U.S. Quilter Receives Major Award for Tolkien-Inspired Quilt

Each fall, the non-profit International Quilt Association^[1] hosts its annual Judged Show, Quilts: A World of Beauty, widely considered the most prestigious competition in the quilting art form today. Aside from the first, second, and third prizes awarded to quilts in 22 different categories, eight major awards are given to quilts deemed the crème de la crème of the competition.

Among the quilts awarded one of the top eight prizes in this year’s competition was one inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. For her work, Tribute to Tolkien, quilt artist Sue McCarty of Roy, Utah, USA received the $5,000 Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry. McCarty’s quilt is an incredible work of textile art and was so popular among attendees of International Quilt Festival in Houston—where it was on display in October—that it was also voted as the winner of the Viewer’s Choice award at the show.

The inspiration for the quilt, McCarty explains, came about soon after her brother—a longtime admirer of Tolkien—convinced her to read The Lord of the Rings. “When I began this quilt, I simply wanted to create a piece for my brother, who has been a devotee of Tolkien for at least 30 years—I myself have only had the ‘fever’ for about 10 years now,” she says.

McCarty was quite deliberate in planning the design of her quilt, and just as meticulous in its execution. Each of the images contained within the work represent a significant character and/or event from Tolkien’s epic trilogy, and each was carefully positioned according to its role.

“I wanted the centerpiece of the quilt to depict Aragorn’s ultimate victory over the enemy, his coronation as the King of Gondor, and his marriage to Arwen,” McCarty explains. “Also present is my representation of the white wizard Gandalf. Other allies appear in the blocks of the inner border. The horses of Rohan, along with the tree and horn of Gondor, stand for the world of men. The Gate of Moria is for the dwarves. The grace and beauty of the elves is depicted by the swan, while the final block contains the image of an Ent and eagle.”

“Just below the centerpiece are four flowers that contain an initial for each of the hobbits—Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin,” she continues. “The creature Gollum was more difficult to place. I settled for the lower left corner because he, along with followers of the dark lord Sauron the Great—shown in the outer border—are now but a memory.”

“The One Ring dominates the upper feathered border. Within the ring are the elfish words which translate ‘One Ring to rule them all.’ An ivy vine twines through the other rings—three for elves, seven for the dwarves, and nine for the mortal men who, once ensnared, became the Ringwraiths,” McCarty adds.

Tribute to Tolkien is a wholecloth quilt, meaning that it was created using just one large piece of fabric and quilted only using a variety of threads, many of which were metallic—to contribute to the element of fantasy, McCarty offers. It took her close to 500 hours—from design to finish—to complete the quilt, but the end result was well worth the time invested.

In fact, she plans to create a series of smaller quilts, each dedicated to a specific area of the book—Rohan, Gondor, the Shire, etc.—as well as another large quilt based on The Hobbit (which she hopes to complete before the upcoming movie is released). But, for now, she hopes that her Tribute to Tolkien will encourage others to “delve into the world of Middle-earth.”

“Tolkien truly was a genius,” she says, “and I hope that my humble tribute can help connect quilting with his literary masterpiece.”

1The International Quilt Association, founded in 1979, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the art of quilting, the attainment of public recognition for quilting as an art form, and the advancement of the state of the art throughout the world. For more information, visit www.quilts.org