Every month in Canadian Quilter magazine’s e-newsletter to quilters across Canada, we ask a Canadian quilt designer three questions about their work. For October, we talked with the extraordinary quilter Kathy K Wylie, who is the presenter of CQA/ACC’s October 16 webinar (get your tickets here). Here’s what she shared with us.
What is your favourite part of the creative process?
Choosing fabrics is my favourite part of the creative process. I often start with a focus fabric to help me select a palette of fabrics to work with. If I’m designing a pattern for a fabric company, I take inspiration from the beautiful collection I am working with. For example, a bee-themed collection such as Northcott’s Beecroft inspired a hexagon design that showcases a large-scale print.
Grandmother’s Bee Garden, by Kathy K Wylie.
What piece of advice do you give most often to quilters making your patterns?
I’m not sure I’ve ever been asked for specific advice about making my patterns! But if I were, I would say: use the pattern as a starting point for your own creative expression. Change the colours, change the size, change the layout—use the parts you like and add your own ideas to it. Don’t feel that you have to make a project that looks exactly like the cover. Do your own thing!
What is your most popular/favourite pattern?
Three patterns are almost tied as the most popular over the past two years: Grandmother’s Bee Garden, Evergreen Forest, and Running Mates.
Evergreen Forest is a strip-set-friendly pattern featuring a collection of autumnal batiks. Running Mates showcases a stunning Stallion panel with a barn board lattice patchwork border.
Evergreen Forest, by Kathy K Wylie.
Running Mates, by Kathy K Wylie.
Kathy will be presenting Beauty is All Around, a Zoom Webinar, on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 7 pm ET. The event will be recorded and available to watch for three days after the live presentation. For more information, please follow the links below.
