Landscape Quilts

I had the privilege of meeting Valerie Hearder at the Houston International Quilt Festival. She is the author of "POINTS OF VIEW Landscape Quilts to Stitch and Embellish" published by Martingale & Company. Valerie's work is so inspiring and her book is beautifully done. I immediately began collecting the things I would need to begin my own journey in landscaping.

I invite you to read my artist profile of Valerie in this month's issue of CQMagOnline and learn more about her career in textile arts. She is a gifted artist with the ability to share her knowledge with clear and concise directions.

I've started my landscape and I'm so excited with the potential for embellishing. Being a crazy quilter, I couldn't help adding a piece of dupioni silk and velvet along with the beautiful batiks. You will have to use your imagination to see the large oak tree on the left side. There will have to be a fence on the right side with silk roses hanging from it. Valerie has a wonderful technique in her book for stitching a fence that I plan to use. I can't seem to get a good picture of my landscape - it isn't as dark as it appears here.

Here is a portion of the fabrics I've collected. I also have some African sun prints by Langa Lapu that I plan to use in other landscape projects.

Most of the supplies you see in the picture below are available at Valerie's website. My next step is to paint the sky. I've selected a piece of white moire. I think it will add a nice texture and appearance. It's been years since I've painted so I'm questioning my ability to accomplish this step.

In the April issue of CQMagOnline I hope to have this project finished. I'll share my experiences and pictures of my finished landscape. I started to say "masterpiece" but that might be setting myself up for failure.

In my mind's eye I can see this finished landscape. Now to have my hands do what my mind sees.