The Quilt Choices

This is the third year the members of my family have each been able to choose a quilt to add to their collection. Couples get one quilt for them and they have to agree on their choice. They have had no problem agreeing to the best of my knowledge.

Without knowing the name of the quilt Greg and Julie chose Door County Dreams. I had gifted them 3 Door County books in their gift bag. If you saw the picture Julie received painted by Carol Baxter you can see how great it looks with this quilt.

Blake and Stephanie chose Tea For Who. It was made in the style of Victor Vasserely’s early work. I think they are the only tea drinkers in the family. I also made this as an interpretation of a Bodum Asam tea pot. I gave them my teapot as I wanted them to have the inspiration for this piece.

Heidi and Nate selected The Salsa Connection and they do like Salsa! This is a bargello technique I created and taught all over the USA years ago.

Jessica and Kevin’s choice was Somewhere Out There. This started as a quilt top I was not pleased with. By slicing, inserting and adding a border and applique it became a great piece.

Blooming Balloon was Nicholas’s choice. This was made for an invitational exhibition. We were required to work with a specific group of fabrics, a real challenge. I added some beads and sequins to this to add some sparkle and interest. My quilt was the February page on the calendar from the exhibit. I will be giving Nicholas a calendar when I find it!

Paisley Star Mandala was Jared’s choice. It was made with a great Gutcheon fabric in 1982 fussy cutting with Yours Truly templates. The quilt has a lot of dimension and a lot of hand work. All the beige triangles are hand quilted every 1/8 inch to flatten the fabric. The quilting is hardly visible as it is obscured by the pattern of the fabric. The paisley are minimally quilted to make them puff out. It is presented on a custom made stretcher frame. The border has batting under it to make it puff out quite a bit I signed it by cross stitching over needlepoint canvas and then removed the canvas threads. It is one of my first very successful original designs. It could have been made very recently, yet is 34 years old.
The decision to let every one choose their own quilt has been a good idea. I could never have picked the quilts for each person that they liked best and chose. I always have many more quilts for them than there are people to choose from so no one ends up with a quilt that they don’t want.