This month the theme for Sharon's "Take it Further" Challenge was to pay attention to the tiny details. I had what was probably way too many ideas for this as I love noticing and honouring the small details but in the end I decided to make a small simple quilt that focused on the delicate colours and intricate patterns in some vintage Japanese fabrics that I have been hoarding.I intended to do a nine patch grid with each tiny square coming from a different piece of fabric but it took all of about three seconds to realise that my collection is of wildly contrasting fabrics which are not particularly attractive when all together. So, I choose my favourite one, which has a lovely pattern in a gorgeous bunch of colours, and cut all nine patches from that. It is simply fused and stitched to another equally gorgeous piece of fabric that has graduated colour. All the quilting (and there isn't much of it as I didn't want to take away from the fabrics) is machine stitched in a gold thread and the binding is made from the same fabric as the patches. Last night I finished the quilt by sewing on a little oriental metal embellishment at the base of the quilt. I was planning in sewing on some oriental coins but the dangling embellishment looked a lot better. The colours in the photo have come a bit bluer than they should have - the quilt is more of a teal shade. The (somewhat blurry) scan below of the quilt is more accurate colour-wise.
I have just realised that two of my three TIF projects have had an oriental flavour - I seem to go in spurts with these sorts of things and working with this fabric has made me think about doing some asian themed stamping too (another thing I haven't done for a while despite having a beautiful collection of asian rubber stamps - geishas, text, flowers, symbols etc). So don't be surprised to see some postcards and ATCs along these lines very soon.Wishing everyone a wonderful relaxing and creative (in any way!) Easter.
