Color Study by Olivia Ogas

Simply Quilts Presentation Gallery

Computer Quilting in the 21st Century
An Overview of Quilting Software by Sharla Hicks

Episode 908

QUESTIONS?
Click Here to go to the article:
Computer Quilting has come of Age!
What does it have to offer you the quilter?
by Sharla Hicks

Using Quilting Software to Explore Color Studies
Quilt Designer: Olivia Ogas
Quilt Program used: Electric Quilt

NOTE: Time ran out during taping of the Simply Quilts Episode and these quilts did not make it into the program.
I thought you might enjoy seeing what other wonderful quilts were going to be part of the program if time had allowed.

124 Baskets Plus 3

Judy's Star

The Story behind the quilts
By Oliva Ogas
This all started in 1995. I attended Judy Hopkins' Dawn to Dusk class in Asilomar, California. She presented a method of taking 60 fabrics of two color families. After raiding my sister's stash for some great aquas and yellows the block of Judy's Star (Judy Martin) was started.with 30 light yellow to dark brown and 30 aqua to dark teal/navy blue fabrics The result of the class was a quilt called Asilomar, (asilormar41.jpg). Obviously it took a while to decide on the border. I am debating now whether to stop right here as the picture shows or do more.
In Simply Quilts episode #212 a the postage stamp basket block was presented by Alex. Her basket quilt from the McLunn/Nownes "Quilts,Quilts, Quilts" book is memorable as well as the one in Alex's "Quilts for Fabric Lovers". After "starting to finish" the Asilormar border, having all the fabrics on hand right in front of me, cutting two shapes from each fabric (4"x6" and 4-3/4"x4-1/2") was a nice distraction. These dimensions offer enough for one basket and one background. In Judy's method one cuts enough fabric for every single shape in a given block. In this example, all seven pieces of the basket and background. Every pair of fabrics yields enough for two blocks.
With my substantial stash----and shopping around raiding the last few pieces from my friend Joyce Weeks more pieces were cut. The "Plus Three" in the quilt name references these three friends--Judy, Joyce, and Steph. From Judy's class 75 ivory to dark brown fabrics were stacked in order from light to dark values. A record is kept of the order of the values. The same was done with 75 light, light aqua to green/navy/teal pieces. Needless to say the Asilomar border was abandoned.
The 4.5" baskets are absolutely addictive. After stacking fabrics pieces and cutting all shapes the next step is to decide how the blocks are to contrast--light yellow on light aquas or light baskets on dark backgrounds and so on and so on. All pieces were shuffled accordingly and the blocks assembled. Isn't Judy a genius? I remember pinning the handles on a dozen or so blocks while in the car on the way to dinner or on errands with my husband. Later, on those same errands many of the handles were hand finished. It was a great opportunity to finish 150+ blocks.
The initial plan had been to place the baskets light to dark as shown in illustration bsktc.bmp. It just did not work. The pieces screamed for the four patch placement as inspired by Alex's quilt in "Quilts, Quilts, Quilts". From this point the center was achieved strictly through value placement. With so many blocks left over and a few days' time the border treatment appeared.
EQ4 was used to help me remember the placement and to count how many blocks needed. While in the sketchbook the "alt/print" keystroke captures a picture of the quilt and the first line of the notecard notations. I always type the size of the block and the number of blocks in the horizontal and vertical layout, as well as the dimensions. Then Microsoft Paint is opened to paste the image and notation. The bitmap is printed to have on hand during assembly of the quilt. It helps to plan the amount of yardage that is needed for the back or the borders. This documentation is done for every quilt in my collection of project files. These illustrations have been used for classes I teach.