Lindsay's Art Quilt revealed....

Okay - there is a first time for everything when it comes to quilting. Lindsay contacted me and asked me to do this quilt for her, I was a little intimidated at first because I haven't quilted an art quilt before. We discussed and figured out what would work for this quilt. I really hope she is happy with what I came up with. I used two layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting, So Fine and Highlights by Superior Thread were my threads of choice.

Here is Lindsay's description of her quilt:

"As for a little background, this is the first art quilt I have done. I took a class at Asilomar last year at an Empty Spools retreat. My teacher was Ruth McDowell who has been creating quilts like this for 30+ years and is an institution in the quilting world. I grew up in Michigan and my Grandparents owned the cottage. We spent many summers there swimming, boating, fishing, playing in the sandbox, etc. Most of my favorite childhood memories were created there. My grandparents made it very special for the grandkids and in a way, I wanted to thank them and also honor the great memories we had by creating this quilt. The cottage was not fancy but we had a lot of fun laughing, eating yummy summer food and spending time with our cousins and grandpa and grandma.

It was quite a challenge for me to create this quilt because I am a traditional piecer. I needed to push myself to break out and try something new and this was the perfect inspiration. It was particularly challenging to make sure the scale and value were correct – more important than other characteristics of a traditional quilt."

I think that Lindsay did a beautiful job and it is so neat to have a quilt that represents a special memory for her.

This is my attempt at making the blue look like a stream of water. It was fun and whimsical quilting - all free motion and no marking.

I wanted the trees to be showcased - these little beauties took a long time. I did mark the branches in the quilt, but free motion quilted the rest.

I can't get enough of these trees!

The sky was fun - free motion quilting with some dragonflies every now and again. The big swirls are supposed to be clouds.

I wanted the cabin to look like it was 3D - so a lot of simple straight lines.

The grass areas were filled with a ton of small quilting that I hoped make it look like a field of grass.

Here's a closeup of the trees on the back.

I love how the back paints its own picture.

This quilt pushed me to try new things, sometimes it is easier just to stick with what I am comfortable with. I found that when you have an art quilt - simple yet detailed quilting will just add to it and hopefully make it just right!

Oh, and in case you are wondering - it took me 10 hours to quilt :)

Well, on to the next project!