The winters at our home in the Chihuahan Desert of New Mexico are not exactly barren, but I still get impatient for more greenery. That might explain why I made these plant-themed quilts over the past few months.
“Saguaros at Sunset,” which I made for a fund-raiser in December, is my take on a pattern available from Kokopelli Quilting Company. The setting reminded me of our trip last year to Saguaro National Park, where we hiked among cacti that we don’t see here in Las Cruces, such as the saguaros. I used a batik jelly-roll pack to hand-piece the layers of the background; then I added the saguaros, prickly pear cactus, and agave with needle-turn applique, and hand-embroidered the creosote bush in the lower right. The hanging was hand-quilted.
In March I went to a Project Linus meeting looking for something bright, and this tropical fabric with colorful bugs caught my eye. But after taking a closer look, I recognized all the foliage plants we had on our property in Costa Rica–schefflera, ficus, monstera, palm. The insects receded and I just let the quilt become a jungle with appliqued monstera leaves and blocks surrounded by a leafy batik, all wrapped in a small leaf print border. I think “Bugs in the Jungle” exhausted my stash of leaf prints (for now).
This little wall hanging features willow leaves that I collected and dried in Minnesota last summer. After exposing the leaves onto pre-treated cyanotype fabric, I embellished them with embroidered veins and added the little bird with needle-turn applique and embroidery. The cyanotypes were cut into three snowball shapes and appliqued onto the paisley background. I hand-quilted both the insets and background. Now “Yellow Bird in Willows” hangs in our entryway and welcomes me home with a small bit of northern woodland.
And then there is foliage that is just out of this world. In “Exuberance,” donated to Project Linus in June, I used a fabric I received from the stash of my wonderful neighbor and friend Mary Clark. A fantastic riot of flowers and leaves announces the start of our sizzling hot summer. I chose a diamond medallion to showcase the print, then fussy-cut a few shapes and appliqued them into the blue inner border.
You can click on each quilt and use the magnifying tool in the upper right for a closer look.