Awards:

• Pacific International Quilt Show 2002 - Best Pictorial

• Quilter's Newsletter Magazine December 2003 - Photo Finish

Techniques:

• Hand applique- scrollwork, Rat King, rat army, nutcracker, toy soldiers, and the six ballet scenes.

• Machine embroidery- majority of the Land of Sweets

• Machine pieced- Floor, stairs, columns, and ceiling

• Embellishments- garland on Christmas tree, and the Nutcracker and Rat King costumes

• Threadplay- faces

• Fabrics- commercially available cottons, synthetic metallics, satin, overdyed commercial cotton for the mouse skin to tone down the pinks I could find.

• Hand painted fabrics- whiskers with paint pens

• Machine quilted

The Nutcracker Ballet is a universally loved holiday performance. "Everything is beautiful at the ballet." My quilt celebrates many of the scenes and characters that we have all come to cherish. Clara and the Prince, the Marzipan Palace, the SugarPlum Fairy accompanied by the Waltz of the Flowers, the Winter Scene, and Drosselmeir on the clock at Midnight.

The Rat King and Nutcracker were inspired by illustrations by Don Daily, The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman. Each little figure was drawn out to scale, completed and placed on the design wall until all six scenes and each of its characters were done. This quilt took a very long time, possibly around 800 hours.

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