A Timbered Choir

"A Timbered Choir" was a work of brainstorming collaboration with my friend, Becca (of "My Little Matroyna" fame). We adapted a pattern for a crib bumper from a baby-quilt book. We were agreed that the mix of embroidery and applique was simple, cute, and a resourceful way to use smaller scraps of some really nice fabrics I have just waiting for such a time as this.



There are 8 woodland creature blocks featuring Denyse Schmidt's "Hope Valley" greens. Most of the animals were straight from the crib bumper pattern, and I added some evergreen trees, a sun, a flying bird, and a bear to complete the set.




I machine quilted across the vertical stripes, and made a faux binding with 2 1/2 inch leaf print. The back of the quilt was finished with a muted green fabric where I embroidered a leaf and an acorn to resonate with the woodland theme on the front.

"A Timbered Choir" is named for the poem by one of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry. In this case the correlation between the quilt and the poem end there, since this sweet and light-hearted design stands in contrast to a stark and admonishing work by Berry. But the world needs a bit of both of these realities, so I'll let this inherent contradiction rest as it is.