email Youtube

Home
Galleries
Blog
Workshops & Calendar
Store
Resources
About
Contact

Fields of Gold is going to Art Quilts XIII

To my utter astonishment and delight, one of my newest pieces–Fields of Gold– (finished in the nick of time) has been juried into Art Quilts XIII at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Chandler, Arizona.  Actually, if I tell the total truth, the facings weren’t even completely sewn down when I took the photos for my entries!

Fields of Gold

I am mind-boggled to find myself in the company of so many of the leading art quilters today…. the list of those in the show is here.

A little bit about this piece:  I had designed the center part, which I called Sunset Trees, for a project / exercise for the applique section of my manuscript.  It is 9×12 inches (or thereabouts) and I intended for it to finish at that size…small and easy to manage as a learning exercise.  Then, I was able to help my friend Lisa Walton of Dyed and Gone to Heaven (Sydney, Australia) get an entry into the IQA / Festival at Houston when she unexpectedly got a quilt finished and photographed in time, but not enough time to mail reliably (i.e. quickly) from Australia to Texas.  I told her not to send anything, but she did anyway…a metre of her glorious hand-dyed fabric that ranged from rust to gold to green.  I pinned the fabric up on my design wall, next to Sunset Trees, trying to figure out how to make a journal entry for this year.  I couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t trite (the black silhouette of an Aussie cowboy and outback house against the glowing sun…been done well by others, and too many times).  Then I realized that if I used one section of the piece, it meshed PERFECTLY with Sunset Trees’ background.

Then I mulled over the quilting… at first I thought of blowing grasses.  Then, in the back of my mind, the song Fields of Gold by Sting came to mind.  I knew I had seen a quilt named after that song somewhere…and when the Frayed Edges got together in early September I mentioned it.  Deborah piped up:  it was on my blog!  I did one!  So here is Deborah’s version!  To me, the wheat fields of late summer /autumn are Fields of Gold, so I googled wheat images, learned that some wheat has the really long whiskers, other varieties have shorter, fewer whiskers, etc.   I think my favorite part of this entire quilt is the wheat quilting!  Once again, I seem to be moving toward nearly wholecloth pieces that are drawn with thread…. Here’s a detail:

Fields of Gold detail

Enjoy…now back to working on the Elusive Crested Batiki Bird, a small piece I’m doing for another Lark book on small quilts.  Cheers!

10 Responses to “Fields of Gold is going to Art Quilts XIII”

  1. betty johnson Says:

    Sarah–I love it, especially the quilted wheat. Will we get to see it or have you already sent it off? Congrats again.

  2. Janet Stone Says:

    Major congrats, Sarah! I love the quilting and the background fabric. And to name it after Fields of Gold by Sting, that’s one of the best songs ever! Not to mention what a hottie that Sting is! I hope you win something!!

  3. Susan Brubaker Knapp Says:

    Fantastic news, Sarah! A big congratulations. It is lovely. Susan

  4. Valeri Says:

    This is a lovely piece and the quilting is superb. So serene and restful. Love it!

  5. Jenny Says:

    Congratulations! To use the large space to set off the smaller work is brilliant and the quilting is the icing on the cake.

  6. Kristin L Says:

    Congratulations, it’s really lovely!

  7. Judy Rys Says:

    Congratulations! I Love the quilting.

  8. terry grant Says:

    Beautiful piece–congratulations! The stitching of the grasses is lovely. One of my favorite songs ever. I have both Sting’s version and the Eva Cassidy version on my ipod and love both. If you haven’t heard the Eva Cassidy take you can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3YVil3Ajjs

  9. Kate Says:

    This is lovely; the grass stitching is a super idea.

  10. kathy Says:

    Sarah,
    Congrats! I love this piece. It’s both vibrant and peaceful. Thanks for sharing!

    Kathy