Doughty - Mixing quilt elements: a modern look at color, style & design

PUBLISHER: Amy Marson

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Gailen Runge

EDITOR: Karla Menaugh

TECHNICAL EDITORS: Susan Nelsen and Alison M. Schmidt

COVER DESIGNER: April Mostek

BOOK DESIGNER: Christina Jarumay Fox

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Freesia Pearson Blizard

PRODUCTION EDITOR: Alice Mace Nakanishi

ILLUSTRATOR: Tim Manibusan

PHOTO ASSISTANT: Sarah Frost

STYLE AND FLAT PHOTOGRAPHY by John Doughty, unless otherwise noted;
INSTRUCTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY by Diane Pedersen and Nissa Brehmer of C&T Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted

Published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc.,
PO Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549

Owning and operating a patchwork shop means there is always a lot to be done. My thanks go to the women of Material Obsession. I love them for their creativity, for their endless support, and for letting me be obsessive without worry. I would like to thank my Material Obsession design team: Cath Babidge, Carolyn Davis, Megan Manwaring, and Wendy Williams. These women listen to me cabbage on relentlessly about everything quilting and worldly. Without them I am nothing.

I would also like to thank the rest of the team: Bundle Caldwell, Liesel Moult, Kate Page, Robyn Shipton, and Grace Widders for their tireless efforts in the shop. Helena Fooij, our newest member, is also to be thanked for helping me with samples and patterns for this book!

Several of the quilts in this book have been quilted by others including Bhijan Attwell on Love Birds, Jan Foster on New Star, and Denise Biviano on Ballroom Dancing and Wedge Log Cabin.

And really, what kind of acknowledgment would there be without a mention for John. He drives me to be my best, never (well, hardly ever) grows weary of my energy, and reminds me of what love means in life every day. I am forever grateful for him making me better than I am. I thank my three beautiful sons for being themselves and living their creative lives with good spirit, and the rest of my family for making life interesting.

We are lucky to be quilters. I thank all of you who follow me on my blog, on Instagram, and in my books. If you buy my fabric, I love you for that. It is a beautiful community that makes life lovely to look at.

Every day offers us something new. If we keep our eyes and minds open, this mix creates experiences from which we can create. The blend of what we know with what we see and what we dream makes each one of us an individual. It gives us our voice. Having just recently returned from shooting the photos for this book, I am full of ideas that come from the lines of the earth. I was fascinated by the scenery that changed in a glance and overwhelmed by the harmony of mixed elements that reflected my book conceptreality and concept collided!

When John and I head out on the road to shoot the photos for these books, something amazing always happens. I have in my head what I want to do cluttered with the complications of travel. Stacks of quilts and working with the unpredictable elements of nature (not to mention my husband) can be problematic as there are so many details to consider. John has a way of always pushing me beyond where I am comfortable living. We drive long distances to reach his ideal location. We stay longer than I can stand until he has achieved the result he wants. We hurry to be in the right place to get the right light. We climb fences and rocks, jump over gullies and creeks, and generally end up in the most unbelievable locations. In the end, I am forever grateful to have ended up with a man that makes me so much better than I would have been on my own.

This trip we traveled as if the road was our own, hardly passing another car. Once out of the hustle of the city, the road wound with the curve of the seaside. I happily spotted seals basking on rocks and swimming upside down while feeding in the sea with dolphins. One look away and the earth turned crashing waves to waving, sunburned grassy paddocks. The road climbed to mountaintops that quickly turned to steep descents down winding roads with treetops on one side and tree trunks on the other! We covered all terrain. Once we saw an echidna scurrying alongside the highway in a hurry to get somewhere safe. In an alpine location I spotted an emu that, startled by the sudden appearance of our car, dashed into the bush so fast I wondered if I had seen it all.

We stopped where we stopped. We got out, handled the quilts with care, and did our thing. It was exciting to capture the spirit of a colorful quilt flapping in the breeze against the bluest of beach skies. My hands clapped when we found a perfect deserted homestead as a backdrop for a softly colored traditional quilt. Chain-link fences accented the geometry of octagon pieces. An imaginary forest in a quilt sits among the reality of trees as if it has been there forever. The modern and the traditional concepts sat side by side, as if there is no difference at all. Its all there to see if we look.

Trees burned in long-ago fires held gray fingers to the blue sky as the bush tried to rejuvenate near their dead trunks. In a field, longing for just the right ray of sun to shine, were everlasting daisies just waiting to be picked. The dryness of the climate sucks the color out of what should be green. What is left is a washed-away sign of life that draws the eye in for a closer look at subtle beauty. Days turned to night as we aimed for an unknown hotel. In the dark we dodged countless rabbits and kangaroos of all sizesfirst stunned by the dazzle of our headlights and then dashing in any direction!

I love the Australian landscape more every time we head out to shoot. I am grateful to be able to see so much of the land and see what the landscape has to offer to my quilts. Textiles feel weirdly at home to me when they are outside on the earth. I love that so much of this land is old, saved as it once was, and I love that my contemporary style stands proud in front of the tests of time. As I leaf through the seemingly endless pages of possible photos, I want to share them all and tell all the stories of the spaceshow the wind takes my breath, the sun warms my skin, the sinking sun makes me shiver. I hope you feel the spirit of the quilts and the land when you leaf through the pages of this book. And when you do, I hope you feel inspired to take action and make your own story of mixed elements of land, imagination, and textile. I wish a creative textile adventure for all.