Island Batik's April Challenge requires us to make a lap-sized (or larger) quilt using the timeless Drunkard's Path Quilt Block, making sure that the technique used is curved piecing and not applique.
Naturally, many ideas were considered and discarded. I am saving them to a very long list of possible future quilts.
In the end, I chose the quilt block - Moon Over the Mountain. I have been fascinated by this quilt block for a long time. I looked for tutorials and found few but none of them appealed to me.
It was time to design it myself.
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| Thank you EQ8 |
Next, I auditioned a few different fabric collections, also in EQ8.
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| Petal Poetry (I have a huge crush on this one) |
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| Botanical Dreams |
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| Shadow Blooms |
They all looked lovely. But I wanted more than that. I wanted energy and passion. I decided to go for yellow orbs over rust/orange/red mountains.
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| Fabric Pull |
I ended up using fabrics from Modern Opulence, Celebrate, and Fire & Ice collections.
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| Block Construction |
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| Design Wall |
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| Basting |
And here is my first finish named Rising Suns.
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| Rising Suns |
The background and binding is Island Batik Solid Black. I used Black Heirloom Batting from Hobbs and Schmetz 80/12 Needle for both piecing and quilting. I used Walking Foot to quilt squiggly lines. The variegated thread adds to the sizzle.
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| Walking Foot Quilting |
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| Variegated Thread |
The bright orange shades made me think of Saffron, one of the colors in India's national flag. India's national flag is named the Tricolor, so named for the three major colors. Saffron for sacrifice, White for Peace and Green for Prosperity. Saffron is symbolic of renouncement - giving up everything for the one cause, making the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
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| Labelled |
Now that I am an American, I associate Red, White and Blue as the colors of valor. Is there a universal color for valor? Or does it mean different things to different people?
As I was mulling over colors, an off-color incident made me seethe. Not that I could do much, but I channeled my thoughts into prayer while I busied my hands to make another quilt.
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| Pinned |
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| Work in Progress |
I chose nine different yellows and nine different blues. The background and binding is Solid White. I used Hobbs Bleached White 80/20 Batting. I used Schmetz 80/12 Needle for both piecing and quilting. I used Walking Foot to quilt squiggly lines.
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| Backing is Frosting, Labelled |
Here is my second finish. I have named it Doblest, which means Valor.
“Any fool can fight a winning battle, but it needs character to fight a losing one, and that should inspire us."
_William Butler Yates
Both quilts finished at about 53" by 51". I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar. Should you have any thoughts about color, valor or this block - Moon over the Mountain, I'd love to hear from you.
