Man, this was harder than I expected to choose this time around. Can you believe it, I have finished 16 quilts this year (4 mini quilts, a few I haven’t shown yet).

For now though, this quilt means so much to me for so many reasons, hence the choice to submit it for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. The inspiration for this quilt, came from a photo taken of Crater Lake (by Anne @ Play Crafts). I loved the composition of the photo and the colors were so great!! I knew almost immediately, that this design was going to be a simple abstract view of Crater Lake.

This was the first time, I could use my knowledge of Biology and Math together with my creative side. I was so ecstatic.

Did you all know that I have a MSc in Marine Science where I studied ecology. I don’t use that degree practically today, but it was one of my favorite experiences in my life. In ecology, we learned about how plant species change as altitude increases, giving you different zones/ecosystems. That is what the lines represent from the bottom lake, the two plant zones and then the snow-capped mountain.

This design while simple which allowed me to be creative with the quilting but I still wanted to not take away from the design. For the mountain, I keep the straight lines which represents the stability and solidness of the mountain, while the air I played with ultra curvy lines – like air waves/wind. Lastly for the lake, as it was not symmetrical I did not do circles (my first idea). I choose to do more of an improv. variation straight line patterns to get the movement.

Details

Name: Altitudinal Ecosystem
Design: Designed by me, available from the MQG site (if you are a member)
Fabric:  Kona Solids (White, Shadow, Pickle (which was provided by Robert Kaufman), Wasabi, Prussian, Oasis); Back: Woodland in Pine, Indian Summer, Sarah Watson, AGF, Kona Solids (White, Shadow, Pickle, Oasis, Prussian)
Dimensions: 60″ x 60″
Quilted: Using walking foot and matching Aurifil 50wt threads; Ultra wavy lines, Improv. Irregular block shapes, Straight line quilting.

To top it off this quilt was selected as Quilt of the Month for the Modern Quit Guild this year. It is available as a pattern, if you are a MQG member. I will be releasing soon via craftsy, also to non-MQG members.

I hope you all love this project too and I love sharing in the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Please go and vote and/or participate.  You can also nominate quilts for viewers choice award. It’s great to see all the submissions.