Gardens of Dreams: the art quilts of Vyvyan Emery

It's Day 5 - and the finale - of our exotic flower quilts series, and we wanted to share with you the inspiring original art quilts of Vyvyan Emery.

It's a Marvelous Night for a Fern Dance, 43.5 x 31", by Vyvyan Emery, at Rosewood Quilts

Vyvyan lives in the mountains of western North Carolina, an area noted for its many cultural opportunities and its abundance of  fine arts, textile arts, and music.  Surrounded with so much natural beauty, she takes great pride in corporating the joys of nature into her quilts which she both sells and enters into quilt shows. We love these appliqued ferns, whose leaves gently undulate as if they are listening to music. Notice how the jewels tones really "pop" against the deep black background. This quilt won first place in the small professional category at the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Garden of Dreams, 47 x 58", by Vyvyan Emery, at Rosewood Quilts

On her Rosewood Quilts blog, Vyvyan notes that the placement of the main caladium leaves in this quilt were done from a photo of her garden,  then she filled in the rest of the details with her imagination. Notice the careful juxtaposition of   patchwork monochromatic blue tints and shades which provide the contrast between the night sky and the day sky in the background.

Native to the Amazon River region of South America, the vibrantly colorful tropical caladium is grown from a bulb and makes a stunning addition to a window box, border, or patio. It can be planted in a container and grown indoors during the winter, then moved to a patio or terrace for the summer. The brilliant reds and pinks with the contrasting green make this exotic plant a perfect and original subject for a quilt.

Lotus Garden, 30 x 30", by Vyvyan Emery, at Rosewood Quilts

"Lotus Garden" is a landscape quilt which uses the traditional Far East inspired color of indigo blue to provide a rounded portal to a scene so serene and ephemeral, that we feel rested and refreshed each time that we view it. Giant lotus flowers float in languorous splendor while in the mist, a large rock rises protectively from the water. Note the use of the split-complimentary colors of blue-red, spring green, blue-green, aqua green, and aqua blue, which really bring the lotus flowers to the forefront of the quilt. A strand of reeds helps bridge the gap between the timeless beauty of the scene and the stately inner and outer border of the quilt. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow: We'll wrap up this exotic flowers series.  Later this week we're beginning a special June feature (you won't want to miss it !)