This is the fourth in a series of pictographic silk dupioni quilts. First, this quilt was inspired by a trip to the colorful canyon lands of Arizona.  The desert is a stark and beautiful place with an amazing ecosystem, provided you have the respect to live with it and not try to dominate it.  Also, inspiring is the story of my 4x great grandmother, who gave up her home to travel from Tennessee to Oklahoma in a Conestoga wagon to participate in the Oklahoma land rush, homestead a plot of land and eke out a living as a farmer from a sod house.  That must have taken unbelievable courage, as did all the settlers in the westward expansion.  Yet, the whole movement was hugely destructive and exploitive to the native peoples of this land.  The desert claimed many lives for those unwilling to adapt or learn from the native people who view their home as paradise.  I sought to primarily represent the magnificent desert ecosystem in this quilt, but the broken dreams of those who failed in their westward movement are evident as well.  The native story is honored in the gradation dyed and individually hand tied turquoise bead trim as well as the frame piecing, symbolizing native jewelry and basketry and pottery patterns.  My grandmother is honored in her prairie farm in the form of 560 individually made prairie points in the binding.  There are 43 living and 3 dead creatures on this quilt, all original drawings that were free motion quilted.

Awards

Best of Show, Northwest Quilting Expo, 2019

Best Longarm Machine Quilting, AQS Lancaster, 2017

Excellence in Longarm Quilting, Road to California, 2017

Best Machine Quilting, Shipshewana Quilt Festival, 2018

Best Stand up machine Quilting and First Place in Large Wall Quilts, MQX West, 2016

Exemplary Machine Quilting, Indiana Heritage Quilt Festival, 2019

First Place, Merit Quilting, Houston International Quilt Show, 2018

First Place, Large Quilt: Quilting is the Star, AQS Paducah Fall, 2017

First Place, Wall Quilt Pieced, Quilt Odyssey, 2017

Second Place, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Traditional Quilt, 2017

Third Place, Art and Innovative, Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace, 2017

Third Place, Longarm Wall Quilt, AQS Des Moines, 2016

Honorable Mention, Large Machine Quilt, AQS Grand Rapids 2017