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The Project Quilting Challenge this week is to construct a quilt inspired by the phrase: “Hope springs eternal.”

Alexander Pope’s complete statement in the Essay of Man was: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” While the season of spring is hopeful and holds many obvious symbols, I immediately went to a human context.

In the most dire of circumstances, a prisoner interned in a Nazi concentration camp because of his Jewish heritage used the wall of the cell to scratch a poem whose start is familiar:

“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.”

The poem goes beyond this familiar start, and I believe the next line to be the most hopeful of sentiments:  “I believe through any trial, there is always a way.” This was my inspiration.

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“Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” -Voltaire

Lisa’s two-color quilt has been juried into Quiltcon Presented by The Modern Quilt Guild in Nashville in February, 2019.

Gradation of line in this quilt creates pleasure for the eye. The strong contrast between the jewel and moss tones provides eye movement that implies curves, though you know the lines are straight. Side to side gradation, combined with the center to corner gradation create a medallion quilt that mimics Hawaiian applique. Lisa chose to quilt mostly straight lines so the quilting wouldn’t compete visually and the pieced lines remain the main course for your eye. Squinting your eyes at this quilt is fun, too….

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The November Summit called “Making Traditional Blocks Your Own” is over, but the quilts we made will last forever.

We had a phenomenal group, and it was no surprise to me that each of the quilts was unique and wonderful.

Our first day had a lot of instruction and exercises related to design principals and color theory. During the day, each participant chose a traditional quilt block and made multiple variations of it. Then we chose a single modified block and modified it in more ways. Then we traded blocks and got a shot at modifying someone else’s modifications. In this way, we learned to really look at things, and to look at them from many different perspectives….

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What will your quilt look like?

We’ve got a great group, and space for two more at the QT Summit November 6th-8th in Lake Geneva, WI.

About the Summit:

You’ll be Making Traditional Quilt Blocks Your Own….this is a theory class about design, but you’ll leave with something to show for it. You’ll be learning and you’ll be making the quilt you design.

Click here for more information on the Summit.

Besides designing and making your own, you can help me kick this on up a notch or two.

 

Once I finally decided how to quilt the New Zealand quilt, it didn’t take long. Deciding how to quilt it, though, took a bit of time. In this video, I discuss several of the ideas I had and how the ways I auditioned my ideas to finally decide on the quilting.