Denali Summer





In 2009, my sister Chris, asked me to make 3 identical quilts for her vacation rentals in Anchorage, Alaska.  They needed to be large enough to cover a queen bed, have an Alaskan theme, and feature red and gold as the dominant colors. 

I had lived in Alaska for a short time in 1999-2000 and had memories and drawings from that time.  Among my favorite memories were the midnight summer sun and the dragonflies dive bombing the mosquitos.   Of course, no time in Alaska would be complete without memories of Mts. Denali, Foraker, and Hunter, the “triplets” in Denali Nat’l Park.

84" X 100"

 DS-full-o




DS-mounts-o


I came up with this design really quickly and then began work on the project.  After 14 months, and with my sister’s help in one of those final weeks, the piecing was accomplished.  I cut the 3 out together, and pieced them together at the same time.  Because of their large size and personal health issues, I asked April Sproule of nearby Fortuna, CA to quilt them.  She later told me, they were the most difficult pieces she’d ever worked on because of their complicated design and color theme. 




My sister loves them. She entered one of “the triplets” in the Alaska State Fair (it's 75 th aniversary).

It won 1st place in category “Quilts”. Judges Choice Award, Fair Superintendents Award, and the Valley Quilters Guild Award. 

She had entered many of her Bead Art pieces over her 40 years in Alaska, and won many awards, but had never heard of anyone getting 4 awards on 1 entry.

Shown at Pacific International 2011		 DS-sundetail-o





Click here to see the next quilt in the index.

Click here to return to quilt index page

Photo Credit: TMHodgson