My Landscape Quilts

Living in the country, I am often inspired by the beautiful countryside. My landscape quilts attempt to capture the beauty of the natural world around us.

Landscape Quilts
1. Waterloo County
2. Abandoned
3. Irish Seascape
4. Let It Snow
5. Threatening Skies
6. Evergreens
7. Hills
8. Cliffs
9. Fenceposts
10. Beach

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Waterloo County
by Renske Helmuth
(20” x 26")
Hand appliquéd, hand embroidered and machine quilted.

Over the years, I have coordinated quilts for the Mennonite Relief Sale. The latest quilt, "A Bird's Eye View: Interpreting the Aerial Photography of Carl Hiebert", was made in 2005 by members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild and the Listowel Mennonite Church.

I talked to Carl Hiebert and got his permission to use the pictures from his books. After I had the initial idea, I wanted to try it myself first, to know how difficult a project like that would be. I looked through Carl's books to find the photograph that would be the most challenging to interpret in fabric. This wall hanging is the result.

The hardest part was making the pattern. In a painting or drawing there are limitless possibilities; but when you are working with fabric, the pieces have to be big enough to appliqué! Once the master pattern was constructed, I started the hand appliqué, working from top to bottom. The final result was machine quilted.

After making this piece, I was convinced that it was possible to come up with a quilt based on Carl's photography and that's how "A Bird's Eye View" came about. Here's a detail shot from this quilt:

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Abandoned
by Renske Helmuth
(22.5 "x 20")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery/quilting

This quilt portrays what is happening all over the country: where there were once thriving farms, there are now weeds and abandoned buildings. The few remaining farms are getting bigger and bigger. In this prairie scene the buildings are gone, except for some grain bins: the last sign that once a family tried to make a living here.

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Irish Seascape
by Renske Helmuth
(24"x18")
Hand appliqué and a minimal amount of machine quilting

A member of my quilt guild showed me a picture of a painting that her mother got as a gift in Ireland. She wanted to make a small quilt out of it, but did not know how to go about it. I took her picture with a promise to give it a try. The hardest part was making the pattern. With a painting you have limitless possibilities with your brush strokes, but working with fabric you have to make the pieces big enough so it is workable.

Once the pattern was made and some more fabric had been bought it was time to go at it. The actual appliqué did go fast. I would like to mount this landscape at some point, but for now I have put a border around it. It has been machine quilted, just enough to hold the layers together.

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Let It Snow
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 7-3/4"x4-3/4")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

The inspiration for this landscape came from an old postcard I received years ago.

It took a while to find the right blue fabrics, but it was a fun piece to make -- even the countless French knots for snow!

 

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Threatening skies
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 7.5"x6")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

I made this small piece for a Christmas gift. After the appliqué and embroidery I took it in and had it mounted behind glass. Framing shows one of these small pieces of really well: the drawback is that they are hard to transport to workshops and trunk shows!

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Evergreens
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 9"x7")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hills
by Renske Helmuth 2002
(4"x6")

 

 

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Cliffs
Renske Helmuth
2001
(3.5"x6.5")

I like to frame miniature landscapes and also make scenic greeting cards.

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Fenceposts
Renske Helmuth
2004
(13"x 11")
Hand appliqué

 

 

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Beach
Renske Helmuth
2003
(7"x5")
Hand appliqué

 

 

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