Fujiwhara Quilt

But of course it was for a magazine so I had to wait. Look at this stunning photo from Today’s Quilter! They always make my quilts look so lovely.

My initial idea was to do something with stars, that would have interlacing sashing and cornerstones.

But then I came across this Storm at Sea block which I used for my  Mystery Quilt, and totally fell in love with it. I love the way diamonds turn into curves, and how kaleidoscopic it can be.

I simplified the block design and then using my EQ7 software I played around the colour and values for ages till I came up with this version.

For the magazine I did a whole bit about colour placement, using some of
the other versions plus a blank block for readers to try out with themselves. And if you look at the bottom you will see another slightly different version of the block as a matching cushion. I don’t think this will be the last ‘storm at sea
version’ quilt I make either!

I used variegated orange (4150) Aurifil 50 thread to FMQ a mussels patterm. It’s probably one of the most successful patterns I have done – I could pretty much do this on every quilt, I think it looks fab and was quick and easy!

Here’s the cushion (without it’s pad), refer to top pics to see it alongside the quilt. I just adore that acid yellow/gold colour. Also in the photo above you can see the background fabric clearly – it is ‘Spot on’ in Meringue by Kaufman, one of my favourite lines.

And you are probably wondering about the title? For a long time this quilt was called the ‘Eastham quilt’ but when I finished I thought I better re-name it and stared googling ‘storm at sea’ weather terminology. And this came up:
“The Fujiwhara effect is the tendency of two nearby tropical cyclones to rotate cyclonically about each other.” This seemed a pretty perfect description to me!

And what will become of this quilt? Well I have had lots of requests to teach it as a class already (and I will do I promise!), but actually I am planning to give it to my best friend Lisi, who has a special birthday coming up next month, and only a really special quilt will do for my special friend 🙂