The vibrant colors of the prairie flowers sing, dance and soar skyward. But these wildflowers have a permanence. They are part of a series of quilted wall hangings created by artist Sandy Scott of Long Grove.
“I try to picture the beauty of the Earth in my quilts,” she said. “I have color wheels and charts and books about balancing the right number of darks with lights. But you have to draw most upon what is inside of you and what you see around you.”
The signature of a Scott quilt is her exquisite use of color, whether mixing bold jewel tones or softer, more muted shades.
Scott’s style and sense of color led the Northwest Cultural Council in Rolling Meadows to select her as one of two quilters in its “stable” of 58 local artists. Scott and the other artists were chosen through a jury process, in which accredited artists review the works.
Helene Curtis Inc. recently displayed Scott’s work in the lobby of its technical center in Rolling Meadows as part of the Corporate Gallery Program sponsored by the council. Vivid pink coneflowers splashed against a background of pieced triangles in varying shades of deep ocean blue, forest green, pink, yellow and purple. A trio of slightly smaller quilts on another wall were softened in nature, with pastel shades highlighting delicate irises and bluebells.
According to Kathy Umlauf, executive director of the cultural council, “Sandy’s work is stunning. And her beauty as a person shines through in her work as well.”
At least one area quilt collector agrees with Umlauf. Sue Cobb, 43, a commodities trader who lives in Rolling Meadows, has collected quilts from around the country for 18 years and owns three of Scott’s creations.
“Sandra is unique,” Cobb said. “The fabrics she uses are not typical quilting fabric, and they grab everyone’s attention. To me her work is brilliant.”
Scott, 53, moved to the northwest suburbs from Florida seven years ago. Although still not a fan of Midwestern winters, she gradually fell in love with the Illinois prairies. Using native plants as inspiration, she started sewing small flower quilts. To date, she has made more than 20 original wildflower quilts. She said the series developed on its own.
“You do a piece, and when it’s all finished, then you look at it and think, `I can do that a little better,’ ” she said. “You try harder in your next piece, and it keeps on going. Look at Monet. Why did he paint so many waterlilies? You get hooked on a concept and just go, go, go until the ideas run out.”
“Go, go, go” serves well as a theme for Scott’s life. She has been married for 35 years to husband Robert, and the couple has moved 24 times, starting in Georgia and working their way across the East Coast and Midwest.
She began sewing doll clothes when she was small but picked up quilting only 12 years ago. “My mother told me I should take a hand-quilting class to help me slow down and learn patience,” Scott said, laughing. “It didn’t work.”
In quick succession, she learned the craft and entered a show in Jacksonville, Fla., where her brightly appliqued flamingos won a viewer’s choice award. She was hooked.
Scott continued making quilts for friends and family members and occasionally sold a few through specialty shops. Five years ago, her sideline took a more serious turn when Scott was diagnosed with breast cancer. She credits her religious faith and her quilting with helping her through radiation treatments. “Quilting became my therapy,” Scott said.
During this time, a woman at Scott’s health club introduced her to the Barrington Area Arts Council. Scott exhibited her quilts at a juried show sponsored by BAAC and started building relationships with interior designers and proprietors of a few shops in the Chicago area.
The color in Scott’s quilts drew the eye of Pam Vogel, co-owner of the Gilded Nest in Barrington. Scott’s quilts are currently on display there through December.
“She has the most sophisticated color sense I’ve ever seen,” Vogel said. “If she can’t find the absolute perfect piece of fabric, she’ll hand-paint a one-inch square to match; she’s that much of a perfectionist. I’ve looked at quilters for dozens of years at exhibits all over, and she just stands above the rest.”
Scott seemingly doesn’t lack for fabric choices. Bins and boxes by the dozen, stuffed full, fill her basement and workroom. Eighteen drawers of fabric on one wall compete for space with dozens of spools of thread in a rainbow of colors. Fabric is draped over the 30 feet of white counters where Scott cuts and pieces.
Scott admits to a love affair with fabric. “Actually, I’m addicted,” she said. “Quilting is a way to support my fabric habit.”
Scott relies on the fabric and its colors for part of her inspiration. “I’ll begin by cutting hundreds of squares of fabrics of all colors,” Scott said. “I always use as many colors as I can in a single quilt.”
She then places a few squares on a wall-size piece of white felt tacked onto the side of her workroom and steps back to critically survey the color values. The felt holds the fabric without pins and enables her to shift colors around until she achieves her desired effect. “The color impact is what draws people,” she said.
Colorwash quilting, a technique Scott started using six years ago, involves mixing fabrics to move ever so gradually from one color spectrum to another across the breadth of a quilt. When done correctly, a colorwash quilt moves gently through the various color values.
“They are not easy to do,” Scott said. “You’re trying to blend fabrics, pieces of cloth it’s not like mixing paints.”
She sews pieces both by hand and by machine. The size of the quilt and the amount of work involved determine her selling price. The quilts start at $300 and go to more than $1,000 for custom work. Hand-quilting takes her four times as long to complete as machine work.
Scott will work on consignment but derives the greatest pleasure producing quilts for exhibit, because it frees her creativity.
“Look at a field of flowers,” she said. “There’s a riot of colors there, in a natural harmony created by the Lord. I can’t draw. And I can’t sing. My quilts are my hymns to God.”
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For information, call Scott at 847-540-7254.
