Kathie Kerler - Water Works

Waves of Poppies is my second wall hanging featuring poppies and my fourth in a series of floral quilts. I challenged myself to create more abstract flowers than those in my previous works. The goal for the poppies and overall composition was to provide the viewer an impression of movement and distance.

A neighbor’s garden planted with red and orange poppies bordered by periwinkle stalks of False Indigo, inspired my design. 

I created a triptych to give the impression of a panoramic view.

My goal in designing the quilt was to give the viewer the feeling of gazing into a lush garden. What I enjoyed about creating this quilt was that it brought together my skills and knowledge beginning with designing stylized flowers for an original design then bringing it to life with machine and hand embroidery, hand-twisted cords, and machine quilting.

Cycling was a favorite activity for me and my late husband. On the last day of a cycling trip through New Mexico, while riding from Taos to Red River he had a heart attack that he did not survive. Each year I participate in a one-day ride called the Bridge Pedal, a fundraiser for Providence Hospital’s heart research program. It’s even more meaningful to me as my father, also a heart patient, passed away six weeks before my husband. 

This quilt comes from a photo I took from the top of the Fremont Bridge during the Bridge Pedal. From the top of this bridge, you feel your fellow riders’ joy when they to stop to take in the Willamette River on both sides.  You can look to the city’s east side and see where you’ve come from, then look toward city center and the West Hills ahead. As cyclists travel along the route from one bridge to the next, the action feels like a life metaphor: humans following our paths from one point to the next. For me this was when I returned to my hometown and was then able to move forward.