Block Prints Quilt

Ever since I came home from Sisters, I have spent a lot of time in my sewing room. There are quite a few unfinished projects lingering in my head and in my studio. It is time to pay attention to those and make progress. 

"Block Prints" began in the classroom during Quilters Affair 2023. I always like to do live demo, give pointers and tip as I go along about the technique. After making a few blocks, my head kept going back to Jaipur, India, where the idea of making this quilt originated. 

I took the liberty to follow my own belief and decided to relieve myself from worrying about looking for perfection. I embraced the irregularities and imperfections that come along in this abstract interpretation of a block made with triangles. 

Before the book was published, I wanted to arrange the blocks in this setting but I chose the other way. So this was easy to decide. The picture you see here is the one from 2012 when I was making the quilt for the book.

I love how abruptly the triangles get cut, how they create a movement within the block and then somehow also create the rhythm going upward. 

This time around, I chose the colors and fabrics inspired by my experiences in India. The Pink City of Jaipur has left a lot of great memories. Watching  the block carvers and printers do their magic right in front of your eyes is something I will never forget. 

The colors on the buildings - shops, temples, homes, in old city are painted pink. They were painted in honor of Queen Victoria who visited Jaipur but the City Palace walls remained light gold. Ever since then, the buildings get the pink wash every now and then and so the city is known as The Pink City.

 

For this new quilt, I did not have to pull these pictures out to collect my fabrics. I rely a lot on my memories of places I have been and sites I have seen. Memories and conversations ultimately drive the creative process of making a quilt.

I finished the quilt top last night. It has been a long time since I made such a large quilt. I amused myself. It felt so good to be in the studio with the music on, picking and choosing fabrics in the shades of  terracotta, peachy pink walls and different shades of clay and dirt. In the village of Bagru, and surrounding areas, freshly block printed fabric and/or indigo dyed fabric is laid on the ground to dry and set with the heat of the Sun. The colors of dirt was important. I had also visited potters at the time and clay was important part of the blend.

 

 At the block printers, you can find variety of blocks in size, patterns, and designs.

So here is the quilt top. It took four years from my last visit to India for this to happen and 12 years since I had thought of making this quilt. 

 

 

I hope you are sewing something fun!

Sujata