The more I look and browse, I've noticed that the fabrics and patterns I tend to buy are usually from the same company, and often from the same pattern maker/designer. Hoffman Fabrics are one of the three quilting fabric lines that I absolutely adore, and I was very impressed to discover that their website offers free downloads of quilt patterns (that other stores sell). In addition, one of their fabric designers, McKenna Ryan, is also one of my favorite quilt artists.
Ryan's quilts are not designed to be bedspreads. If you're like me, that is the sole purpose of a quilt: to provide beauty along with its primary function of warmth. I'll be honest; I've yet to attempt one of Ryan's patterns. But I have purchased a few, and with some slight modifications, I think I can alter the patterns to make them not just beautiful, but also user friendly.
For example, in her square above, the edges of the fabric on the eggs, the flower, and the biddie are adhered to the background with a fabric adhesive, then stitched near the edge. In other words, it's not appliqued. If you wash this as is, the fabric edges of all the pieces would start to unravel. While it would take three times as long to make, if you add 1/4" border to all those pattern pieces, the edges could be turned under and stitched in place (appliqued) before the quilting, making them washing machine friendly.
Another thing that I love about Ryan's designs, as the one shown above, is that she uses small blocks that are individually quilted but can be put together to form a continuing quilt design. For example, the moose panel in the middle. (For a closer view, check out her website). Notice how it has a boat edge in the corner of the panel? Little details like that make a "painting" look realistic, make you feel as if there's more happening than just the small snapshot you have. And I really like how that carries over to the main focal point in the next panel. She does the same thing with the fish's tale in the bottom.
If you visit her site, you'll see she has a very diverse design style. While I love her country and wildlife designs, she's also created some very ArtHouse style flowers, very fancy word/bird designs, and some cool holiday/winter designs. I've yet to see anything she has made that I haven't marveled at the creativity behind it. Granted, I might not always prefer the colors used (and here my family would remind me that few people would choose my color choices), but the design work itself is absolutely fabulous.
I'm always a little in awe of people who can view God's design around us and replicate it through man-made techniques. So many times I look at a quilt pattern and think "That's just a variation of this block." or "That's this pattern turned sideways over and over. Why buy it?" I've never once thought that about McKenna Ryan's patterns. Now, I may not love her patterns quite so much after I've attempted using one, but so far I'm content to just ooh and aah over the designs themselves.
Ryan's quilts are not designed to be bedspreads. If you're like me, that is the sole purpose of a quilt: to provide beauty along with its primary function of warmth. I'll be honest; I've yet to attempt one of Ryan's patterns. But I have purchased a few, and with some slight modifications, I think I can alter the patterns to make them not just beautiful, but also user friendly.
If you visit her site, you'll see she has a very diverse design style. While I love her country and wildlife designs, she's also created some very ArtHouse style flowers, very fancy word/bird designs, and some cool holiday/winter designs. I've yet to see anything she has made that I haven't marveled at the creativity behind it. Granted, I might not always prefer the colors used (and here my family would remind me that few people would choose my color choices), but the design work itself is absolutely fabulous.
I'm always a little in awe of people who can view God's design around us and replicate it through man-made techniques. So many times I look at a quilt pattern and think "That's just a variation of this block." or "That's this pattern turned sideways over and over. Why buy it?" I've never once thought that about McKenna Ryan's patterns. Now, I may not love her patterns quite so much after I've attempted using one, but so far I'm content to just ooh and aah over the designs themselves.
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