I have the Minnesota State Seal Quilt Finish to show you today, a pretty fun way to start the week. Connie worked her magic as usual, adding quilting details that BigJ requested, along with her own creative stitching. BigJ’s comments on seeing her work – “Fantastic!” – and I think you will agree.
The quilt measures 47 inches square. I hand drew the loon and the wild rice patterns. For the construction of this quilt, I used improv (the water) traditional piecing (the trees and border), paper piecing (the star) and needle-turn applique (the loon and wild rice). The new Minnesota State Seal was the inspiration for this quilt. You can read more about that in this post. Let me show you the highlights of the quilting.
Swirls in the water, and a little detail on the tree trunks. On the new State Seal, the trees do not have trunks. I added the trunks at the request of BigJ.
I love the quilting of the trees, don’t you? It’s so much fun to discover clever details like that in a quilt!
The loon body (sorry about the lint – I thought I had it all brushed off!) and a quick peek at the details on the wild rice.
BigJ wanted two constellations added to the quilt (these are not part of the actual Minnesota State Seal). The North Star is shown in the upper right of the sky, along with some windy swirls and the detailing in the large star.
The second request was the “Hole in the Sky” constellation, which Connie added in the left area of the sky.
And here is the quilting in the borders.
You can see that the binding was done in the same deeper blue fabric. The backing is a wavy blue and white fabric that I thought fit the water theme in the quilt. You may recognize that fabric, because I used some of the remaining pieces for the backing of my Sunshine and Water quilt.
To hang the quilt, I basted corner tabs and two loop tabs to the quilt before I added the binding. Once the binding was stitched down, I tacked the bottoms of the loop tabs down as well. I bought a lath at our local home improvement store, which set me back a whole 59 cents. It was 48 inches long and 1-1/2 inches wide, and approximately 1/4″ thick. After sanding it down and cutting the length to size, it slid right into the tabs easily and will hang flat to the wall.
The Minnesota State Seal Quilt Finish was definitely one of my most challenging quilts I’ve made this year. I am very satisfied with this finish!
Happy Monday, all!
Wendy
Beautiful, Wendy. I love it. The quilting is perfect. I do love those trees. I did something like that in a border one time, but I never thought of doing it the way it’s done in your quilt. Great idea, and very effective.
I thought this quilt was a neat idea when you shared the top. But the quilting has taken it to a whole new level! Beautiful finish, Wendy! Do you and Big J have a special place in mind to hang it?
It is fabulous. Such beautiful workmanship! You should be so proud! It is a work of art!
Yes the trees definitely needed trunks, the quilting on the trees is so unusual-one way I see the trees upside down and then my eyes refocus and see them upright! You, BigJ and Connie outdid yourselves in this quilt! Fantastic job;)
My goodness it is just stunning! That loon is a work of art – as is the entire quilt. Connie’s quilting is masterful. How interesting that BigJ asked for constellations in the quilting. My favorite thing is the trees quilted into the trees. The lath is perfect – great idea – but how will you hang it? As soon as he hangs it, get ready for numerous requests for more “state quilts”. 😉
Wow! A very stunning finish. The quilting really adds to the design elements. I hope Your Guy appreciated your efforts enough to take you out for a very nice dinner. Congrats on a very cool finish!
You should be more than satisfied with this remarkable work. Well done !!
You should be more than satisfied! What a striking and beautifully constructed work. Well done!!
What an awesome quilt, Wendy! The quilting really adds a lot to it. Have a great week!
What a beautiful finish. The quilting sure highlights all of your piece and applique design!
Fantastic finish, Wendy!
Lovely finish! The quilting added some perfect detailing.
What an awesome piece, you did that State Seal proud! (but you need to do a humorous companion piece with an actual seal (the animal) replacing the bird. – ha!)
Wendy, how great is this quilting! May be a local journalist will discover it and an artical in your local newspaper will be? I think you get everything you like if you need something for your quilting room! Your hubby knows what great work is done in there.
The details of quilting are amazing!
You did Minnesota Proud, lady! And BigJ should be happy most of his requests were noted and honored – no small feat! I, too, liked the rightsideup-upsidedown quilted trees as a fun detail.
What a stunning rendition of the state seal. I will send to my husband as we were just talking about it. Connie did a fabulous job quilting it too. I love the addition of the constellations too. This really is a magical quilt and I am sure your husband loves it.
That turned out fantastic!
Your Minnesota State Seal quilt is beautiful! You should enter it in your state fair if you have one.
Love it. All the details add to the joy of discovery!
Just stunning Wendy. All of the well thought out details and Connie’s magic made for an incredible piece of art. But your husband loves it! We all do too.
Congratulations on a beautiful finish. You and Connie worked magic on this quilt. Big J will keep up forever!!
Such an awesome collaboration between you and your husband.
And Connie!
Yeah, he’s right. It’s pretty fantastic on every level.
Aw this turned out so well! Connie does do such great work! (Can I be her when I grow up??). Great job to BOTH of you!
Excellent,