Bohemian Radiance

Bohemian is probably not a word I would typically use to describe my sparkly self. I may be on the edge of seventeen, but I don’t tend to wrap myself in head scarves, light up the incense, and call myself Stevie Nicks! With this quilt though I wanted to take the opportunity to explore my inner bohemian goddess (and I may have lit up the incense after all!)

Originally, I wasn’t really planning on creating a quilt for the Radiant Orchid Pantone Quilt Challenge. I was all like, “Nope! I’m going to stay focused on the projects I’ve already started.” But there I stood in Tokyo fabric shop, Tomato, staring down at fat eighths of Pat Bravo’s Bohemian Soul for Art Gallery, and I knew I couldn’t help myself.

Then as soon as I was on my way back to Sydney, tucked safely away in an airport lounge for 12 hours, I began to glitter-pen some ideas into my sketch book. As soon as I got to this one, I knew it was the one. How did I know? Well, it had a more traditional vibe, which is an area I haven’t confidently explored much in my quilting journey.

I have spent so much time lately on projects containing only one fabric range (witness Shudder and D!), I knew this one had to be scrap-tastic. So after raiding my stash I found about 20 other radiant orchid inspired prints, and threw them all together with some cream tone-on-tone for some purple-passion love. It might as well be blackberry pie a la mode, because it is d. lish. us.

I created four of these blocks, each consisting of 32 half-square triangle units, and 4 squares. However, I’d like to make it again using HSTs, squares, flying geese units, and fussy-cut Economy Blocks. Hmm … maybe I should write that up as a pattern because I think it would have a decidedly different aesthetic worth exploring.

Oh, did you notice all those batiks on the front? Yeah, that’s right, I used them–hard core. What’s more? I turned this business around and backed the whole thing in leftover HSTs and some more radiant orchid batiks I also had hiding in my stash. Seriously, my stash was overflowing with radiant orchid and I didn’t even know!

A big call, but this is my new favourite binding! I found this little slice of batik heaven buried in my stash. It magically incorporates all of the colours from the quilt, and I had just enough, with a scrap left over for good measure. Serendipity!

I used Aurifil variegated lavender (3840) for the quilting. Now, small confession: I had originally planned to do some chrysanthemum FMQ. I made lots of sandwiches (yum), practiced until my fingers were almost, not nearly bleeding, and was sure I had it in the bag. Then I spent an hour ripping out stitches. Ow! Glitter in my eye! I did learn lots from the experience though, and I’ll work it out someday.

Now, where did I put that head scarf?