“Have we told you about the time a swan came to our front door?”
That’s a question we’ve asked birding friends recently.
There’s been a lot of chatter about rare birds, trumpeter swans, in our area. These birds normally live in western Canada and Alaska. They don’t like the South. In fact, the pair now visiting Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge near Juliette, GA, are believed to be the first ones to ever visit GA.
Our Minnesota friends recently posted photos of a huge flock of swans near them. I was enthralled and obtained permission to use their images in art quilts, thinking I’d not be likely to see any of these birds. Then, we heard there were some swans near us! (More of Mary Ellen’s Minnesota stories are here.) This photo by Bruce Lundstrom.
On Saturday, Jim and I drove to Piedmont and were fortunate to find the pair close to shore at a pond. We quietly approached the group watching, visited with old friends and made a couple of new friends. Then everyone else left and we slowly walked out on the deck and got even closer to the beauties.
We had heard that the two stayed on the far side of another pond, so Jim took his big lens. The birds were so close to us that he couldn’t get the whole bird in a shot. I had carried my camera thinking, “this is a waste, I can’t see them well enough to photograph.” Wrong. I could, I did. Jim went back to the truck (walking ever so slowly and quietly) to get a smaller lens.
I was thrilled to capture a few images, but I was so mesmerized by the glassy surface of the water, by the reflections of the trees and the birds, and by what I saw as parallel behavior of the swans, that I would forget to put down the binoculars and pick up the camera.
But snap the shutter, we did. Jim got great detailed shots of the birds, I got some surprisingly nice images, too. I love the two birds with the loose feather floating on the water!
I was thrilled when I realized I had captured a heart in one shot!
Their balancing acts as they preen, stretching that long graceful neck into Mobieus-like positions, that one big black foot in the air, the thrill of them when they unfurl those huge, huge wings – all formed indelible moments in my mind.
I knew standing on the dock on Saturday that this elegant swan would be the subject of my next drawing in Mark Ballard’s class.. From the moment I snapped the shutter, I said, “that’s the pose.”
Oh, and the earlier encounter with a swan was on Mother’s Day, 2004. Our Welsh Corgi, Dixie, greeted a mute swan at our front door. We lived a couple of blocks from the nearest lake, so our photos of her are not surrounded by reflections or ripples of water. But the visit was memorable.
That swan twisted her long neck into crazy positions, too.
Next project: stitching some swans!
I was recently asked to create an art quilt as a gift for Phyllis. I have never visited her home and don’t know her style. I struggled with the design until I realized that I know one thing Phyllis really likes; art by Mark Allen Ballard.
I printed the image of the coneflower on silk fabric, layered it on wool batting, and added dense free motion quilting with a fine silk thread. Dense stitching around the image packs that portion of the design down, forcing the unstitched areas to puff up as if they are stuffed. Stuffed work, or trapunto, has been done for centuries, especially on wholecloth quilts, to add dimension and interest to quilts.
Once the silk portion was quilted, I added an inner border using a gradated blue fabric, leaving a larger border on the bottom. I wanted to add interest to that space, so I continued Mark’s design by adding stems and leaves stitched with a heavier green thread.
That layer was attached to a vintage cross-stitched quilt. I used 
I have recently enjoyed incorporating pieces of art from unknown stitchers of the past, using vintage quilts and linens. This piece did that and more. I collaborated with Wendy by using her fabric, Jude by using her technique, and Mark by using his drawing. It was especially fun to share the stitching experience with Mark. He was excited about the prospect from the beginning, interested in the progress of the piece, and in reports of Phyllis’ reaction. His agreeing to add his signature to the label makes the gift a special treasure for her.
Some of my quilting sisters think I’ve recently “gone to the dark side.” Now that I’m taking art classes with artist 
Further details of this quilt: This was early in my life as a hand-guided, freemotion machine quilter. I had previously used matching or transparent thread attempting to make my irregularities less noticeable. Here, for the first time, I dared to try the continuous curves using a heavier, contrasting thread. I marked a one-inch grid and used that as a guide. The border fabrics are batiks, the vine is a quilting-weight cotton cut on the bias, batting is Dream Cotton request, and threads are cotton.