1830's Eagle



"Birds of a Feather Fly Together"
24" x 24"  2011

This is my first commissioned piece.  It was made for Susan's Wildemuth's Eagle Quilts by the Decades project.  I am very honored to be part of this project.  Sue commissioned a varied group of quilters including a number of quilt historians and appraisers to choose a decade between 1700 and 2010 and then create a quilt that featured an eagle and read as being from that era.  I choose the 1830's -one of my favorite quilt eras and I was inspired by my antique c. 1830 flying geese w/bird pheasant toile (seen below with my reproduction).  Btw, the bird toile print in the original was printed between 1775-85 and is from an English company, Talwin and Foster and is documented in Montgomery's Printed Textiles.

Old and New

I didn't try to exactly follow the antique quilt as I wanted to use a bit of my reproduction print collection, but I think I captured the 'feel' of the original.  I especially enjoyed following her lead of combining birds themes: flying geese pattern and eagle fabric.  Hence the title, "Birds of a Feather Fly Together".  I also liked how she joined the geese in pairs so I used that idea too.

I think she had a great sense of humor and enjoyed word play, as seen in this shot of the mallard drake and hen set between the flying geese, okay wait for it .....    duck-duck-goose!
  
And finally here is a close up of my hand quilting on the eagle print (machine on the geese).