Hidden Valley Hike, 14x14 inches
Here’s a recent finish. This one is called Hidden Valley Hike and it’s inspired by The Other Americans by Laila Lalami. This book was chosen for the Deschutes Public Library’s Novel Idea community read this year. It’s a story set in the town of Joshua Tree, California, which is right next to Joshua Tree National Park. My little quilt was inspired by a hike in the national park and features a Cactus Wren.
I created this little quilt on a piece of an old cutter quilt that I’ve used for many things. In this case I overdyed it with indigo to represent the night sky. The Joshua Tree leaves and the bird were created with raw edge hand stitched applique and embroidery stitches. I then added a field of French knots in the sky.
The Novel Idea quilts were displayed virtually again this year, so if you are interested you can watch the video from anywhere. Here’s the YouTube link: Novel Idea 2021 Quilt Show
I was inspired to try this technique by the textile artist Mandy Pattullo. Mandy has written two books on the subject, both in the Batsford line of textile art books. They are wonderful and lovely additions to any textile artist’s library. I also was able to take an online workshop with Mandy through the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club. Stitch Club is a monthly membership that I tried out for a few months. In the end I decided it wasn’t for me as there were only a few artists I was really interested in, but Mandy’s class was the reason I tried it out and it was really good. If you haven’t seen her books though they are well worth checking out.
I have been a fan of Mandy for a long time and in fact, many years ago I managed to purchase one of her bird pieces on Etsy. They go fast, so I got very lucky. This one is a Blue Tit. Isn’t it lovely?
