While I’m not inclined to begin teaching via Zoom, I’ve genuinely enjoyed exploring new techniques/concepts with instructors near and far via Zoom during the 2020-2022 Covid Pandemic!
Henry Ford said, “Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” I’m all for that!
With each new technique/concept learned, I add yet another tool/skill to my artistic toolbox. I grow!
Life is too short not to step out of our comfort zone and try new things! It’s fun!
That said, my first three completed quilts of 2022 began with an Intriguing Interleaves Zoom class with Mel Beach. Halfway through the 1st class I was hooked.
I traced this concept back to the 2013 January edition of American QuilterMagazine article entitled Bits, Binary Code, and Patterns: The Quilts of Kent Williams. The image of his quilt Oh, Gee, caught the attention of Lorrie Cranor, who, besides being a quilter, is also Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Engineering & Public Policy, at Carnegie Mellon University. She began experimenting with ‘interleave quilts” and her results caught the attention of many modern quilters, including Mel Beach. With Lorrie’s permission, Mel has been teaching her techniques for creating Intriguing Interleaves.
I am enjoying exploring the unlimited design possibilities of this concept so much, I decided to give them a page of their own. With each one near completion, my mind is already considering my design for the next one.
(My first three are at the bottom of this page, but additional interleave quilts have been added as completed at the top of the list… 20, and counting.)
Stars and Stripes Wave
58″ x 40″
An interleave lap quilt designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 2/2023
The first, and likely the last, interleave lap sized quilt I’ll make. They just get more cumbersome the larger they get.
On Eagles Wings
11.5″ x 20.75″
Interleave designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 2/2023
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” –Forrest Gump.
Sometimes creating interleaves is like that… you hope for/purpose to create one thing, but another image reveals itself through the process. Discovering this eagle with wings outstretched in this quilt was like taking a bite of chocolate and discovering something so tasty, so sweet, so delicious… so much more than you could have hoped for when you selected it.
Opposites Attract
21″ x 13.5
Interleave designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 2/2023
It’s long been said that opposites attract. While not always true in relationships, if a positive charge and a negative charge interact their forces act in the same direction. I decided to experiment with this concept by interleaving opposite colors, yellow and blue and, in so doing, chartreuse joined the party. The result brought forth a harmonious intersection of these complementary colors.
The Sandbar
13″ x 20.75″
Interleave designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 2/2023
Have you ever set the goal to swim out through the waves and sea foam to the sandbar off shore?
Kimble Blue
13″ x 40″
Interleave table runner designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2023
Stream of Sage
13″ x 40″
Interleave table runner designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2023
What Does Your Eye Behold?
14.5″ x 33″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 4/2022
Whether you see the reflection of the sunrise and set over waves consistently rolling in and out on a beach of sand OR a mirage in the desert under the rising and setting hot sun, this quilt works well as a wall hanging or table runner.
(OrigCrv-Cr)
America Waves
13.5″ x 28.5″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 4/2022
Subtly red, white, blue… and yes, even a little green. This beautiful contemporary wall hanging fits beautifully with any decor. (FC-Cr)
Turned Vases
18″ x 16.5″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 4/2022
These vases, turned not on a lathe but instead ‘turned’ out of quilting cotton fabrics, bear resemblance to ones made from curly and spalted maple, walnut, and black walnut wood. (OrigCrv-Cr)
Ciante for Two
17.5″ x 15.75″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 4/2022
This wall hanging was designed to resemble a central fiasco/’squat’-style bottle wrapped in straw flanked by two wine glasses, one light, one dark. (OrigCrv-Cr)
A Breath of Fresh Air – Series
Each one is designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA
Inspired by the fabrics in my Currents quilt (2022), these table runners are unique one-of-a-kind quilted works of art that bring a ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ beauty to the table.
Time in a Bottle
17″ x 17.5″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
As I was creating interleaves this month, I kept thinking about some fabrics I’d picked up on a ‘free’ table a few years back. The fabrics were deep classic navy blue and off white. One fabric had a variety of clocks and time pieces all over it and the other said Millennium 2000 in small square blocks throughout. Of each fabric pattern, I had one white with blue print and the other blue fabric with white print. I had no idea what I’d do with them at the time I picked them up, but Y2K, as it as it not-so-affectionately became known, was a significant event around the world, and it was the year we built our home. I knew I’d do something fun with it.
It occurred to me I could create curves and interleave them to create a “bottle” and voila.
(Note – it is closed at the top with time trapped inside.)
And as I worked on it, Jim Croce’s 1973 song, “Time in a Bottle” kept playing through my mind. (An oldie, but goodie!)
Vintage Interleave
26″ x 12.25″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
I couldn’t resist experimenting with some of my vintage fabrics. I love browns with a pop of teal!
The Long and Winding Road
40.75″ x 12.5″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
These fabrics were simply meant to go together and allowed me to enjoy more interleaving fun… a win/win!
Intended to be hung vertically, this quilt also works beautifully as a table runner.
Currents
32″ x 34.5″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
Before Google, before AC and DC electrified our world, there was The Coriolis Effect. Currents. In the air and in the ocean, currents have always been a thing of beauty. This concept of interleaving fabric has ignited my creative passions anew and has me eager to further explore the countless possibilities.
A Red River Runs Through It
17.25″ x 23″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
More interleaving fun! I love to play with black and white fabrics and tossing a pop of red in the mix is like adding icing on top of the cake. It just makes it better. In this interleave I played with more fabrics of different sizes.
Sine, Sine, Everywhere A Sine
16.25″ x 17″
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
Started and finished in the first (4 hour) class, this quilt incorporates 6 different fabrics and features a Sine curve… a geometric waveform or s-shaped, smooth wave that moves up, down, or side to side. I learned mathematically speaking, sine curves are defined by the function y = sin x, but I’m not especially mathematically minded. My name for this quilt came easily, as the Five Man Electrical Band‘s 1971 song “Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign” kept running through my mind. (I especially love the line that says, “”Thank you, Lord, for thinkin’ ’bout me. I’m alive and doin’ fine.”)
Hidden Helix
17″ x 16.5″
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
I was so intrigued with my first interleave I had to start, and finish, a 2nd interleave quilt the day after my first class.
This one also incorporates 6 fabrics, but in this one I used a Helix curve. While there is also a mathematical equation for the Helix, suffice it to say Helix is Latin for spiral.
Swimming Against the Green Tide
11″ x 10″
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2022
In this 3rd interleave quilt I used only 4 fabrics and again used a helix curve.
If you look closely, you will see the little fish in the light aqua fabric swimming against the green wave.
