The past two days have been absolutely gorgeous. I went for a walk on our local greenway yesterday. Not many signs of spring yet except for the frantic croaking of the frogs who are trying to find partners to make little tadpoles. The wetlands over which the boardwalk traverses are exceptionally muddy and wet after all the rains and snow-melt this winter.
I also took advantage of the warm day to sit out on the deck and finish reading my latest novel: The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, by Stieg Larsson. Yikes! What a novel!
And here is my latest customer quilt. This one is for Gertrude, and it is only her second quilt. She brought me the first one before Christmas, and at the time asked my advice about finishing this one. She had intended to machine-quilt it on her DSM, and had the top and batting cut in manageable strips and partially machine-quilted. She is no longer able to do the machine-quilting. I suggested that she take out the quilting, seam the top together, and get a new batting. So she did, and now it is ready for her to pick up.
The quilt has a Lewis and Clark theme. They were early American explorers who journeyed all the way to the Pacific with the assistance of an Indian woman named Sacajawea . The background fabric has tracks of various wild animals, there is a feather print border, and there are a variety of sampler blocks.
What really makes this quilt striking are the solid black appliques of buffalo, bear, and the human figures involved in the journey. I decided to just echo around them.
Otherwise, I free-motion quilted with lots of leaves, pine needles, and feathers...the bird kind of feathers. 
In some of the larger areas, I quilted in some of the wild animals from Laura Lee Fritz's book, 250 Continuous Line Quilting Designs. I think it is fun to find a quilting surprise here and there!Can you spot the grizzly bear standing on his hind legs?
Here is a little fawn.
The Moon Over the Mountain block features a mountain goat.
7 comments:
What a nice quilt for only a second attempt. I love the way you quilted it, too, Jeanne. I always love nature theme quilts - these shadow animals really show it off.
I love this quilt. The applique bears and the shadow animals are wonderful! I wish I could see this in person.
That book is one of my favorite books in recent years. I also loved The Girl Who Played With Fire. Great quilting, as always!
Great quilting! What a wonderful quilt, and I love the little surprises in the quilting too. :-)
My Aunt and I are just putting together this Lewis and Clark quilt and would love to hear from you about quilting each of ours? This is my first quilt sampler. I have made patchwork quilts over the years but nothing this "official". Loved seeing this one, keeps me motivated.
Sewteresa, thank you for your comment. I did not have an e-mail address to reply to you. Please leave your email address if you would like me to contact you about quilting your project.
I was given this quilt by my FIL. My MIL passed away before finishing the quilt and he let someone quilt it that did a terrible job. I'm in the process of tearing it all out and going to have a good friend machine quilt it. But I am looking for more if the backing fabric. Would you happen to have any left I could buy from
You??
pamahnert@yahoo.com
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