INTUITIVE QUILTING

Intuitive quilting-that is what my friend, Sandra, called letting a quilt tell you how it wants to be quilted. 

In an article for FaveCrafts.com @ http://www.favecraftsblog.com/choosing-a-quilting-design/, I shared the process of choosing and designing quilt patterns for 8 vintage quilts. 

Each of us works differently and I find that each quilt is completely different also in the process of building it. Sometimes I know from start to finish how it will be completed but most often, the quilt is a work in progress from the drawing board to the binding. It is one step at a time, one decision at a time. I find it more challenging that way. 

Here is my

SPIRITS WILD AND FREE

It is 90" by 90" and covers the wall in my entry.

It was made a long time before it was quilted and completed because I wanted it heavily quilted and doing it by hand or home sewing machine was not going to be done so it waited until I had my long arm quilter [longer, actually]. Spirits Wild And Free is made of doe suedes that has the look and feel of real suede. I  think that fabric is perfect. I guess you could call that intuitive fabric choice.

I knew that I wanted the quilting to have the look of petroglyphs like those found in caves of the cave dwellers. I don't remember what finally got the quilt onto the quilter-it usually takes some event to get off first base when a project has been set aside. Whatever it was, I am glad it came along, I love the quilt and the quilting is exactly what the quilt needed. 

The quilting represents the Spirit of the American Indian, hence-"Spirits Wild And Free".  The Mandela was the finishing touch for the headpiece and has a real coyote head in the center. There is quite a bit of bead work on the headband and around the feathers. Quilting also defines all the feathers. 

A herd of horses thunders around the border on all four sides

 I hope you can find the deer quilted in

 The bison is there, honest

 The howling wolf in the top left corner

 There is a soaring eagle in each corner

In "SPIRITS WILD AND FREE", the quilting was as important as the quilt design itself, it finished the story. 

In other quilts, quilting is secondary and compliments the quilt. That is where "intuitive quilting" comes in.

My intuition tells me that one of these days there is a whole cloth quilt [just quilting-no piecework or applique] in my future if I can decide what the pattern will be. It has been on my mind for quite a while. I love looking at quilting, don't you?

God bless you and happy quilting and crafting

Carolyn Wainscott