The Pieced Hills – a leather stamping study of Hill City quilting and Black Hills pine

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies. WATERFALL VOLUME I-A.

A September study.

Every year Hill City puts hundreds of quilts up for a public vote, and the ponderosa forest of the Black Hills closes the view at the end of Main Street. We designed a small collection, The Pieced Hills, where the quilting and the forest build each other.

First, we pieced a ponderosa out of flying geese – the quilt unit that was always a stack of triangles waiting to become a tree. The courses run uneven the way a real crown grows, and HILL CITY stands beneath the trunk.

It looks genuinely beautiful stamped onto the leather – a deep green luggage tag, then warm tan on the keychain and the journal.

The Geese Pine black-and-white die artwork for The Pieced Hills leather collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A forest-green leather luggage tag stamped with the Geese Pine design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A caramel leather keychain stamped with the Geese Pine design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A caramel leather journal stamped with the Geese Pine design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

Next, we let a spool pay out one continuous thread until the line itself became the ridgeline. It climbs through the pines and settles into the underline of BLACK HILLS, running the full length of a honeyed russet tag.

The Spool Ridge black-and-white die artwork for The Pieced Hills leather collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

An Indian Summer leather luggage tag stamped with the Spool Ridge design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

Then, a plain statement for anyone who knows what the verb costs: PIECED IN PINE COUNTRY, under a single flying-geese seam and over one line of running stitch. It presses small and clean on a deep green keychain and a deep wine journal, and sits in the corner of the toiletry-bag stack – honeyed russet over deep espresso.

The Pieced in Pine Country black-and-white die artwork for The Pieced Hills leather collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A forest-green leather keychain stamped with the Pieced in Pine Country design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A sangria leather journal stamped with the Pieced in Pine Country design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

Indian Summer and dark espresso leather Dopp kits stamped with the Pieced in Pine Country design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

And finally, the one we liked the most – a nine-patch forest. Five dark squares carry the mass the Hills show from a distance; the four light squares hold the ponderosas that make it, and no two crowns repeat.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The Nine-Patch Forest black-and-white die artwork for The Pieced Hills leather collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the Nine-Patch Forest design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

A sangria leather luggage tag stamped with the Nine-Patch Forest design from The Pieced Hills collection of Hill City, South Dakota.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this study is one of them, and we hope the feeling is mutual. Every image is a render – how we prototype before cutting a die.

If this collection belongs on your shelf, or you'd like anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.