Cathedral Window

Project Quilting Season 8- Texture

So I received this challenge as I sat in the airport last Sunday. My husband and I had just completed a wonderful visit with my Daughter and her husband who live in France.  Of course I was still hyped up over the beautiful places we visited in our quick week there and found my inspiration there.

   To tell you the truth, I had never really had a desire to visit France. I have been to Europe, but had heard many negative things about the people of France and chosen to not go there.  Of course with my daughter and her husband living there, and missing them after months of separation, my husband and I planned a trip. It was amazing. Of course seeing my daughter and her husband was the best, but France itself was amazing too. And I found the people polite, extremely nice and did not experience any of the negative things I've heard about France.

  During our trip we visited many beautiful sites. We saw Roman ruins, walked around in a Roman amphitheater, tasted wonderful red wines, ate way too many baguettes and pastries, and visited some of the most beautiful old cathedrals, one of which was built in the twelfth century! I have always loved stained glass windows, and the round rose windows have been my favorite. These windows were abundant in France. 

Here are a few Rose windows I saw:

                          Cathedrale Saint -Jean Baptiste
                                   Lyon. France
                            Just Love this Window!

  The challenge this week is Texture. This is right up my alley!  I'm one of those people that has to touch everything. You'll find me in the fabric store running my hand across the velvets, the faux furs, and the soft flannels. I've been that way with glass too, I  love the sheen, love the bumpiness of art glass, and  the feel of etching in crystal. Stained glass adds the additional texture with that seperation between the various cplates of glass. In addition the color combinations are simply amazing! So again, I was still in the France mode when I started planning my challenge, and decided on these windows and that texture in the stained glass as my project

My fabrics

I had a hard time getting fabrics. We don't have many quilt shops in my area. Actually only one less than 45 miles from me and no time to travel in search of fabric..I was limited and couldn't find exactly what I had visioned, but had to go with what I could find. And have you ever noticed how sometimes when you get home, the colors appear a little different than they did in the store?  I would have preferred a darker contrasting color as my light purple faded against my gray.

I spent some time making my own templates for center pieces and outside windows.

The fan is a classic Dresden pattern:

Then Of course the quilting store ran out of my background fabric, so I had to add pieces parts so I could add my outer windows....Can I say frustrating??

I appliqued the center and the 24 outside window pieces

All pieced, ready to quilt!!Woohoo! 

My finished project: It is 50 inches by 52 inches

                             The Rose of Lyon


I learned so much in this process.

1. Thread choice is key! I should have used darker or more contrasting threads! I spent so much time meandering through the 24 fans to make that stained glass appearance, but it is not very visible.
2.  It takes patience.  Ha  this comes very hard to me especially when I'm in a time crunch
3. I have so much to learn! I need to spend some time perfecting my methods in the quilting portions. I'm determined to view a few videos, look for a few good sources to help me learn this process...      SUGGESTIONS OF SOURCES ANYONE?????
4. Project quilting is making me a better quilter! These challenges are doing just that, challenging me, making me learn new things and helping me develop as a quilter!!

Thanks again to Kim and Trish at Project Quilting for these great challenges!  

                                till next time! Renie