AQ Contributing Editor wins challenge!

American Quilter magazine contributing editor Kathie R. Kerler won first place in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum’s Evolution Challenge with her quilt named At the Ocean's Edge. (Photo above taken by Mark Frey.) The challenge for quilters was to make a quilt based on something new—an idea, method, or device. Kathie’s quilt features an innovative technique, with dimensionality created through “mobius trefoils.” These trefoils are strips of fabric which are sewn, folded, and flattened into triangular shapes (photo below right). She hand quilted the trefoils, hand sewed them together, then hand appliquéd them to the background fabric. The background is machine quilted, and the wave border features a hand-couched metallic braid.

The quilt was made in response to an exhibition called Landscape of the Whale at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum. The purpose of the exhibition was to promote awareness of a plan developed by the community of Cannon Beach called the Greater Ecola Natural Area Plan. The plan's goal is to create a community with a strong sense of place, protecting and enhancing the natural environment of ocean, beach, the Ecola Creek estuary, and surrounding forested hillsides. Also, for the past 40 years a beach clean-up called SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) takes place in both spring and fall up and down the Oregon coast during which volunteers remove tons of litter from the shoreline. To honor this desire to protect the area's beaches and way of life, it seemed natural to Kathie to use the mobius trefoil recycling symbol.

Kathie made another spectacular quilt featuring the mobius trefoil technique. This quilt, called Framing the Future, was designed to celebrate Oregon’s 150 year anniversary of U.S. statehood. That's Kathie in the photo with her quilt. More information on this quilt and also complete instructions for making fabric trefoils are on pages 22-24 of the July 2010 issue of American Quilter magazine. AQS members can also access this article online at http://www.americanquilter.com/. Kathie earned certificates in design and embroidery from The City and Guilds of London Institute, and attended the Lesage School of Needlework in Paris, France. Kathie is also a quilt judge certified by the National Quilting Association. We at American Quilter magazine congratulate Kathie and are proud to have her as part of our editorial team.