A cow quilt for Gloria

For the Love of Bovines

by Patricia L. Cummings

Cow motifs and anything "country" are both in vogue right now in Argentina, or so I am told by my friend who is a native inhabitant there. In the past few months, I have come to realize how very important cows are to Argentina's history and economy, and how much all quilters and needleworkers like creating cow images.

This is the first piece of needlework that Gloria sent me. She loves counted cross-stitch and so made the tiny one, shown here, as a gift for me.

Gloria's cross stitched cow

The cow doll below is for recycling plastic bags (in the bottom), also a gift from Gloria. It has found a permanent home in my kitchen. A smile comes to the faces of all who see the cow, and it is an example of wonderful, folk art style of workmanship, superbly done. Gloria could barely keep up with orders from her co-workers at her school at Christmas, who were seeking these cow dolls for gifts.

Gloria's cow bag

Inspired by these cow gifts, I decided to return the favor. Remembering a Piecemaker's pattern for a miniature cow wall quilt with Log Cabin borders, I created a small quilt for Gloria. After all, a few good cows deserve another. This pattern, like all of Piecemaker's designs, are terrifically fun to do, and I really like the results. I chose to finish it with both machine quilting and hand quilting.

Gloria's cow quilt

On November 12, 2002, we received a new cow from Gloria, this one she said was purely non-functional, just a new cow to grace our kitchen.

Gloria's cow doll

An additional article about Gloria:

The Most Beautiful Quilter in All of Argentina

P.S. Photos of real cows exist on other files of this website including at least one of the Remick Museum files. Having grown up in a farm community, I like cows!

Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. pat@quiltersmuse.com