Judy Steward- Fence Boundaries

 When I heard the theme was Boundaries I immediately thought of barb wire fences. What makes me happy about this quilt is that it also shows a road and tree lines that are boundaries.

Growing up I tangled with a few barb wire fences. The fence in this quilt is what most of ours were like. Many a baseball, badminton birdie, or kick ball was sent over one in our front  yard. Dad put some boards between two of the posts so that we could climb over it easily and the fence would not be damaged.

With 5 kids in the family we all would walk down the road to the woods by ourselves to get some alone time. The fences always gave me a sense of security and by the time I stomped down the gravel road (if I was angry) to the gate I felt better. I have so many wonderful memories of walking along fences, seeing the tree lines and feeling the sense of joy as I walked into the shade of the trees. Some of those walks were with family members and others with friends.

One road we would walk down had our forty acres were on the right and my friends land was on the left. At the end of the road was another neighbors land and they had a little house on it. The man who owned the land was named Jess and he used that little house as his workshop to make corn brooms. We loved going to visit him as he created these useful pieces of art.

I can feel the roughness of the posts, the thinness of the wire, see the staples holding the wire to the posts, smell the dampness of the woods, the coolness of the shade, the creek to cross, the road to travel. “Boundaries” good feelings and good memories.

 The designing of this quilt was easy. I painted some fabric using Jacquare Dye-na-flo and Setacolor. I pieced the sky to the grass area and cut a few pieces to give the effect of tree lines.

I added the road (not in this photo). Placing the posts was the hard part. I put 3 fabric posts on and added the other 2 by thread work. All the rest was done with quilting.