Eternity Road

Well quilt lovers, I finally finished a quilt!  I presented it to my son and his wife (John and Kayla) for Christmas.

As all quilts should, this one has a story.

I let them know that I wanted to build them a quilt and asked them about colors.  They told me that they wanted something along the lines of deep burgundy.  That was the extent of their input.  The rest was left up to me.

Because I knew that they had a penchant for an 1800's feel, I decided to use Civil War reproduction fabric.  On the other hand, they are a thoroughly modern young couple, so I didn't want a traditional design.  The concept in my head was a modern design with meaning made from traditional fabric.

Kayla and me at my daughter's wedding

Then one day, I remembered that John liked a particular color sequence that was meaningful.  It is the path of a Christian life represented by color.

Black: Our hearts are black with sin
Red: The blood of Christ cleanses our sin and makes our hearts
White (as snow)
Blue: Water Baptism
Green: The Holy Spirit and growth in Christ
Yellow: Someday we'll walk upon streets of gold

I decided to find Civil War reproductions with those colors and incorporate them into a burgundy background.

I know that it sounds discordant, but lots of my ideas do.  I'm learning that, if displayed carefully, things that don't sound like they'd match sometimes do.

Think Reese's peanut butter cups.

Over the years, I've come up with some yummy combinations myself.  Try putting your baked beans on your potato salad.  That's excellent.

I do have one combination to warn you about, though.  I love to make omelets.  Oftentimes I put leftovers in them: roast, ham, sausage dogs... most anything that I can find in the fridge.  One day, however, I didn't have any meat for my omelet, so I decided to open a can of sardines and try that.  I'm sure that you're thinking that it was a smashing success, but you'd be wrong.  If you only take one bit of advice from me, stay away from sardine omelets.

Anyway, I went to my LQS and found the six colors needed and I also found a wonderful burgundy.  For trim, I found a sort of taupe and a darker brown. 

The design I had in mind was a diagonal "path" of colors trimmed in the browns against the burgundy background.

I sketched in my notebook until I came up with a design I liked and started cutting and sewing.

For batting, I used wool for the first time.  It's lofty and gives the quilt a nice feel.  I don't know how it'll do with daily wear and tear and washings over time, but it seemed like a good idea when I made the call.  Also, it's not my problem now, is it?!  Good luck John and Kayla!

Over the past year or so, I've taken an interest in naming my quilts.  I thought about the name for this quilt for quite a while and finally came up with "Eternity Road."  The diagonal path looks like a path or a road and it represents the Christian's walk to eternity.  So there's the name.  It seems obvious now, but I ciphered on it for a while before I came up with the simplest solution.

So, there you have it.  A completed quilt.

I have two more tops done and the fabric for two more innovative design ideas.  It's looking like a good start to the new year.

TheCurmudgeon