Several years ago (2015!), my sister Anne and I started designing a collaborative art quilt titled Water: An Element. We designed it as a 3-part quilt, with river fabrics on the left side, ocean fabrics on the right, and a waterfall in the center. We worked on it sporadically, to this point in January 2016.
Over the next few months, Anne worked on the center panel. She made the center section dimensional, stuffed with netting and tulle, with lots of hand-stitching and beading. I took home the right section of the pattern, and the fabrics we selected for it, to start piecing and appliqueing.
By July 2016, we had essentially completed the center (Anne) and right panel (me). Since then it has been displayed on Anne’s design wall waiting for us to complete it.
In December, knowing I would be visiting Anne, I finally pieced the left section and brought it with me to Victoria. Here are the three sections pinned together on Anne’s design wall.
We backed each section with white felt. We quilted the right and left sections, then attached the 3 sections together.
We were determined to complete it during my visit – and we did! On December 30, 2022, Anne and I hand-sewed the binding together – one of us on each side of the quilt, like an old-fashioned quilting bee! (I tried to publish this post at that time, but I had a problem loading my photos using Anne’s computer. So I posted it on Instagram, and I’m finally publishing now.)
Here is Water: An Element. The finished size is 24 x 53 inches.
The center waterfall section is dimensional, stuffed with netting and tulle, hand-stitched and beaded. The side sections are machine pieced and machine quilted. The fabrics came from both of our fabric stashes, including some of Anne’s hand-dyed fabrics and a photo of her surfer daughter printed on silk and appliqued.
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I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.
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Looks great Terry! Love the collaboration approach.