David Taylor Quilts | Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Early Works

Abandon
	This was another quilt where I wanted to create a landscape and use as few fabrics as possible. I was intrigued by the yellow batik fabric I bought in Houston, and knew it was perfect for a sky. The rest of the quilt followed quite easily. I love the broken-down barn. This quilt was the second piece I got to exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. 34x39, 2003 Hand appliqué, machine couching, machine quilted Private Collection Click here to see detail.
Big Bang
	This quilt was my entry for a challenge by Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, New Hampshire. The fabrics were all bright colors and those inpsired me to create this piece. I drafted it in Adobe Illustrator on my computer, printed it out and paper-pieced it together. It's all straight line piecing but it looks curved. I won First Place in the challenge that time! 30x30, 2001 Machine appliqué, machine pieced, machine quilted Keepsake Quilting Collection
Blue Orca
	I challenged myself to come up with an abstract quilt and this is the result. Again, all paper pieced with a variety of blue fabrics. The original image was of a hand holding a horn. I used a variety of filters in Photoshop to break it into shapes, then printed it out and stitched it together. There was quite a lot of deliberation about the title with the quilting ladies at the church one Wednesday afternoon, but Paula's choice won. That's where "Blue Orca" came from. 39x50, 2006 Hand pieced, machine quilted Private Collection
Blue Roses
	This quilt marked my first competition entry in a Keepsake Quilting challenge. I won second place for this quilt, which was my entry for their piecing competition theme, "A Stitch in Time." The design is my interpretation, which I borrowed from a line in Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" (one of my favorites!), that reads, "Time is the longest distance between two places." The blue roses fabric tied in perfectly (which you'll understand if you remember the play.) 30x30, 2000 Machine pieced, machine quilted Keepsake Quilting Collection
Pumpkin Harvest at Mayfield Farm
	My third entry in a Keepsake Quilting challenge won me an Honorable Mention ribbon. These were fall themed fabrics and my friend Erica Mayfield suggested I do a pumpkin quilt. I explained that none of the fabrics were orange, but you could add one to the challenge pack. So I chose an orange-striped fabric and the quilt came to life. I later donated the piece to fundraiser auction for the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Camp here in Steamboat Springs. 30x30, 2002 Machine appliqué, machine pieced, machine quilted Private Collection
Secret Valley
	When I lived in Florida, my friend Madeleine and I would take a trip to Colorado every summer, snapping hundreds of photos every time. I found this photo and decided to try my hand at a true landscape quilt. This was created with a lot of batiks and a lot of machine embroidery for the pine tree on the left hand side. I was thrilled during the summer of 2010, on a trek to a quilting workshop, to find myself driving through this valley again. I recognized it immediately. What a treat! 27x47, 2003 Machine appliqué, machine embroidery, machine quilted Private Collection Click here to see detail.
Survival
	This is the first quilt I adapted from a photograph. I remember taking the photo on a trip to the Four Corners area of the Southwest. I was amazed by the two daisies managing to survive on the water and dirt in the crack of this rock formation. This is one of the few times where I added embellishment other than thread to a quilt. I drew the shadows in with colored pencil. This quilt was my first quilt ever accepted into the IQA World of Beauty competition in Houston. 25x30, 2003 Machine appliqué, machine quilted Private Collection Click here to see detail.
Woodland Spirits: Autumn
	This quilt was originally inspired by some photos of Mardi Gras masks. I had plans to make and entire series of spirits of the seasons, but those quilts never materialized. Someday I will. I won a Second Place for appliqué at Quilt Colorado in 2002 for this quilt. 20x39, 2003 Machine appliqué, hand emboridery, machine couching, machine quilted Private Collection Click here to see detail.
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