"Foothills, Fields & Flowers"

Quilt is 60” X 48”

The artist’s comments on this quilt

Wow, this is a big quilt -- four feet by five feet -- so it's hard to see all the fun little wildflowers in detail in this small photo and it's hard to get the full impact that its grand size presents. I left a little of my wall when I cropped the quilt photo because at the very top, you can see the green felt of my design wall which protrudes out slightly from the wall. I wanted to explain the illusion the photo gives of this quilt being curved at the top and bottom -- it's not, it's just that the corners are pinned back against my wall. I need a bigger design wall!

The photograph's lovely and restful view is looking south toward the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York. My lucky clients enjoy this view daily from their log cabin. They're using this quilt instead of a headboard over their bed -- really cool idea! They asked me to do 'my interpretation' of their view, a request that I was thrilled with, bless their hearts, because it gives me artistic license to play a little bit. Not that I'd suddenly do a Picasso-like interpretation -- I still stick pretty closely to the photo.

I raised the mountains slightly, particularly on the left, and gave them a bit of definition which was something the client requested. I'm glad because it helps the quilt feel more balanced and allows the mountains to be a more prominent component of the overall view.

I loved playing with the wonderful layers upon layers of fields and trees in the background. Look to the left of the top of the biggest tree and see the distant field that helps add so much depth to this view, for example. The line of trees in the center of the quilt allowed me to use lots of shapes and different shades of green that give you the essence of the line of trees in the photo without being too literal. I added a few small pine trees, for example, that aren't there because they tied in with the fact that the clients' log cabin is surrounded by pine trees. That's also why I added pine boughs in the upper corners of the quilt -- it makes it feel more like they're in their home looking out. Not to mention the boughs also help fill some of the vast four feet of sky.

Probably the most fun for me was playing up the diagonal lines of fields and flowers that makes the photo so special. I exaggerated them by changing fabrics for each diagonal that I saw in the picture. I saw a line of purple in the picture that I had to capture in the quilt. The wildflowers in the photo consist mostly of Queen Anne's lace and chicory, but since this view is year-round for my clients, I wanted to include flowers they'd see in the spring, summer and fall. You'll find daffodils, lupine, daisies, black-eyed Susans, groups of bluets and other flowers all blooming at once in this quilt. I had cut out lots more flowers and colors during my design process but it ended up looking like a garden instead of a field of wildflowers -- I think I found the right balance in the end, but believe it or not, it took longer than any other design element in this quilt top -- I spent literally days pinning tiny flowers here and then there!

The final touch is always the borders. I love how the green has a botanical feel and pulls the greens out of the view; and how the brown and green together feel like the woods -- perfect for a log cabin. The new owners report that they can't wait to get the quilt up. I bet it will look fabulous over their bed.

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