In Answer to Prayer

In Answer To Prayer by Maria Elkins
©1997 Maria Elkins, In Answer To Prayer, 46" by 28"
This was my first original quilt. I worked on it in spurts over a period of three years before I could summons up the courage to finish it.

I think of this quilt as my "sampler quilt" because I tried several different techinques for the first time. I am mostly self taught, and when I made this quilt I had never taken a single quilting class, so I relied heavily on books to learn how to make my idea come to life.

These are some of the different things I tried to learn on this quilt:

  • A “watercolor” border using Pat Maixner Magaret’s 1993 book, Watercolor Quilts
  • An original hand appliqued figure using Charlotte Warr Anderson’s 1995 book, Faces & Places
  • Machine trapunto wings using Hari Walner’s 1996 book, Trapunto by Machine, and then the wings were only stitched down on the upper portions so the feathers would stand out from the face of the quilt
  • Hand quilting using sliver metallic threads and my own quilting motifs (I didn’t want to spend the money on stencils)
  • Free motion calligraphy (not computerized letters)