One of the quilter-bloggers I admire is
Saija. Her work is bright, modern and spectacular. She also takes excellent pictures. Her
Topaz captured my heart from the moment I laid eyes on it. Oh, someday I would make a quilt inspired by it.
And I did. Meet Enchanted Lake.
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| Enchanted Lake |
Here is the story.
This is Lisa. We work together and sometimes even
party together :-)
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| with Lisa |
When Lisa mentioned that her mum was not doing well and that she was going to visit her in London, I had a thought.
Me: I want to make a quilt for your mum.
Lisa: Oh, you don't have to.
Me: I want to.
Lisa: That is sweet.
Me: What are her favorite colors?
Lisa: She likes blue but hates green.
Me: She hates green? But her name is Olive.
Lisa: Go figure. Hates green and brown.
Me (showing Saija's Topaz to Lisa): I have always admired this quilt.
Lisa: I love it too but this is so green.
Me: I was thinking navy, blue and turquoise.
Lisa: That would work.
Me: I am not sure about grey. Grey would make it dull.
Lisa: And she needs an uplifting quilt.
Me: How does she feel about purple?
Lisa: She is fine with purple.
Once I realized that Saija had made the string blocks using the foundation paper/muslin squares, I stopped in my tracks. I wasn't going that route. I had just two weeks to complete the quilt before Lisa left for her trip.
Moreover, if each block was foundation-pieced with white string in the middle, Saija had most probably made a sketch to determine exactly how many Half green-Half blue blocks and exactly how many Half green-Half grey blocks she must make before making a single block.
I needed a different approach. In any case, a sketch is a very good place to start.
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| Rough Sketch |
I decided on 10 blue, 10 turquoise, 6 navy and 6 purple blocks. The blue, turquoise, purple and navy fabrics begged to cut up in strips. Let's strip - shall we?
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| Blues |
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| Getting darker |
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| Ooh purple!!! |
I did not dip my toes. I plunged head first.
For the next ten days, I did little else. I wanted to to nothing else.
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| Beautiful Blues |
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| Strip set |
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| Four triangles make a block |
Made the first test block in turquoise.
Made ten blocks in blue.
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| First 11 blocks |
Made six purple and six navy blocks. Lots of process pictures follow.
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| Navy block in process |
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| Navy - Two halves |
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| Purple on Purple |
There are metallic accents on some fabrics and they really sparkle.
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| Assembly Line for Chain Piecing |
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| Dark & Handsome :-) |
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| All the darker blocks - Done |
Made the remaining nine turquoise blocks.
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| Turquoise Blocks in process |
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| All blocks done |
Made the setting triangles.
It took one whole weekend to piece and complete the flimsy.
No, I did nothing else. Paul was on his own.
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| At the design wall |
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| One half of the top - Almost |
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| Open Seams = Flat/Neat Finish |
And here it is - the finished top.
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| Finished Top |
Paul graciously held her up for me, even when I had been ignoring him.
Goodness, I am so lucky. But back to the matter at hand.
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| Thank you, Paul |
This was the first time I had paired purple and turquoise. And I was completely amazed by the effect.
I made the blocks one color at a time and I loved each one of them but the magical effect of placing them together was completely unexpected.
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| Getting close |
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| Closer |
How it glowed and shimmered, I was afraid that I would be too engrossed in it to part with it.
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| Basting |
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| Walking Foot Quilting |
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| Pedalling away |
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| Moving along |
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| Do you like the backing? |
When I asked Lisa for backing suggestions, she suggested red. Because her mum loves her grandson and red is his favorite color. Lisa's boy is as adorable as he is charming :-) You will see soon.
I chose the Rhapsody
wide backing from Connecting Threads and it provides the perfect hot contrast to the cool blues in the front.
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| Quilted and Trimmed |
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| Ready to bind |
The binding is the same grey solid as the setting triangles. That would keep the focus on the shimmering squares.
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| Binding - almost done |
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| Labelled too |
Here are some pictures from the photoshoot. Paul's friend Dan (mine too) took the pictures.
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| On location |
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| Shimmering Squares |
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| Floating on Grey |
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| Blues and Navy sing together |
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| Quilting Detail |
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| Hot Roll |
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| Cool Roll |
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| Glamour Shot!!! |
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| Hot and Cold |
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| I am so happy it shows |
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| Reflected in the Lake |
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| Backing too |
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| Do you like my matching sun hat? |
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| Thank you, Dan |
The quilt delivery to Lisa and her adorable boy was a celebration of sorts. I was just happy to deliver the quilt the day before Lisa's trip. But Lisa insisted on taking pictures and her little boy was only too happy to pose with it.
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| Such a cutie |
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| Camera loves him |
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| He enhances the quilt |
This picture makes me so happy!!!
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| The BEST picture |
The quilt reached its destination and was delivered to Olive, Lisa's mum.
Lisa sent me a message saying that when her mum received the quilt, she cried. I felt overcome too.
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| Lisa's Mum with her darling grandson |
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| Picture Perfect |
Lisa's mum is doing better. And that is all that matters.
I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.
As usual I'd love to hear from you.
