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Notes from the prairie

About my Prairie Quilts - what fun I had creating them & the search to find my own style......
Today most of my prairie quilts depict something of the land around my home.  I have taken pictures for years of the farmland, wooded areas and bits of remaining prairie lands nearby. The weathered barns, fences, windmills and chicken coops often become a focal point in one of my quilts.  With silk ribbon I can then add spiders, bugs and other details that would be impossible to create with fabric alone.

I am currently making "portraits" of individual fence posts, each with its own personality.
I fell in love with the windblown prairies and flat Illinois farmland while I was attending Knox College in Galesburg in the late 60's & early 70's.  After college I moved to Pontiac and by then was teaching myself how to make quilts.  Surrounded by nature, I soon found those influences creeping into my color choices and designs.  Thus my prairie quilts were born and over the years have evolved into small pictorial quilts using free-cut hand applique and silk ribbon embroidery.  

Close-up details   of some of my  prairie quilts