October 30, 2007

There were certainly many fabulous quilts at the Pacific International Quilt Festival a couple of weeks ago. To my eyes, one of the very most striking entries was “Remembering Barbaro” by Sheril Drummond of Lexington, Kentucky.


Here’s the caption from the show: “Upon moving to Lexington in 1990, I soon became aware of the traditions surrounding the horse farms and the racing industry. When Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby, everyone was so excited to have a winner from this area. When he broke his leg during the very next race we were all saddened, and watched his valiant struggle for the next several months. Unfortunately, his struggle was in vain and when he passed it touched everyone’s hearts. This quilt is in his memory.”

My husband and I were following Barbaro’s story as well. Before I loved dogs I loved horses, and still do, so you can see why this quilt grabbed my eyes as I came around the corner at the show.

I contacted Sheril and she graciously permitted me to shine a spotlight on her piece, and to tell a little bit about her and her work.

Sheril has been quilting for about 20 years now. When she moved from northern California to Kentucky, she joined a Newcomers group, which led to a quilting group, need we say more? Sheril says that after she learned the basics she found she was not content with traditional quilting and felt moved to produce her own designs.

Her latest technique is a stained glass effect, beautifully evidenced in Barbaro.

To create her pattern, Sheril draws a basic shape, then divides it into sections with lights and darks in mind. The sections are fused onto a background, and the edges are finished with a machine blanket stitch. Sheril uses a variety of fabrics, some commercial, some hand-dyed, to wonderful effect, don’t you think?

In the last four years Sheril has been entering her work in some of the larger shows, and has had pieces accepted into Quilt Festival in Houston, the AQS show in Paducah, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, and Quilt Expo in Nashville.

You can see more of Sheril’s stained-glass art quilts on her Serendipity blog. Sheril is thinking of publishing her patterns in the future. She currently teaches her methods in an all-day workshop; contact her at “shedrum at surfbest.net” if you’re in a group that would be interested.


Here are some students working in a class with Sheril. She’s the one sitting down on the right.

Thank you, Sheril for remembering Barbaro, and for creating these wonderful works of art.

Until next time,
Kay

Comments

5 Responses to “Spotlight on Sheril Drummond”

  1. Nancy Heckmaster on September 17th, 2009 8:28 am

    How can I order patterns by Sheril Drummond?

    Nancy

  2. Kay on September 17th, 2009 7:18 pm

    Hi Nancy,

    Sheril’s email is given in the post. Contact her to see if she has patterns for her works.

    Cheers,
    Kay

  3. Butterflies and a spaniel : All About Applique on January 24th, 2010 8:14 am

    […] couple of years ago I blogged about Sheril Drummond’s quilt Remembering Barbaro. Last October at PIQF she had the most amazing, huge butterfly quilt called “Flights of […]

  4. Chela on July 10th, 2010 2:50 pm

    Find Sheril Drummond’s workshops and patterns at http://serindiptiy2.blogspot.com/

  5. Sandy on January 1st, 2015 6:23 pm

    How can I get the pattern for “Remembering Barbaro”?

    Thanks
    Sandy