inspiration

I was flipping through magazines at the bookstore the other day, and I came across an article on Denyse Schmidt in Art Quilting Studio. As always, I was totally inspired by her work, and had to spring for the magazine. Now I’m drooling over it, thinking I may need to trade in the baby quilts for a full-sized arty one.
I first came across one of Denyse Schmidt’s quilts in a Soho shop in the late 90’s. I was very familiar with traditional quilting, but her work made me look at quilting in a whole new light. Her quilts were like modern art rendered in the tactile mediums of cloth and thread, somehow homey and incredibly chic at the same time. A couple weeks later, I sewed my first quilt, a tame and fairly traditional blue and white patchwork for friends who were getting married in Greece. Then I started experimenting a bit with my own shapes and patterns, and I started using shantung silk instead of cotton (goregeous and colorful, but totally impractical).
It’s been years now since I’ve made the time to work on a real quilt, but after reading this article, I think I’m going to have to break out the scrap box and start one.

Oh – and on another note, one of the other magazines I picked up – Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home – featured a spread on my Metro Market fabrics! I bought that one, too.