Report from "The Watering Hole": Real UrbanAmish Legend No.1

I started getting wind that something was up in Pennsylvania when I got a picture of fabrics clutched closely to the body. A sure sign of an oncoming quilting frenzy if I ever saw one. Not too long afterwards I started receiving snaps of blocks as they were coming together. Finally there was the top! All in the space of a weekend.

Dolores Joshua, Road Warrior (a.k.a. Blank Quilting Sales rep) had managed to surprise and delight me once again.

What follows is the story told in her own words of her UrbanAmish Africa adventure through UrbanAmish Lesson 1 • Indian Hatchet (You can download this lesson and templates for your own use in this post.)

Where to start? This is my first journey into blog-land, so it is a bit premeditated, not natural, nor comfortable for me….

But here goes….. I read the UrbanAmish lesson over and just let it percolate in my head for a few days, not consciously thinking about it. That way I knew when I was ready to tackle the project I would have worked it out in my subconscious. Finally one morning I was ready to take on the challenge. I walked into the living room where a pile of fabrics was being auditioned for other projects. Suddenly the Safari II fabric I had lived with for MONTHS was calling out to me. I had never figured out how I wanted to use this wonderful, graphic fabric.

I suddenly knew! The description of medium value as “equal distribution of lights and darks” ran through my head and I knew I had a good focus print. (See the Zebra print at the beginning of post.)

Next challenge…the two accompanying fabrics.

The companion piece from the collection was a no-brainer choice for fabric B. It fit the description perfectly- “Darker value tone on tone”…and it was a smaller scale print!!!

Next choice….my lighter value tone on tone.. Now I was confronted with a conundrum. I always think “why use one fabric when 20 will do?” I knew I wanted to add a teal blue to the brown in this fabric, and when I went to my stash many fabrics were waving their hands at me.

I got out my ruby beholder to check the appropriateness of these choices. I didn’t want any one of them to vary greatly from the others.

This is a close-up view of the fabrics as seen through the Ruby Beholder.
Same fabrics without the red filter.

This quilt layout can be found in Lesson #1.

I already knew that I would use an arrangement of blocks like the one in the blog…it had a very rhythmic feel to it and I could feel the drums beating and a very African theme emerged in my mind.

I counted up the blocks in the original design and went to work! The final quilt emerged a few short hours later and I am very happy with the end result. I call it “The Watering Hole.”

Having lived with the top for a week or more, I know what I am going to do for borders…that will follow soon, hopefully this weekend.!

I like the way the various blues add variety and gives the “water” depth.


Phoebe gives her approval!

Okay; I just have to ask. How many of you DON'T own a cat who sits on every quilt you make. I figured it'd be easier on the Blogger server to pose the question this way.

Coming up in the next posts:

• Traveling with Miranda! A photographic tribute to a real fine design.
• UrbanAmish Lesson #2 (Rome Might Be Built in a Day)
• Real UrbanAmish Legend #3 tells her story. (If she ever puts that wine glass down)