View from the Bridge

Cottons, batiks & prints

This wonderful collage applique piece includes iconic images from the Town of La Conner, WA. At the top center, stands the 1891 Gaches Mansion, home of the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. Beneath it you can see the Rainbow Bridge (La Conner landmark) and the fields of tulips stretching out with Mount Baker in the distance. To the right, a boat snuggles up to the dock in the Swinomish Channel that runs through La Conner, while Ocean Waves blocks fill the left bottom corner.

A 1/4″ green border surrounds the image, followed by a 1.5″ hand-dyed border. A small binding finishes the edge.

This quilt is on display through mid-June 2012.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of the Artist.

Image by Mariana Foliart.

Tulip Fields Forever

Cottons, Ikat, organza, tulle netting, twill ribbon

Made for her Barns & Botanicals Exhibit at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum in 2008, Laura has created a picture in a frame using only fabric. Using raw edge applique, she builds the picture, starting with the most distant elements. The sky has layers of organza to create depth. The fields of tulips are created by layering different fabrics then sprinkling tiny bits of fabric for the mid-section tulips. The foreground tulips are individually applied to the background. The lower 2/3 of the piece is covered with fine tulle netting and the quilting begins. Laura uses a variegated thread to stitch in details in the fields and outlines the foreground tulips.

A 1/4″ white border surrounds the field, followed by a 3/4″ brown border, and a 2.5″ Ikat border. A narrow ribbon is applied on top of the Ikat border. The whole effect is one of framing the central image. A small print binding finishes the edge.

This quilt is on display through mid-June 2012.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of the Artist.

Images by Mariana Foliart.

The Church in the Wilderness – A River Runs Through It

Cottons, embroidery floss, silk ribbons, embellishments

Made for the 2005 Piecemakers Times and Seasons calender, this twelve block quilt is covered with hand embroidery. Each block represents some type of church service, be it a building or just in the great outdoors. The blocks are hand appliqued and machine pieced together. The fabrics include both prints and solids. Cottons, metallics, leather, felt are some of the materials used. Embellishments include:  beads, crystals, sequins, silk ribbons, buttons. Techniques used include embroidery and photo transfer.

A 1/2″ tone on tone border surround all sides, followed by a 3.75″ red checked border on all sides. Hand quilting is found in outline, contour, wind/sky motifs. The border is quilted in an intertwining leaf pattern. The backing is a brown tone on tone floral. A 3/4″ straight-grain binding finishes the edges.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of the Piecemakers.

Images by Mariana Foliart.

Crazy Quilt with Black Velvet Border

Silk, velvet, commemorative ribbon

Twenty 10.5″ blocks of silk and velvet form the field of this crazy quilt. Silk commemorative ribbon has a crest, shield, twisted rope and the words “Burlington 1879.” The pieces are foundation pieced in lights and jewel tones giving the piece a feeling of stained glass. Individual patches may contain appliqué or embroidery and some patches are bisected with embroidery to create “smaller patches.”

All the edges have extensive embroidery done in many colors with different stitch styles. There is an appliqué moon and butterfly. Hand embroidered moons, flowers, bird, snowflake, and branches. Machine embroidered horse and flowers. There are also painted elements (Asian figures, butterfly) and ink work (owl on branch.)

A mitered black border of wide and narrow ribbed velvet surrounds all sides. The maker has embroidered a 1.5″ decorative border into the ribbing in gold colored embroidery floss. The backing is an evergreen colored satin, which has been embroidered with a feather stitch to tack the backing to the front following the blocks and border. The front is turned to the back, finished with a feather stitching to hold it in place.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of Gwen Jacques.

Images by Mariana Foliart.

Kazakh Tapestry

Cottons, silk threads

This Embroidered tapestry was made as a wedding gift. It is made to hang in a yurt, the housing of nomadic people in Kazakh. These types of tapestries are usually not not finished on the bottom edge because they are designed to be used behind furniture. The designs are stitched using silk thread from Russia. The patterns are made with a very tiny chain stitch. Edged with a wide border of red velvet, the tapestry has hanging loops for display.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of Maggie Ball.

Image by Mariana Foliart.

Feathered Star Quilt

Cottons

Nine 22.5″ Feathered Star blocks make up the field of this quilt from the estate of Anna Gray, originally from Mt Pleasant, Iowa. Her fiancee, Dr William Gray, moved from Mt Pleasant to Fairhaven (Bellingham, WA) area in 1890 and they wrote love letters back and forth until she could join him. His letters are found in the book, My Darling Anna, written by Brian Griffin and Neelie Nelson.

The Feathered Star blocks are complex, containing many pieces. Simple blocks may contain 125 pieces, each of these blocks have 205! A 3″ border finishes the top and bottom of the quilt. Hand quilted in double vertical lines at 1″ spacing over pieced blocks, feathered wreath & diamonds in large blocks (also half wreaths along edge), and grid in smaller squares. A small binding in green finishes the edge.

Image by Mariana Foliart.

 Silk Cigar Ribbon Quilt

Silks cigar ribbons

During the late 19^th century, Silk Cigar Ribbons were commonly found around a bundle of boxed cigars. Each manufacturer of cigars would make their own labels. A short-lived practice, the silk ribbons were replaced with paper bands in 1900. A wide range of pale to golden yellow are the most common colors with white, red, blue, and green being more rare.

The maker of this quilt used color to an advantage, making a nice colorwash in the center block and setting the ribbons in the other blocks in a definite pattern. All the ribbons in the center field of this quilt are tacked with the embroidery stitches, while the ribbons in the ruffle are machine pieced. The backing is a copper colored silk.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of Louise James.

Image by Mariana Foliart.

Fan with Embroidery

This crazy quilt is composed of twenty-five 11″ fan blocks, in which the blades are hand pieced to a foundation block. The block edges are sewn together by machine. The fabrics include silk and rayon in satin and crepe finish; mostly solids and a few prints. Two fans have alternating colors; one has a random mixture, while the other fans have a color sequence beginning in the center and working outward. Hand embroidery follows the inside and outside of every fan. The date, 1933, appear in one corner and a rose in the other.

The border is made up of elongated “prairie points.” The pink satin backing comes to the base of the points on the reverse and is stitched in place with a feather stitch. The batting is wool and the quilt is tied with yarn.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of Lee Glendening.

Image by Mariana Foliart.

Embroidered Flowers Quilt

All cottons. Machine pieced, hand embroidery, & machine quilted. Machine applied binding.

The top is composed of thirty 10″ x 18″ embroidered blocks. Each of the blocks is embroidered in a flower design; all done in a running stitch. The quiltmaker used Nile green for the sashings between blocks. Hazel made one of these quilts for each of her six children.

A white 3″ border completes the top and bottom edges of the quilt. A small binding in Nile Green finishes the outer edges. Quilting is by machine and is only on the seams. A thin blanket is the filler and faded Purina feed sacks are pieced for the backing.

Part of our permanent collection. Gift of Lynda Kennedy.

Image by Mariana Foliart.