Decorating with Quilts

When Maureen Wolfe wants to decorate her home with art, she just makes it herself. Every room in her house showcases her works of art, which are appliquéd quilt wall hangings so intricately crafted you'd swear some were paintings.

"The idea behind appliqué is to make it look like the fabric pieces have been painted on," she said. Such a result is achieved by using tiny, unseen stitches to sew fabric pieces of various colors and sizes onto a larger piece of fabric to create a picture or design, she said.

A cats quilt hanging in her living room, for example, is comprised of nine squares, each of which contains roughly 70 appliquéd pieces. She hand-stitched tiny pieces of fabric onto each square to create pictures of cats. Then she sewed the squares together and appliquéd an arched border with flowers and greenery around two cats in the center of the quilt.

Appliquéd quilting is time consuming and requires patience. But "it's not the goal, it's the journey. It's like going into another world, and it's very relaxing."

Working off and on, it took her about three years to complete the cats quilt. She hand-sewed the quilt while her husband drove them to their jobs at Yuma Proving Ground, about 30 minutes away.

Sometimes when they left home at 5 a.m., it was still dark, so she used a neck lamp to illuminate her handiwork. She sewed the quilt during lunch breaks, the drive home from YPG and even during a plane trip to Pensacola, Fla.

Quilting is a portable hobby because the pieces currently being used can be carried in plastic baggies, she said. Later, it can all be pieced together at home, then quilted on the go using a small quilting hoop versus a large frame that's not portable, she said.

Now a finished piece of art, the cats quilt is the first thing guests see when entering the Wolfes' home. Hanging on a wall opposite the front door, the quilt is the focal point of a grouping that includes a wooden side table with accessories.

Wherever a quilt hangs in her home, it seems perfectly coordinated with the style and colors of the room. While people often choose artwork to complement decorating themes, Wolfe said she usually does not.

She neither uses her quilts as inspiration for a room's décor, nor does she craft a quilt to complement a room. Instead, she is drawn to certain patterns or fabrics.

She attends quilting shows and workshops throughout the country to learn new techniques, get ideas and collect fabric along the way.

So when she sees a new pattern, she envisions how it might look if it were pieced together using one of her fabric collections. Or if she sees a quilt with striking fabrics, she imagines how they would look with other patterns.

Once inspiration does strike, Wolfe does not have to go to a fabric store for supplies. She simply goes into her well-stocked, neatly organized home quilting studio and chooses the desired fabric and thread.

After finishing a quilt, she is pleasantly surprised to see how well it goes with a certain room's décor. "I think sometimes the colors in the room are subconsciously rolling around in my head when I choose fabrics."

Though Wolfe has been quilting since 1992, handcrafts have always been a part of her life. She grew up watching her mother, who was a Quechan tribal member, embroidering, beading, weaving blankets on looms and passing down the weaving tradition to younger tribal members.

Wolfe herself learned embroidery and beading as a child, so it should come as no surprise that she incorporated those crafts into one of the quilts she pieced. She appliquéd soft, pastel-colored flowers onto squares, embroidered the petals to make them stand out and stitched tiny beads in the flower centers. On other squares, she made beaded cross-stitched flowers.

Quilts are not only for country decorating themes. Wolfe made a small, contemporary quilt with a seascape to hang over a towel bar in her guest bathroom; a large, traditional quilt in soft, calico pastels to hang in her guest bedroom; and a medium-sized one with a bold, Tuscan fruit motif for her kitchen wall.

There are more quilts in other rooms, as well as more quilts in progress. "I usually have about five projects going at a time."

She is just as passionate about teaching quilting techniques as she is about learning and using them. She and other members of a quilting group meet to share skills and ideas at 9 a.m. on the first and third Friday of every month at the Quilting Bee. The address is 2360 W. 32nd St., and the number is 726-3000.

Anyone who is interested may attend. Be forewarned, however. Quilting is addicting, Wolfe said with a smile.