In this Spotlight with Karen Eckmeier, teacher, author, and award-winning quilter, we explore her creative process and laid-back approach to the craft.
Karen is most known for her "Accidental Landscape" quilts, "Happy Villages", and her work with curves. I think you'll find this conversation inspiring and encouraging as Karen is just delightful!
In this video, I talk with Karen about:
- Her creative process (it's VERY laid back and improvisational)
- How she designs her quilts
- Her surprising approach to color choices
- Where she finds her inspiration
- How she helps her students get out of their comfort zones
If you'd like to take Karen's Accidental Landscape class, you can do so by joining Meander (an International Online Quilt Guild). Learn more / join Meander, here.
You can find Karen's books and patterns on her website.
Karen and I would love to hear from you! What was your biggest takeaway from this conversation? Leave a comment below.
16 comments
I had the pleasure of meeting Karen when she came to our guild in Massachusetts. We had dinner the night before her presentation and she was a huge hit at the guild. I love her “out of the box” approach to quilts. Karen is a wonderful person.
I belong to Seaside Piecemakers, a quilting guild in Florida. We were very fortunate to have Karen lecture and teach at our January, 2020 meeting. She was wonderful and very inspiring! Thank you, Karen!
I found her charming, humble and an over the top talented artist. Her work is so dynamic and expressive it is obvious it comes from an old soul.
Her advice was touching and encouraging and I would love to someday have a class with her. ♥️
Greatly enjoyed this interview with Karen Eckmeier today. I’ve admired her work for many years, but unfortunately didn’t take her class when she taught at the Conroe quilt guild several years ago. She talked about taking a rest from creating after concentrating so hard on a project.
Earlier this year I started making a Jenny ‘s video quilt, Carpenter’s Star, in king size, black and white fabrics. It took my entire energy for three months. Afterwards, I felt lost and didn’t have the will power to do anything other than half inch he dies for two weeks. Since then simple piecing has been an adventure in removing stitches, and redoing seams. Now I realize that this is part of the creative process. These pieced blocks are almost done, so I can either aim to finish this quilt or “play” with a project I want to do.
Thanks for making this interview available.
Alice Person, .Conroe, Texas
Thank you for this inspiring video. I have been tempted as of late to jump into a improvisational landscape project and found Karen Eckmeier’s approach and advice very encouraging. Much appreciated!