In August, 2010, my friend, Patti and I went the Quilt Museum in Paducah for a workshop with Phil Beaver on how to paint fabric. We stayed with Caryl Bryer Fallert. Hollis Chatelaine came to visit and we spent the evenings visiting and watching TV.

I wanted to make this quilt to commemorate the day my grandson, Jordan, brought me the new camera to do better photography, as my old camera was shaking. We tried the new camera and the cardinal was the first picture we got. I love sunflowers and Phil is known for his sunflowers, so I also sketched some of my photos of sunflowers into a design before I went to the workshop. I spent a lot of time "planning" and designing the quilt, because I wanted that done before I attended, so I could concentrate on the painting technique and get started putting it together.

We used PFD white cotton fabric or Hoffman of California 1377-3 and Setacolor Transparent Fabric paint, Pro Chemical and Dye. He uses 13 Buttercup Yellow, 12 Ultramarine Blue, 29 Parma Violet, 23 Oriental Red, 49 Fuschia. Opague paints will not work.

The first picture is the one I did with ½ brown and yellow for petals and ½ green and yellows for the leaves. In the second picture, you saw my whole cloth yellow with brown. My third piece was red for the cardinal. I used Brown (which is yellow and violet) to streak it to get dark areas of red. We sprinkled rock salt for melting ice on sidewalks and for ice cream makers on the wet fabric. We left it to dry overnight. The rest of the workshop, we worked on cutting out fabric to make our patterns.

I really enjoyed the process of trying to find the right curve and color from which to cut each pattern piece. It was so much fun to watch the flower come alive as I placed it on the pattern.

Once I was happy with the arrangement of each petal of the flower, I would place it under the pattern and iron it down on the background fabric.

At the end of the workshop, the cardinal was not started.

Once I had the cardinal completed at home, the next step was to quilt it. The first thing I did was quilt the appliquéd flowers. I really enjoyed doing them and the circles in the center to represent the "seeds". Next thing I had to decide was where I wanted to free-motion quilt with some 12 wt. threads to emphasis the designs that I wanted to use. The first, that I knew I wanted to do, was a large sunflower and leaves. I added additional leaves in 12 wt. in the lower left hand corner to help bring the eye around the quilt. Next, I added another large sunflower in the upper left hand corner with leaves in a 40 wt. thread that blended in with the background fabric, just to give the viewer something to find. I added a few leaves in the lower left hand corner, also. Then I added my signature in yellow. Once that was completed I used echo quilting around the applique. It was a big quilt and I got tired of echo quilting, so added swirls in the areas around the edges that had not been quilted. It was sorta like McTavishing quilting that I had bought a book about.

Once I had it quilted, I needed to do a border. I decided on a cheerful border to frame it. I took all the little pieces of fabrics that I had painted, and cut out the longest strips I could find in the correct width. I pinned and laid them out around the quilt. I tried to space them in a pleasing way, and alternated the three reds so that they helped move the eye around the quilt.

My mom really liked this quilt. She went to my trunk show for BTQG. I arranged my quilts in the front of the room, and she told me I needed to put this one in the most visible spot instead of the quilt that was there, because she said it was the prettiest. She said I should enter it in shows. Leni Weiner had told me previously that I should enter shows, let people see the quilts, and I got lots of compliments at the presentation. So, I decided I would make an effort, even though I didn't figure I'd get accepted. It was the first quilt I entered in national shows. I entered it in all eight shows I knew about, and got accepted in all of them. It was fun seeing them hanging. That's how I got started showing my quilts. Since it was my first, I tried to make several of the shows.

The first show was in Lancaster, PN. I didn't know if I'd ever get accepted into another show, so I wanted to attend to see it hanging. I didn't want to go by myself, so my son, Alan, volunteered. I really enjoyed that trip. He was as much fun to watch as the quilts. He was very interested in the quilts, and asked all kinds of questions of myself and the ladies at the show. He even carried my quilting bag around for me as it got heavier with purchases.

Another show I enjoyed was the Denver National Quilt Festival X, Denver CO in April, 2015. It was a GOOD show with lots of art quilts. Patti, my other friend Becky and I flew down. We had a great time at the show and taking in the sights. Becky is a real jokester. As we checked in, I purchased a Quilt Festival bag, and the two girls went on. Becky came back and said, "Jackie, your quilt is the first one and you won a blue ribbon!" I told her, right!, and proceeded to pay for my bag. Patti came back and said, "She's right." I still did NOT believe a word they were saying. I went in and was shocked to see my quilt right by the door and a blue ribbon on it for Best Machine Quilting. I could not believe it. I NEVER imagined ever winning anything. It was so funny.

Another show I attended was the Chattanooga show. I got a call from AQS suggesting I attend the awards program. I figured that I knew what that meant. That was a third place ribbon.

Shows

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds", selected for Martha Sielman's book about bird quilts, “Stitched Journeys with Birds”, published in 2023.

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried by international Studio Arts Quilt Associates Collection Review Panel to SAQA's Online Collection February 2021

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," Special Exhibition "Call to Nature's Art," Mid-Missouri Art News/Runge Conservation-Nature Center, Jefferson City, MO May - June, 2018

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Dayton Beach FL, Feb.24-27, 2016

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Des Moines IA, Sept.12-15, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Chattanooga TN, Sept.16-19, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Grand Rapids, MI, August 12-15, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Syracuse New York, July 29-August 1, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into Denver National Quilt Festival X, Denver CO, April, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Paducah KY, April, 2015

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," juried into AQS, Lancaster PA, March, 2015

Awards

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," Denver National Quilt Festival X, Denver CO, April 2015

1st place Best Machine Workmanship in Innovative category.

"Tempting Sunflower Seeds," AQS , Chattanooga TN, Sept.16-19, 2015

3rd place in Wall Quilts - Home Machine Quilted.