Ricky and Lucy

"The inspiration for this quilted wall hanging was various photos taken of parrots. Karen Sistek hand painted these parrots onto silk Habotai 16mm silk fabric using Jacquard Red Label dyes. After steam setting the dyes, she sent the piece to me to quilt. My mission...was to quilt it to make it look realistic. With a magnifying glass, I studied how the feather actually look on the parrots. After a lot of time quilting each and every feather, I was pleased with the overall appearance. Next decision...how was I going to quilt the black background? Parrots are more known to be in a tropical environment so I quilted in various tropical leaf designs...there's even a banana tree in there!"

-Nancy Sterett Martin