Meet Cherrie Hampton, winner of the 1st Place SMALL WALL QUILTS: 1st Entry in an AQS Paducah Contest, sponsored by YLI Corporation.
After the gentle urging of her friends, she chose to take a chance and enter one of her pieces in the AQS QuiltWeek™ – Paducah, Kentucky 2013 contest. Not only did she have her quilt accepted, she won the first prize in her category, sponsored by YLI Corporation!
As a proud resident of Oklahoma, Cherrie’s quilt is a celebration of her state through her realistic interpretations of images and scenes instantly recognizable to that state’s residents. She credits her inspiration to three things:
The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Not only is it the state bird of Oklahoma, Cherrie also loves it for the unique characteristics it brings. It’s sweet little voice inspired the title of her piece, WINDSONG, and really served as the inspiration for the entire work.
She loves the unique scissor action it makes when flying—no surprise to a quilter with such intricate piecing in her work.
She reproduced the bird with such realism that it was a beauty to behold in Paducah. If it weren’t for Cherrie’s amazing quilting, you could hardly tell the difference between the two!
Realistic Windmill
Like the realism in the birds, her quilt is a masterpiece at the realistic display of the windmill as one of its anchoring points.
The windmill vanes have superb depth and realistic color. She shares her secret to reproduce such a realistic look in this part of the quilt. Using hand-dyed fabric, up to eight different fabrics are pieced together to make the vanes come to life.
Breath of the Work
Appreciated at both a distance and up-close, the background and sky bring to life her third, quintessential element of Oklahoma life—the wind. Cherrie felt it was extremely important to represent the wind and not just its beneficiaries. She chose to represent the wind through the quilting itself. After a lot of research on techniques, she decided the best approach was to use invisible thread as a part of her quilting.
And the results are stunning!
The movement and life within the piece are a sight to behold. Congratulations Cherrie!
Andrea from AQS takes a moment to chat with Cherrie on the busy show floor about her quilt. View the interview below.
I love your quilt, Cherrie. Windmills are a favorite of mine too. Great job.
This is so amazing!
Beautifully done … Congratulations!!!