“Love is a strong motivation.”
For years, Heidi Proffetty has had this image displayed in her home. It is a treasured photo captured by her sister on the waterfront of Plymouth, MA. Her first daughter Erin presents her soon-to-be baby sister with a flower and asks, “is she ready yet?”
Now teenagers, Heidi adores her daughters. “I love being a mom and raising my children is one of the most amazing joys of my life.” She always knew that she would create an art quilt with this special photo as inspiration. Love is a huge motivator for her, and the time was finally right.
Heidi developed the original technique behind this quilt. Starting with the photo, she renders it into a hand-drawn mosaic design. She then digitally traces and cuts the fabric pieces using an electronic cutting machine. In this design alone, Heidi utilized over 5,000 thumb-sized pieces of fabric!
The smaller pieces of fabric are then organized and fused to a base fabric. The free-motion quilting is the final step that brings the art quilt together. Heidi regularly uses Superior Threads and this project was no exception. She used Monopoly on top and MicroQuilter in the bobbin. Since Heidi often uses a Kona black cotton fabric on the backside of her quilts, these fine threads provide the perfect application that “just melts into my quilt back and looks beautiful.”
This quilt won first place at Quilt Festival 2018 in the People, Portraits, and Figures category. We give our full congratulations to Heidi!