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"After looking at photos in books of vintage Provence quilts for many years, I decided to make a list of design elements in many of them that would lend themselves to a miniature design, and then mapped out the basic areas to be quilted. The central formal arrangement was drawn and then traced onto the quilt top, as was the circle for the wreath and the center lines for the outer border vines. The feather groups in the border were quilted free hand with no drawing, so they are all a bit different. The quilting fills the spaces created by the vine undulations, much like that done with hand quilting in the actual Provence quilts. Typical fan quilting completes the four corners of the inner square, and the tiny freehand circles, like a string of pearls, in the feathered vine and wreath are based on the same motifs in the original quilts.
A pleasure to quilt, this original miniature design is similar to vintage wholecloth quilts. The mood of it, the elegance and formality, the details and designs, the sheer joyfulness of it all are a reflection of these old quilts, but done with modern techniques. I used my home sewing machine for the quilting, with a magnifier on it for the tiny background fills. I let the designs go where they seemed to belong, to balance space, to create movement, harmony, and excitement in the design itself. The central part is an "over-the-top" organic feather bouquet, emerging from a small formal urn and running riot within the containment of the encircling feathered wreath. The small repeated fans or clamshells in the four corners are one of my favorite elements of this design. They create such wonderful texture, catch the light in different ways, and all are a bit different in how they are resolved in each center.
Quilting this was a marvelous challenge to me, and when finished, I felt as if it had almost quilted itself, and I was only the onlooker as each design unfolded in front of me.
Working in miniature is an exciting challenge but a difficult one. Designs have to be in proportion as well as the quilting itself. Keeping things true to a large scale enlargement but still feasible is the test. Stitches are small, but still visible, and designs could be enlarged and maintain their beauty. A magnifier was very helpful on my machine in doing the intensive background designs, and some of the tiny circles and feathers."