PELICAN STORY INSPIRATION

I feel so fortunate to be included in a small and very talented fiber art group here in the Asheville area, known as PTA. I've bragged about them in previous posts.

Connie Brown is one of our members......this gal does it all. Besides being an excellent quiltmaker whose work frequently features curved piecing and beautiful machine quilting, Connie is also an AQS Certified Appraiser, a member of the prestigious Southern Highland Craft Guild, a bee keeper, avid fisher woman, and a great story teller.

Recently Connie told us a 'fish tale' that happened on a Florida vacation. The sun was setting, the rest of her family had headed up to their lodging......but Connie wanted a few more minutes throwing her rod in the ocean.

Well....she got more than she bargained for......at first she thought she caught a huge fish....the way the line moved.....but then she realized a Pelican had flown in the path of her line and gotten tangled....landing in the sand a distance away.

Happily, she was able to release the bird and no harm was done.......and she had a good fun story to share with everyone. I love Connie's stories.....she's such an active person with a very full life which is hard to keep up with.

I could imagine this event in a quilt, so of course I made one. It's tiny (13" x 7") and sadly, the color here isn't very accurate....but the quilt was made as a gift for Connie so I can't reshoot it, but perhaps you'll enjoy seeing it anyway.

What makes this so special is the "perfect" background fabric created by my pal Judy Simmons, who marbled and stamped it...and best of all shared it with me for Connie's quilt.

Judy also shared her methods of photo transferring pictures to fabrics, which was the base of the Pelican. It was printed on satin fabric which was fused to the background and thread painted to provide more texture.

I had more darn fun making this piece.....sometimes we need to stop and remember that not all our work needs to be those show masterpieces......(I'm not sure I'm capable of that anyway).....but sharing our love of quilting in smaller ways can be just as rewarding.