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This is a double sided quilt using a combination of hand block-printed fabrics which I bought in India, and some commercially printed fabrics which I hope complement the beautiful hand printed fabrics.The original inspiration for the design is from a window in the council chamber at Meherangarh Fort Palace at Jodhpur.The above picture shows the side of the quilt inspired by the windows.The quilt is sited in the exit doorway of the council chamber and features strong use of blue because the view from the top of Meherangarh Palace overlooks the area of blue painted houses of the top priestly caste of the Brahmins, which also gives Jodhpur its name of The Blue City.
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This side of the quilt uses predominantly Indian block printed fabric which we were lucky enough to see in production.Some of the hand held, carved wooden blocks are about a hundred years old and the patterns look as fresh today as they ever did.
“Block Prints From Jaipur” was made in 2006.
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This quilt is in true quilter’s style in that I am using up the bits left over from the making of a previous quilt.The design is taken from a back issue article in Fabrications magazine August 2003″Flying Geese Wallhanging” by Julie Hodges.The fabric was dyed at a day workshop with Nicky Perrington.
“Geese to Dye For” was made in 2003.
In 2006 I visited India, which was probably the most life-changing experience for me since learning to sew on an electric sewing machine! My focus on colour and pattern became the most important feature of future projects. The quilt Rajastan was an immediate response to my visit and this quilt was featured in “Fabrications Magazine” issue 44 2006. It features shisha mirrors made from compact discs and trapunto style relief stars, surrounded by dense machine embroidery.
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This photograph shows a closer view of one of the padded central stars and the dense free motion quilting and machine embroidery.
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The label incorporates a photograph taken in Rajasthan of two ladies using a hand sewing machine on the floor!
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This photograph shows the quilt as it appeared in “Fabrications Magazine”.
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I made a cushion with the left over scraps and as you can see both quilt and cushion are put to good use in our garden.
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