"Open Borders" by Anna Maria Parry was featured in her exhibit, "Anna Maria's Blueprint Quilts" at Houston 2024.

Artist Statement: "I designed and started this quilt while waiting for borders to open between countries during the pandemic. I used fabrics that were mostly collected during my 2018 teaching tour in Australia. It felt like a love letter to travel and hope to get on the other side of the isolation to see the world again. The X formation inspired the design, but I used more layering of piece sizes and appliqué."

Techniques: Hand Appliquéd and Quilted; Machine Pieced

Design Source: Blocks used are Log Cabin, 36-Patch, Half Square Triangles, a self-drafted Light Ray block, and versions of Dresden Petal Fans.

About the "Anna Maria's Blueprint Quilts" Exhibit: "After 20 years of quilting, Anna Maria has unearthed the essence of how she designs quilts based on overall structural features. Discovering this about her process inspired this body of work where she focuses on a few structures and then varies those themes in multiple ways. Anna Maria said, "It feels safe and joyful to have some parameters, yet exciting and challenging to find diversity in palette, technique, and composition. Letting go of "my style of quilting' and simply engaging all my interests was splendid.""