Gladi Porsche Quilts
From the beginning of my quilting journey, I was inspired by the oriental aesthetic and began to collect asian style and authentic Japanese fabrics. My Oriental Meditation series explores several design ideas using mostly the more colorful asian style fabrics, many of which have gold highlights. The Spirit of Japan series uses mostly the more subtly colored -taupes, indigos, rusts, etc. - authentic Japanese fabrics, some of which are vintage indigos purchased in Japan.
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74 in. x 65 in.
I enjoyed creating the overall design, pairing the beautifully colored oriental style fabrics with the black, white, and gray fabrics, and figuring out how to construct the blocks and overall octagonal shape. The center is an adaptation of Kumiko Sudo’s “New Year’s Day” block from her ‘East Quilts West’ book.
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74 in. x 65 in.
I love oriental design and have enjoyed collecting and using oriental themed fabric in my quilts. I call my series of quilts using these fabrics ‘oriental meditations.’ Most of them are hand quilted and I find that process very relaxing and meditative. On this quilt, the only thing done by machine was piecing the blocks together with the red sashing; all the quilting, applique, and embroidery, i.e. everything else, was done by hand.
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36 in. x 36 in.
This is my 3rd oriental meditation quilt and was created for a Cocheco Quilt Guild annual challenge. This challenge was to create a quilt that celebrates something. The center of the quilt contains a traditional fan block called ‘grandmother’s fan’ and I used this as a play on words to celebrate becoming a grandmother and to celebrate the Red Sox World Series win in 2004 which happened within a month of each other. The quilting, applique, and embroidery are all done by hand.
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63 in. x 69 in.
This is the 4th quilt in my ‘Oriental Meditation’ series. The arrangement of the blocks – the log cabin variation, ‘courthouse steps’ – and the color choices and placement remind me of a lotus pond. The border and the quilting designs – lotus flowers, dragonflies, lily pads, ducks, and turtles – carry that theme. I used silk fabric for the block centers, hand embroidered the black lines in the center, and hand appliqued the black lines in the border. The rest of the quilt was done by machine, including the wonderful quilting done by Sue Foster.
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38 in. x 38 in.
This is my 5th oriental meditation quilt and is an original adaptation of a Kathy Nakjima pattern. I created my own applique for the blocks and enjoyed using blue and pink colors, for a change. The quilt is machine pieced, but hand appliqued and hand quilted.
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60 in. x 69 in.
This is the sixth quilt in my “Oriental Meditation” series. I wanted to continue to use strips of Asian-themed fabric. Sections of the quilt were on my design wall intermittently over several years as I struggled to find the design and size that felt right. It evolved quite a bit during that time, hence the name. The center of the quilt is paper-pieced. The “diamonds” on top of the “boxes” were appliqued by hand to connect the rows together. Sue Foster did a wonderful job of machine quilting the piece.
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63 x 63 inches
Completed 2016
Original design using foundation paper pieced palm leaf pattern. Showcases colorful designer Japanese fabrics. Machine pieced, both machine and hand quilted and with hand appliqued strips on the border.
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45 x 45 inches
Completed 2018
Hand appliqued, hand quilted, machine pieced
This quilt allowed me to applique circles, which I love to do, and showcase many of the beautiful oriental fabrics I’ve collected over the years.
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84 x 74 inches
Completed 2019
Machine pieced, machine quilted
Lorayne, a fellow Cocheco Guild member gifted me a large bag of hand painted fabrics when aging prevented her from continuing to make quilts. I paired those fabrics with Asian style fabrics, a style Lorayne also loved, from my own collection to make this elegant string quilt. Thank you Lorayne!!!
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47 in. x 54 in.
Machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand embroidered, hand quilted. Border stitching includes Sashiko.
This quilt is an original design. I loved working with these different Japanese fabrics. I tried for some asymmetry, typical of the Japanese aesthetic, with both the lines of embroidery and the border design. The squares and circles in the border are trying to ‘escape’ the rigid, geometric confines of the center.
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39.5 in. x 52.5 in.
This quilt was made almost entirely with antique indigo fabrics purchased during a trip to Japan. The design is mine and includes a facsimile of indigo plant stems and leaves at the bottom. The mountains in the traditional ‘moon over the mountain’ blocks have been turned into Mt. Fuji. The quilt is machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand embroidered, and hand quilted.
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59 x 72 inches
Completed 2017
This quilt showcases my collection of authentic Japanese fabrics, especially the indigoes and uses an indigo/tan/red color scheme, artfully arranged. Machine pieced, hand quilted, hand appliqued. Basic pattern from Quiltmania magazine (some changes/additions by me) and my quilt was shown in the magazine!
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50 x 42 inches
I love appliqueing circles and challenged myself to create an ‘improv’ design using 3 different sized circles, a pink, red, black, gray, and tan color scheme, and authentic Japanese fabrics.
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72 x 60 inches
Completed 2019
Machine pieced, hand appliqued and embroidered; machine quilted
I love the palm leaf pattern and for this quilt paired fabrics from my collection of indigos with a number of different pale blue fabrics to create an “icy, wintery” feeling. I arranged the blocks to create a strong diagonal design and the reversal of values in the border blocks makes a nice edge.
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66 x 66 inches
Completed 2020
This quilt was inspired by a quirky antique quilt and was a way to use many of my authentic Japanese fabrics. The squares and crosses look like windows with interesting designs in each, thus the title. Machine pieced. The border strips are hand appliqued; the quilting was done by Martha Wilson and features many oriental designs.
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