Velda Newman

I just got home from attending the West Michigan Quilter's Guild meeting. This was the first time I had attended one of their meetings, as they are about an hour from my home. However, I wanted to go tonight because Velda Newman was speaking about "A Painter's Approach To Quilting", and since I am taking her Creating Realism class tomorrow (nearly today), I wanted to hear her lecture and get a "taste" of her work.

All I can say is WOW! I was totally overwhelmed by the beauty of her quilts, but the size of most of them was humongous. Working so large allows her to make the parts of the quilt, whether it is a flower or a piece of fruit, the size makes it easy for her to put great detail in each piece.

Velda told us that she only works on one quilt at a time, and a really large on, like 8 foot by 9 foot, can take two years. She dyes all her own fabric, designs her pattern, does needle turn applique on all her pieces, and often hand quilts some, if not all of the quilt. She tends to use cotton sateen, which, even when dyed, has a slight shine to it, which helps to give her pieces a luminous effect.

I really loved her Foxglove quilt. The coloring she did on the petals was exquisite. I forgot to take my camera tonight, but I will definitely have it with me tomorrow! Hopefully we will get to see those quilts again.