A Bright Quilt for a Gloomy Day

Gloomy and gray...that would describe our weather here in central North Carolina for the last two days. Throw in wet...pretty yucky. I chose to work on this beautiful quilt top for my friend Jean.

The pattern is Bento Box by Tracey Brookshire. Made up in batiks, it is sure to be treasured by the high school graduate/college freshman for whom it is a gift.

I used the Signature TieDye cotton variegated thread for the top, and a medium gray Bottom Line thread on the bottom. This is the largest quilt I have done in quite awhile, after all the kids' quilts and wheelchair quilts lately.

What the heck is a Bento Box, anyway? Found out here on Wikipedia. A fancy Japanese single-serving lunch box.

This week, the International Quilt Festival is in Houston, with lots of eye candy quilts, classes, and shopping opportunities. I have never been to the show, but it is one of my lifetime goals to have one of my quilts there. Hmmm, that means I would have to finish one and also enter it. Some day I will complete a masterpiece to enter, maybe! Anyway, since I am saving so much money by not going to Houston, I treated myself to some yummy silk fibers from Myrna Ficken's website, A Quilter's Choice.

These fibers are hand-dyed silk tussah tops. They come in the rope-like coils you see in the photo. You gently pull them apart, and can use them for needle-felting, silk fusion, or projects like the fiber shawls that I make on the longarm.

I am wearing another one in my sidebar photo. I did a three-part tutorial on how to make these starting here.

By the way, this year I am participating in my CyberBee's Secret Santa gift exchange. My Secret Santa sent me a secret message that I was to stop purchasing quilt books! Well, since you must be one of my blog readers, SS, I would encourage you to check out Myrna's website for these silk tops. MMMMM! By the way, Myrna has personally called me each time I have ordered from her to check out the order and assure the availability. Great service!