Primitives on exhibit

This gorgeous wool applique quilt will be part of a special exhibit of primitive/folk art style quilts at the 2016 International Quilt Festival in Houston. Fine Feathered Friends by Jolene Mershon of Mansfield, Texas, was one of 22 quilts chosen for the exhibit.

This quilt is alluring for many reasons, chief among them  the woolen fabrics. I could tell right away they'd been culled from clothing, not just purchased in quilt stores. The backgrounds are Daiwabo Japanese taupes. The combination of wool and yarn-dyed cottons create a textural feast for the eyes -- and a different kind of challenge to quilt.

I outlined quilted the applique, and quilted in some details in the larger applique pieces. Leaving big pieces unquilted is bad for a quilt. Uneven quilting will not only appear unsightly, but it creates weak spots, areas where the elements will pull and wear. For example, in the photo below, see the benefit of only a small amount of quilting in the orange flower, leaves and the eggs in the nest.

Where the background fabric already had textural pattern, I quilted along the pattern, not against it. And one of my favorite things: diagonal rows of channel quilting in the border. Three rows of lines close together, then a channel of unquilted space, make for a sensational traditional border design.