My entry to Rituals called a Gardner's Life

Every year I am invited to enter an invitation only show. This is a huge honor and I always make sure I send something. The group that put on the show had a different theme each year. This year they also changed the size from 36"x48" to 24"x 60". Every year I am nervous I will not be accepted and this year even more so just for the fact that this quilt is so different than other things I do. I used upholstery fabrics to add texture to the earthiness of this quilt. I didn't realize what I was taking on as upholstery fabric is a nightmare to work with. It is stiff and doesn't lend itself to quilting in the same manner as cottons do. I intermingled cottons and upholstery fabrics here and there to achieve this changing story about gardening and how it is a Ritual every year during the spring and fall to plant my garden. Some of the cotton areas are quilted very heavily which draws them up but upholstery fabrics do not do that so I ran into some buckling and wavy parts that had to be addressed. I used some thread painting to do the trees and crows. Overall I am happy with the final project although very different for me. It was a nice challenge but I think I am over it!