Featuring: TQS 2016 Block of the Month!

Photo by Gregory Case Photography

When I was chosen as the quilter 

by TQS (The Quilt Show) for 

the historic Rajah Quilt remake 

that made its debut in their booth during the 2015 International Quilt Show in Houston this October,

I was flabbergasted.

But stoked.

It is pictured here just exactly as I remembered having quilted it a few months ago :).

Meet the designer, Lessa Siegele; teacher, judge and quilt maker.  

Lessa has been teaching quilting since the mid-'70s and has enjoyed every moment of meeting and sharing her knowledge with quilters around Australia and abroad. Her love is traditional quilts and promoting early Australian quilts. 

One of her favorites is the Rajah Quilt, in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. It's a huge quilt, approximately 128" inches square, shown here.

Made in 1841, it was sewn by women convicts on board the ship Rajah, which left England in April 1841 and arrived at the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) that July. 

From TQS: "Lessa Siegele recreated it in quarter scale with fabrics from her stash – thinking that's what might have happened when the original quilt was being made - loosely following the colors of the original quilt, and tea-dying fabrics that didn't look old enough.” 

You can make this Rajah Quilt BOM (66” x 66”), made with Cotton + Steel fabrics, starting January 1, 2016.   Again, from TQS:  “In the meantime, to help you get ready, you can download the Introduction Packet, which includes everything you will need to begin working on the "Rajah Quilt Revisited" BOM quilt.  From fabric requirements and color selections to appliqué and embroidery tutorials, we have thought of everything to make this an enjoyable and rewarding journey for you to cherish."  Check out thequiltshow.com for the packet.

The quilting process?  Never thought you'd ask!  It began late this summer after receiving it from the piecer/appliquér...

 Before loading custom quilts, design choices dance in my head for a few days.  I decided this quilt needed freestyle quilting, and I came up with all the designs.  I guess you could say it's one-of-a-kind.

A feather design spoke to me, and I listened. The crosses were all immpecably stitched in reverse appliqué.  What a pleasure to stitch around.

 All other motifs, such as flowers, birds and leaves, were regular appliqué.

What an opportunity to do my third quilt for TQS!  After I completed the quilting, it was sent off for binding.  I was invited by the Editor-in-Chief, Lilo Bowman, to the taping of the finished quilt in their Denver, Colorado studio in September, as well as to Houston Market for a "Meet the Quilter" (that's me!) business card signing.  Unfortunately, the only thing I could afford were the business cards, which were handed out at the booth, shown here! A friend coincidentally made it to the taping in Denver, and emailed me with the news she had seen the quilt.  Ah, well.  The joy was in the quilting, after all, not the 'fame'.  And so it should be.

Here's hoping you have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday that finds you with an overflowing fabric stash waiting for you to create something that's...one-of-a-kind.