"Big Bertha" by Margaret Solomon Gunn won the Masterpiece Award at Road to California 2014.

Margaret writes about Big Bertha, "The traditional Dresden plate design is recreated in an original setting using bold modern green prints. Appliqué prairie points are updated with over 100 pink dots. Quilting designs are original and hand-guided."

Artist Statement: "This show quilt took approximately 22 months from start to finish. The center section with the dresden plates is all hand stitched. Some machine embroidery was used for the bias/piping and for the outer prairie points (which were stitched down). An overall 600-700 hours was spent on the quilt. The quilting was done using several shades of silk thread – 5 miles or so. The red thread is a 40wt poly. I spent about 150-175 hours on the quilting over the course of 6-7 weeks. There are many motifs, with portions of the quilting motif or the piecing repeated. I included feathers, straight and curved ruler work, and a multitude of fillers. Some of the fillers were designed specifically for this quilt. I finished the quilt with a scalloped binding."

Detail photos from Margaret Solomon Gunn's website, mainelyquiltsoflove.com