Tsunami Quilt

How time flies, and I haven't told you about my Tsunami Quilt yet! If you're a Quiltopia!Design Facebook Page "liker", you will have seen snippets there, but it's taken two days confined to bed with a virus (:s) for me to finally post about it here.

As I was driving down to Brisbane on my way to teach my Stained Glass Stack and Slash Workshop one weekend, I was listening to a report on the devastating Japanese Tsunami. It had just struck and I hadn't heard much or seen any media coverage as yet.

The thoughts of the dirty water rolling in and over cars, homes, mountains, land, animals and people created images in my mind that I had to express in fabric. Who knows where inspiration comes from, and when it's going to strike, you have to grab it when you can. I had a sudden inspiration to make a Tsunami Quilt using some beautiful Japanese fabric and French Braid borders. (Please be assured, this doesn't in any way diminish the terrible situation in Japan or the horrendous effects of the Tsunami on the Japanese people and countryside, including the unfolding nuclear disaster still in progress.)

I had seen a quilt in Jane Hardy Miller's second book, French Braid Obsession, which I wanted to experiment with. (I LOVE the French Braid books!)

At QuiltEssentials, I found a Kona Bay fabric with cranes, temples, mountains trees and strange coloured water, with other Japanese motifs interspersed. I also wanted to use a selection of muted Bali Batiks from my own Quiltopia collection to create a watery braid for the borders. You can see the planning stage here,

with the book open at the page of the quit I like. I had to change the proportions becuase I only got 1m of feature fabric, so at this stage my quilt is square. I also changed the braid run because I wanted more blue.

The colours in the braid remind me of a tapestry or piece of brocade. It's shaping up pretty well but hasn't got much further for a week or so, as I started feeling really tired , then sore throat and finally, Pharyngitis struck and took me to bed.

I'm not sure about the next stage. I could finish it here, as a largish queen size throw... or I could add a couple more borders. We'll see...

Happy stitching,

Ann ♥

There are quite alot of charities and blogs set up to aid Japan. Modern Relief Japan is one that is hosting auctions and further info on how to help