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The best way to live long in prosper is with a nice warm Star Trek quilt. I think you will agree when you check out this gallery of quilts all featuring characters from the original Star Trek, made by The Alligator Bride.
Link -via Geeks are Sexy
Improvisational quilting is about creative self expression through craft. Sherry Ann Byrd’s family has been expressing itself through quilting for six generations. They love music and embody it with a needle and thread using mismatched pieces of fabric to create jazz portraits. These chaotic creations are beautiful in their own right but legend has it that some improvisational quilts also tell unique stories.
One popular story was that when a particular sort of log-cabin pattern quilt was hung outside, it indicated a safe house on the Underground Railroad. Another claims that improvisational quilts had escape routes mapped out on them, either in topography or star patterns.
These unique folk art quilts are finally receiving recognition as works of art after being dismissed as unskilled work for many years and there is now a booming collectors’ market for improvisational quilts.
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Don't Wake Me Lucifer! / 83" x 95" / 2010 Hand-made Quilt, Heavy Metal T-Shirts, Fabric, Batting, Thread
Ben Venom might be handy with a sewing machine and embroidery floss, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capital-H Hardcore. Venom’s quilts are made from vintage metal band shirts. Why? Because it’s brutaaaaal. The artist’s statement on Venom’s site describes his work as a “collision of Iron Maiden Metal ballads with the outrageous stage antics of Ozzy Osbourne.” Check out more of his work on his site, or at the BAN6: Visual Arts Exhibition,” Group Show, Jul 9 – Sep 25 at the YBCA Gallery in San Francisco. Link
via ANIMAL
This 82 by 52 inch quilt was made by Carol of FunThreads for a quilting fair. She adapted an image of Spock from a pumpkin carving template. You can read instructions for making your own at the link.
Link via Dude Craft
Quilting may be an old craft, but the style can be quite modern, as Amy Ahlstrom”s portfolio demonstrates. Pictured above is her representation of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Ahlstrom explains what has inspired her to work in this medium:
My quilts are influenced by pop-art painters such as Mark Ryden and artists who have referenced a comic-strip drawing style such as Margaret Killgallen, in that I appreciate bold and graphic takes on images that are inspired by urban life. Though it is textile art rather than drawing or painting, my work is most comparable to that of pop, lowbrow and graffiti artists. My quilts are modern art pieces that happen to be rendered in fabric. I take quilts out of a rural context and bring them into present-day urban environments.
Link via Dude Craft
What do you get when you combine your geeky passion for astronomy and craft? This awesome Stellar Quilts by Jimmy McBride:
Yes, that’s the Pillars of Creation. Find more of Jim’s artwork on Craftzine: Link
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Artist Jimmy McBride makes quilts inspired by stunning astronomical photographs, such as this depiction of galaxy M64. It’s currently on display at the City Quilter, a quilt shop in New York City. McBride writes:
they say in space, “no one can hear you scream.” well, they can’t hear the low drone of the internal power generators kick on again when you’re half way to nowhere. i can. i work for a shipping company called “intergalactic transport.” i travel back and forth from rock to rock carrying those two all important gems- salt and vinegar. there’s a lot of time to kill up here so i downloaded a grandma program and she’s been teaching me how to quilt. there’s no “log cabins” or “poinsettias” around so i just stare out the window until something catches my eye. it’s nice every once in a while to shoot the shit with a fellow traveler, or get caught up in the new dawn celebrations in the outer rim, but mostly it’s just me; with a lot of time on my hands.
Link via Make | City Quilter
