Ben and friends went on a birding adventure. As is often the case, they ended up in the countryside. Ben is not a stranger to pastures and their inhabitants, but he was glad he had his camera to take this photo – this cow was not a breed he recognized.
When I saw the photo, I was entranced, too. Ben gave me permission to play with his image on fabric. At my request, he sent me a current self portrait to use, too.
When I’m working on art quilts, I try to channel my inner child – to remember that “it’s supposed to be fun.” I think I nailed it this time!
I printed the photo on fabric and added batting and stitching to give the cow dimension. I pieced sky (a bit of some old linen I had overdyed with indigo) and ground fabric. On a recent antiquing tirp (probably the day Ben was finding the cow) I had found an old pin shaped like a windmill. So I added a windmill, quilted some clouds, and had an art quilt.
I ended up with a new quilt attached to a bit of an old quilt. That’s not new for me. But this time I added pages between those two layers. This little girl had a blast!
I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but Ben uses words to tell really fun stories; so I thought words were important, too. The cow’s quote is from Ben.
The piece is layered in more ways than just the physical, which is obvious. Ben and I first met as math colleagues. When I needed a back for the cow in pasture layer, the numbers fabric jumped off the shelf and said, “use me!”.
The outer dimensions of the whole assembly are 14” x 20” .
To read about another cow quilt, check out Government Bird Going for a Ride. Or Walker’s Pasture.