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"Home" by Carole Behan Berry is inspired by Wendy Williams' 2021 TQS BOM "Color My World" and won two ribbons.

2023 Augusta, Maine Quilt Show Sign Description: "Inspired by Wendy Williams' 'Color My World' design, my first quilt depicts homes and buildings of special meaning for family, along with our four homes over the past 40 years."

Personal Artist Statement: "My first quilt! When I saw the amazing Wendy Williams design, I knew I had to do this. Problem is, I didn't own a working machine and hadn't sewn in 30+ years. I had just started doing wool appliqué 4 months previous so decided to jump in the deep end of the pool and make it my own. Wholecloth quilt was not in my vocabulary when I started. I learned so much along my journey over the 420 days it took to complete the quilt top.

I decided to downsized the pattern to 65%. Wendy uses wool felt on many of her pieces, so I went that route finding beautiful 100% merino wool online. For threads I started with Valdani. Along the way I discovered Sue Spargo so incorporated her threads in the outer sections.

Each house and building were stitched separately then attached to the background with additional embellishing. Rather than roads, I opted for gardens and included bees, butterflies, a dragonfly, a caterpillar, snail and turtle. Family houses are included in the inner circle including dogs, cats and birds. I drafted the city buildings using photos of buildings that have meaning to me and my family, opting for three in each section rather than 4. Corner skyscrapers are city hall in my hometown of Dover, NH (clock time is when I was born), the Academy Building at Phillips Exeter Academy where my son attended (his birth time on clock), Thompson Hall at the University of New Hampshire where my husband worked (his birth time on clock) and Union Chapel in North Hampton, NH where we were married in 1983. Houses in the city are the four homes we've lived in over the past 40 years. Our fur baby, Bingo, is at two of the houses. I designed the vine border and went wild created penny flowers. When I look at my first house, the gray #9 at the top center (where I grew up) compared to the outer border, I'm amazed at how much I grew in terms of stitching.

I sent my quilt across the country for custom quilting by Cindy Paulson (The Quilted Connection) in Utah. She took my quilt to the next level!

Thank you to TQS for making this amazing design available!"

Design Credit: 'Color My World' by Wendy Williams 2021 BOM, thequiltshow.com