Waddle © 2022 Fine Art Quilt by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Port Townsend, WA

Waddle

Copyright © 2022 Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry
Size: 41.5" wide x 21.5" high
Techniques: photography, digital design, digital painting, digital printing, machine quilting
Materials: Fabric: 100% cotton / Batting: cellulose / Thread: acrylic & polyester
Private collection: Palmer, Alaska

See details & more information below

If you would like to purchase or exhibit this quilt, please contact Caryl privately.
• Email • Phone: 360-385-2568 • Snail Mail: Bryerpatch Studio •10 Baycliff Place. • Port Townsend, WA 98368

Design Concept

Penguin Slide Show

On December 28, 2015, (mid-summer in the southern hemisphere) we were on a cruise ship which docked in the Falkland Islands. We were lucky enough to book a spot with a caravan of six, four-wheel-drive vehicles headed across the trackless peat bogs to Volunteer Point, a conservation site on the far side of the island. There, we found thousands of penguins raising their chicks. There were three kinds of penguins, gentoo’s, Magellenic, and kings. The kings were the largest (about 36” tall) and are the second largest on the planet, second only to the emperors. The king parents were all crowded together in a big circle with their young chicks, which look like balls of taupe colored fur. The chicks can’t go in the water to eat until all the fur has been shed, so the parents feed them within the circle. As the babies begin to mature, they shed their baby fur and start to form little gangs, called “waddles”. They march around outside the protected circle, and when they are finally free of fur, they march down to the beach to try out their swimming and fishing skills. Naturally, we took dozens of pictures. Fortunately, the camera does not capture the smell.

For the Waddle design, I combined individuals and groups from several different photos of the young penguins marching across the beach. I added details with digital painting and faded the background to white at the top. I designed a black and white checked border, which was printed separately. I knew the center would shrink and pucker as it was heavily quilted, so I added the border after the center was finished, to make sure it finished perfectly square. I used more than a dozen different shades of black, white, and grey threads in the quilting. The backing fabric is from my gradations collection for Benartex.

Exhibitions:

Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Digital Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Special exhibition, Road to California Quilters Conference, Ontario, CA, January 17-21, 2023
Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Special Exhibit,
- Quiltfest Greenville, Greenville Convention Center, Greenville, SC, April 20-22, 2023
- Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, September 14-17, 2023
- Pacific International Quilt Festival, dates TBA
Birds of a Fiber, Pacific Northwest Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art, La Conner, WA, January 24 - March 24, 2024