I was mesmerised by an exquisite hand quilting and applique of Dutch quiltmaker Henk van Kooten. He started making quilts and beautiful pieces of textile art almost three decades ago and developed his own style which is a combination of various techniques.

Artist and his exquisite work. This quilt took Henk van Kooten 6 month to finish. He worked 4 hours each day on it.

Fine details of the applique. Tiny silver ovals on the buds are reverse appliques. His hand quilting is amazing.

All of Henk’s quilts are hand quilted. His technique and attention to details are superb. Usually one project takes him from six month to a year to finish.

Stilt Fishmen of Shri-Lanka, a beautiful composition of three panels: Night, Morning, and Midday. Henk van Kooten told me, that he loves Shri-Lanka island and was inspired by stilt fishermen to create this artwork. Each of these pieces took 4 months to finish.

Henk said that it wasn’t easy to find right fabrics for the project. To build depth and create variety of textures, he had to use many types of fabrics that are rare to a quilter’s stash.

Here you can see silk, lace, tulle, embroidered organza, hand dyed cotton, etc. Oh, there are even small seashells!

This piece is called 5 Elephants. Can you find the fifth one? Write in comments where it is!

Henk van Kooten also made three kimonos that became prize-winners.

Beautiful golden label inside one of the kimonos. Look how expertly he has quilted it completely by hand.

This is another beautiful quilt called Rhapsody in Sitzen.