Every summer, “”it” arrives. This past Wednesday afternoon, Janis casually placed a large bag on my table and announced that “it” was finished! And every year we can’t imagine “it” will match last year, much less exceed “it”. Well, it did and we are excited to share “it” —Janis’ appliquéd wallhanging for the Quilt Sale.
Announcing—–
“A Time for Gathering” was designed by Kathy Cardiff.
This is the original pattern–the designer explained that fall is a time of Gathering—animals gather for the cold months of winter, farmers and gardeners gather their final crops and families gather together meals and holidays. This pattern was ideal for Janis.
Janis did all the appliqué on a domestic machine. One member of our group kept repeating–“Look at all those tiny circles”. If any of you have appliquéd, you appreciate how slowly she stitched to keep all those “tiny circles” even!
The colors are vibrant and “play together well”. She selected multiple colors to add depth to the image—three shades of berries. The basket has three tweeds to complete the image of a weaving.
Look at the trees..the lines in the wool were positioned at an angle to suggest branches. The fabric used on the roof gives the impression of tiles.
The background fabric is very unique. It looks like Dotted Swiss but is a textured heirloom fabric by Diamond Textiles USA for this very pattern. The taupe color allows the bright oranges, purples and greens to sparkle.
By using wool fabric or felt, a 3-D look was created after closely stitching the leaves, etc. I don’t know if Janis counted the number of different threads used—but notice the thread is not noticeable unless she wanted it to be.
The Gathering was custom quilted, of course! It is the quilting that created the cobblestone path of the Church and the clouds in the sky above the barn and Church. Feather plumes frame the sunflowers. And there is a forrest floor of leaves quilted into the squirrels home. The quilting in the outside border creates a traditional looking frame. Janis teamed up with a very talented long arm quilter!
The backing is a batik with most of the colors used in the appliqué.
Only four cornerstones were used…the colors emphasizing the colors used. But by using only four, the quilt has a more cohesive feel.
She gave this to the Quilters at First for our annual sale. We can not put a price on it that reflects what it is actually worth—the special and many fabrics, the pattern, the hours and hours spent bent over a machine, and the custom quilting. After much deliberation, $600 was decided upon as a fair price.
We will put a hanging sleeve if so desired. It can be mailed anywhere in the US for the cost of postage and insurance.
I am looking forward to A Time for Gathering in our lives!
Quilts, Etc. 
Wow, what an incredible piece! Thank you for sharing this work of art!
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