Cochise Quilt

My last post was about some of the Whimsical Quilts at Tucson Quilt Fiesta! This one is about the quilt that stole the show. It won Best of Show and Viewer's Choice. I recently found out that it also won the Ed Seright Award for Workmanship. The latter is an award given by the guild members. When you read about the quilt and see the pictures, you'll know why all of these honors were bestowed upon this quilt.

I had the opportunity to speak at length with Patsy Heacox the artist who created this beautiful quilt. She was looking for a way to help make the quilting of pieces such as this a little easier. She would like to print designs from her computer onto something that she can lay on top of the quilt, quilt through and then tear away. So we were brainstorming possible solutions.

Patsy has been making portrait quilts for about five years. She took a class from Pam Holland in Houston in 2007. She took what she learned there and then developed her own style. She loves history and once she has chosen the subject for a quilt she does extensive research into the person. In this case it was Cochise. She takes pages of notes and then decides what to put into the quilt. She usually has a picture in her mind by the time the research is done but that can change as she works on the quilt.

I was able to view her quilt "Cochise - Once They Were Like the Wind" with her. As you can see it is impressive from afar.

Cochise - Once They Were Like the Wind
by Patsy Heacox

The hands and face are inked onto fabric. The rest of the fabrics are chosen. Everything is fused onto the background. and then the embellishment process begins. Patsy uses 25 -50 different threads to "paint" in all of the detail and believe me there are so many details in this quilt.

One of the interesting details is the way she did his feet. Not only do they extend into the bottom border, but his right foot actually goes off the edge of the quilt. There's also a little lizard between his feet and a gecko that extends into the inner border.

Bottom of the quilt

There are no photos of Cochise so Patsy had to create an image of him based on what she read and her imagination. She told me that as she worked on it she thought she could feel his presence. I love the detail in the face and the way she did his eyes. They have the shading and sparkle that make them very realistic. He is wearing a real piece of turquoise around his neck and the band around his head is folds of fabric.

Face Detail

The mountains behind him are the Dragoon Mountains. Along with random quilting, words related to them are also quilted in them. Here is a detailed picture of a small portion of the mountains. You'll also see some of the thread painting in his hair.

Mountain Details

There is written text on the quilt. In addition to what you see in the picture of the mountains there is text that includes his birth, marriage, etc as well as a couple quotes. When I looked at it I complimented Patsy on the way she incorporated machine embroidery into her quilt. She corrected me. What looks like embroidery is actually the words inked onto the fabric. She quilts around every part of every letter giving it the look of being embroidered but this is way harder. When you know what goes into every single letter, you appreciate her talent even more.

Letters are hand painted and then every part of each letter is quilted.

Speaking of quilting, if you look closely at the picture above you'll see horses quilted into the background. There are a total of 25 horses quilted into the quilt. Some are coming onto the quilt and others are running off on the other side.

Horse Quilting Detail

Patsy also includes various symbols and artifacts into her quilts. Here are some close ups of a couple that are included in this quilt.

Soaring Eagle

Piecing this star would be a challenge. Imagine how hard it must have been to quilt this so perfectly.

Look at all those tiny diamonds

I believe this is a Spirit Stick which is one of the artifacts quilted into the quilt.

Spirit Stick Quilting Detail

I hope you have enjoyed this rather lengthy, but what I hope you found to be inspiring, post. I have a feeling that Cochise will be traveling to some other shows. I encouraged Patsy to submit it to Pacific International Quilt Festival and she is thinking of entering it at Road to California next year. The pictures are good but seeing it in person really makes you appreciate it even more. I hope you'll have a chance to see this beautiful portrait quilt someday.

Happy Quilting,

Carol