Doughty Designs Stream / Zen Stream

My time for contemplation, inspiration and preparation is while walking our dog in the morning. My favorite route is through our neighborhood’s forest where I can pause on a wooden bridge over a small stream. There is never much water flowing, but it is enough to delight my eyes and ears and heart.

Creating a stream to keep in my home was a joyful process. The quilting lines portray the flow of water, washing around the textured cobblestones in the shallow streambed.

Base fabric is a print of small stones. Over that is a layer of translucent organza gathered into soft flowing folds, extending past the left and right edges of the base fabric. Thin slivers of blue hand-dyed cotton fabric are inside the organza folds. Large stones are made with 'crumpled' fabric, and placed over the organza. The piece is quilted with metallic and rayon threads.

The effect of the whole quilt is very dimensional.

Just for fun -- a fabric steam in a stony stream bed.