About Karen Brow...
Designer Karen Brow has been sewing and later quilting from age fourteen. She is a graduate from Michigan Sate University has worked as a professional graphic designer and cartoon illustraiter before channeling her energies into quilting. Her patterns and quilts appear regularly in "Keepsake Quilting" and "Hancock's of Paducah" catalogues, as well as at the major US Quilt Markets. Her work has been featured in "Quilts With Style" and "American Quilt Retailer" magazines and her line of fabrics has graced the front of "The Quilter Magazine." She teaches locally in Southern California and lectures to guilds nationwide. (See the "Calendar" page for dates and locations.)
"A strong quilt pattern utilizes many of the same principles incorporated in a pleasing graphic design. We should see a wonderful sense of balance and movement as the elements vary from gentle to bold: colors move from subtle to strong, borders alternate from thin to thick, and patterns repeat or suddenly reverse.
I have a particular love for setting gentle, applique' curves against the strong lines of blocks, (Ok, that and white chocolate almond bark...) because the sense of movement and the unexpected disruption of an otherwise anticipated pattern repeat. We can use playful, life-size animals or gently twisting vines and the result is dramatic; they just set each other off.
When all the design elements are working together, another quilter can take my pattern, render it in completely different color schemes, and it still "works." That's success on my end (Ok, that and when I've spelled everything correctly...). I feel such a sense of satisfaction when a student shows me her work, using my pattern but really different fabrics. My reaction is usually 'Wow. Look at your Quilt!'.
I know that quilters glean a lot of information from the pattern photos, so I take extra care to have colors reproduced accurately for covers or electronic media. I try to do something a little different with colors when I first create a quilt. I believe there is a point in fabric selection when those colors will just "SING" and that's what I go for. It's one of quilting's greatest rewards: the harmony of fabrics working together (Ok, that and discovering a new quilt shop...).
--Karen Brow
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