Christie's Story of the Design
for
"Annette's House"

This year, we decided as a group to make a quilt that showed a house over-run with Airedales. I volunteered to draw the patterns since we needed one person to lay out the framework so that all of the parts would fit together.



This was a very fun project. First the group had several brainstorming sessions where we talked about fun activities that could be going on in the rooms and in the yard. Several people specified what sort of scene they would like to depict. but others said they would do anything that I drew. So I started by making a quilt-size drawing of a Victorian house, with interesting rooms and yard surrounding.I needed to plan for a way to assemble the quilt top, so spent several weekends drafting a pattern that could easily join the various pieces. I thenwrote directions and guidelines for block construction to ensure that all of the Airedales would be drawn in the proper scale. We didn't want any Airedales the size of horses!

Erin the perfectionist cuts blocks to size.

Nine of the blocks were done by drawing the room and the elements that needed to be in the block and having other quilters drawing the dogs or the dogs and furniture. The bedroom block is a good examplein which I drew the room, roof and window, and then sent that pattern to Sue Senerchia and she drew the bed and Airedale’s to fit in the space.

Teamwork is what this quilt is made of.

I drafted all of the pattern pieces on tear-away stabilizer. That way the fiber artists could construct their blocks right on the "pattern". This ensured that there was no puckering during block construction and also made sure that all of the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. For example, tree branches that started in one block needed to align perfectly as they extended into the adjacent block.

Two adjoining blocks.

Drawing the various scenes in each block was a lot of fun. Some people, like Nanci Nowlen who wanted a block showing her dog Gracie running out to get into the Doggie Day Care Van, sent me helpful photos. Others left the scene completely up to me. I tried to think of activities that would appeal to Airedales, and then pushed it just a little farther. I know that if possible, my Airedales would like to swing from the chandelier, drive the DayCare van, surf the net, and dance on the roof!

 Playful mischief was the underlying theme. Some of the block scenes were going to be drawn by others in the group, so for those, I drew the walls and floor of the rooms or trees and bushes that were necessary to make the yard scenes fit together. I measured out fabrics that would need to appear in several blocks, like the sky fabric, and sent quilt block "kits" out to everyone.


“I’ve taught my dogs to NEVER walk on the quilt.”

Part of the fun was answering questions for those designing their own scenes. We had long e-mail discussions about drawing furniture in perspective. Some people sent me FAXes or jpegs of their drawings so that I could make sure that things were drawn from the correct angle.

Christie helps answer quilters questions.

For the most part, I was the only person who knew how the various parts of the quilt wouldlook. But even I had no idea how each artist would interpret the drawings, what fabrics they would select and what details they would add. And since I had not drawn a few of the scenes, those were especially fun to see. When the photos of the finished blocks started appearing on the quilters' web site, we were all amazed at how imaginative they were. There was a big difference for me between knowing how the line drawing looked and seeing the artist's interpretations in fabric. Because I volunteered to photograph the blocks so that Stephanie Coulshaw could make theelectronic composite of the completed quilt, all of the blocks were sent back to me. There is a world of difference between the photos on the web page and actually seeing the real blocks. They are wonderful!


Erin supervises the lay-out of the quilt top.

I am very proud to be working with this group of women. They are constantly willing to try new techniques that cause them to stretch and grow. Each year we get new members and the more experienced members help them through what is sometimes a difficult process. I think that each year our quilts get better. The quality of the sewing as well as the imagination and love that goes into each quilt sends tingles up my spine. Many of the members of our group have their own Rescued Airedales and contribute to Rescue in other ways. So this project of making a quilt to help Airedales in need is very close to our hearts. You can see this devotion in our quilts. We are all thankful to people like Annette Hall for giving our Airedales a second chance at happiness.


Hoover, Annette Hall, Dozie and Beamer.