Peaceable Kingdom Quilt

So, I had never "quilted" before last fall... I can still say, I've never quilted"correctly".. As with all creative endeavors, I jumped in feet first, figuring it out as I went along.

I wanted to be a part of an art exhibit in Anderson, SC that took its inspiration from the Peaceable Kingdom in theBook of Isiaah:

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

After designing my work on the computer, I had my design commercially printed onto quilting weight fabric, using www.spoonflower.com, a company in North Carolina. I wanted to machine quilt the design. In retrospect, I realize a different sewing machine presser foot would be helpful in this endeavor. :) Next time... However, I completed the project without breaking a needle!

The design depicts animals peacefully surrounding the Earth. There is subtle variation within all of the colors, as there is in batik fabrics. The quilt was machine-quilted on the edge of the world, as well as in a design surrounding the animals. The edges are finished with blanket stitching, using embroidery thread that matches the colors of that portion of the quilt.

As a former Montessori Primary teacher and current stay-at-home mother, I designed it with a classroom or nursery in mind!!