Victoria Findlay Wolfe

I was making my second quilt (doing everything wrong!) when I learned about a group of quilters who meet weekly. For the next six years I learned through their example as we made quilts together, hand quilting around a quilt frame.

After we moved, I joined a large quilt guild which gave me the opportunity to take classes with nationally known quilt artists. Each move, I found a community of quilters to join. Quiltmaking, it turned out, offered me a supportive community no matter where I show more lived.

I learned through books and magazines and online resources and groups. Quilt shows offered me inspiration and a vision of what is possible through quilting. As I gained skill, I tried my hand at free cutting shapes, combing unexpected fabrics, trying new techniques.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe was a trained painter when she made her first ‘kitchen sink’ quilt, using fabric scraps, unfinished tops, embroidered linens. The process of making that quilt was very personal and emotional.

That quilt is not just about the designs or how visually appealing it is. It represents the rough and complicated aspects of life–the beauty and terror–and is the most important quilt I have ever made. Victoria Findlay Wolfe on her Kitchen Sink Quilt

This book is Victoria’s gift to quilters, offering a way to design one’s own “kitchen sink quilt” with patterns for the Experience quilt. Each chapter addresses a theme: Identity; Traditions; Comfort and Healing; Aging; Teaching and Lessons Learned; Friendship; Travel; Remembering and Grief; Food; Celebration; and New Adventures.

Along the way, her essays and quotations from quilters will inspire you. Among the quilting life stories shared I saw names of people I knew from online groups.The stories will move you, make you laugh, connect with you.

Remember that the goal of quilting is not perfection, but rather progress and growth. from The Quilting Experience by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Along with the Experience quilt, she shows how to use the blocks for other 11 projects.

This is a book which can be enjoyed on several levels–as a quilt project pattern book, and as a collection of inspiring essays and stories. There are 300 color photographs and complete instructions for the projects.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. show less

’15 Minutes of Play: Improvisational Quilts’ by Victoria Findlay Wolfe is a fun book for using up all of the scraps that quilters create in making other projects! The idea of the quilts is similar to the styles of Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville Crumb Quilts, but with more ideas. Wolfe uses the sewn scraps (made-fabric) in more traditional quilts, as well as more ‘wonky’ patterns. Many examples of quilt patterns are given, and many ideas can be generated by the quilt pictures, as well show more as the many patterns.
In 15 Minutes of Play, Wolfe recommends playing and sewing for 15 minutes of sewing this made-fabric every day, but I like to do this a couple of hours at a time, whenever I can, and having a stack ready for making the blocks. If I keep at it, I may be able to use up all my scraps! (not likely!)
http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2714 show less

Most of the designs don't catch my eye, but ones she calls "mini made fabric" interest me a lot. They look great and use up scraps. I also appreciate that she includes several sampler projects in case you want to try a technique without making an entire quilt.

Saturday, October 28, 2017
Modern Quilt Magic: 5 Parlor Tricks to Expand Your Piecing Skills by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, © 2017

17 Captivating Projects
*· A magic wand for quilters! Take the fear out of tricky piecing with simple, step-by-step instructions
*· Piece 17 projects for intermediate-level quilters, including 12 quilts and 5 smaller pillows and mini quilts
*· Stitch new takes on well-known techniques with award-winning quilter Victoria Findlay Wolfe

My Review:

I preordered a signed show more copy of Modern Quilt Magic in July after seeing the wonky colors! Love how they are put together in an irregular pattern and not matching at all! Loved it!! The patterns of our lives are not following a trail of another but rather the path God sets before us, individually.

"Cascade" is what drew me in!

Arrange the Pieces
On a design wall (or the floor), arrange the pieces to create a gradational effect. I started with pairs of left and right curves from the same fabrics in an arc. Then I played with some, making matching pairs into V's and filling in with other single curves. Use the photo as a reference and have fun seeing how your fabrics work together from dark to light and back again!
Modern Quilt Magic, 113

This scrappy quilt pattern shows Fabrics, Crib, Twin, Full, Queen, and King along with how to make the curve. Step-by-step is shown with instructions on cutting and arranging the pieces; constructing and joining the rows and finishing.
"Cascade" Victoria Findlay Wolfe, 2016, quilted by Shelly Pagliai

Here are topics covered: Partial-Seam Construction; Blocks with Partial Seams; Mini Made Fabric; Y-Seams; Free-Form Curves; with Coloring Design Pages and Patterns with a notation to "use a ruler to measure these inch marks to verify that printout is correctly sized."

I enjoyed this book so much I wanted to share it!

***This review was written in my own words. No compensation was received. I preordered this book from the author's website.*** show less