Design Concept

This is the fourth quilt in my “Duet” series, about birds that mate for life. It is also very similar in style to my 2000 AQS Best of Show Quilt, Birds of a Different Color. The two birds are abstract and not intended to depict a particular species, although their silhouettes are similar to cranes, herons, or egrets. They are juxtaposed against a background of colorful wing shapes, suggesting that they may be members of a larger flock. The quilt top was completed on the third anniversary of meeting my wonderful husband; Ron Gentry.

As I do with all of my quilts, I made a full-size drawing on freezer paper and cut it apart to make templates for cutting the fabric. The drawing is on the dull side of the paper and the fabric goes on the shiny side, so the drawing is a mirror image of the finished quilt.

I chose warm colors for one of the birds and cooler colors for the other. The wing shapes in the background were pieced with many different hand-dyed gradations, starting with darker shades at the bottom and working toward lighter shades at the top, suggesting sky.

The quilting was done with dozens of different colors of #40 top-stitching thread in the patterns of feathers. The negative spaces were quilting with a small, over-all meander pattern. One-of-a-kind hand dyed and hand painted fabrics make up most of the piece. I have also added a few selections from my Gradations collection for Benartex to the mix.  The binding is a dark, multi-colored fabric from my Splash collection and the backing fabric is a lighter, rainbow hued fabric, also from the Splash collection.

Exhibitions:

• Bryerpatch Studio Gallery, Port Townsend, WA, February-June, 2015
• International Quilt Association fall Judged Show, International Quilt Market & Festival, Houston, TX, Oct-Nov 2015 (honorable mention)

Publications

• International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene, 2015-2016 Winter, p. 20
• Machine Quilting Unlimited, March-April, 2016, Jaw Dropper feature (last page)
• Machine Quilting Unlimited, 2017 Wall Calendar, October & back cover