victorian, www.stlouisfolkvictorian.blogspot.com

11/22: Cindy Lammon/Hyacinth Quilt Designs, http://www.hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.com/

11/23: Modern Quilts Unlimited,  http://modernquilts.mqumag.com/category/blog/