This project is a descendant of one of my Linus quilts which featured a fabric panel with a group of jungle animals. Some friends who saw a photo of that quilt mentioned that it might be nice to have a similar wall hanging for the children’s wing at Temple Beth-El here in Las Cruces. One suggested theme was Noah’s ark.
That remark started my search into ark quilts. There are lots of nice examples, ranging from very realistic art quilts to cuddly baby quilts. My style tends toward folk art, and I settled on a design from Critter Pattern Works. I liked the peek-a-boo doors in their ark and the way the animals marched around the borders as they disembarked.
I also liked the great variety of animals that could be added to the quilt, especially after I increased the size of the borders. However, since the animal templates provided in the original pattern were intended for machine applique, I found that many did not work too well for needle-turn applique. So I redesigned some animals and added new ones.
My intent was to represent all climatic and geographic areas, from antarctic penguins to arctic polar bears, desert camels to swamp crocodiles. In place of so many African beasts I wanted to include more animals from the Americas; so the addition of toucans, three-toed sloths, llamas, red foxes, beavers, and coatimundis.
As I went along, the project became more than just a quilt showcasing traditional big animals. I wanted to acknowledge the breadth of animal life. So I put in more of our centuries-old partners: sheep and donkeys, chickens and ducks.
I expanded the world of birds: doves and toucans, owls, blue herons, peacocks, kiwi birds, flamingos, trumpeter swans, ostriches and penguins. And added small mammals, amphibians, and mollusks: mice, bats, frogs, snails.
Even the tiniest creatures found a spot: butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, spiders.
In the end the finished hanging of 38 x 40″ has 45 pairs of animals. If you click on the image below and use the magnifying glass tool in the upper right, you can scroll around and look for them all!
I donated the quilt to its new home at Temple Beth-El, Las Cruces, New Mexico, in May 2024.
