I've lived in the desert southwest my entire life- a landscape that is more known for wide open spaces and lots of browns. I had the opportunity to take a trip to northwestern Michigan with my son and his fiancee last fall, and I found myself enthralled with a lush, green landscape very different from what I'm used to. We hiked through woods that enveloped me with verdant greens (and the very beginning of fall colors), where the view above me was entwined branches with only bits of blue sky peeking through. I loved it, and took hundreds of pictures. So far, I've made three quilts inspired by this trip, and more are in my head. A Walk in the Woods: Autumn Glory is the third in this series.
I do not want to create a realistic quilt of the woods I experienced, but rather give a sense of the tall, upright trees juxtaposed with the beautiful autumn colors. This is actually two quilts: I constructed the pieced portion with hand dyed and commercial fabrics, then quilted and embroidered it using both hand and machine embroidery. Then I constructed the wholecloth "matte", using a commercial cotton that I stenciled with Shiva paintstiks to depict the leaves. I created the stencils myself, using actual leaves that I collected on the trip. This "matte" was heavily quilted, then the pieced quilt stitched to it.
I feel like I am finally starting to find my voice with this quilt. I love improvisational piecing, and prefer to use my own hand dyed fabric as much as possible. I also like the 'calm' lots of negative space in a quilt provides. I hope the viewer can get the same sense of peace amidst the grandeur of the trees that I experienced in those woods.
