Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Da Gama Challenge


The Oranje Quilters Guild planned a mini quilt festival in Bloemfontein in April 2007 and launched a Da Gama (traditional fabric printed in South Africa) quilt challenge and under peer pressure I had to participate. Not into competitions I simply went to the shop to check out the fabric with no idea to what the quilt would be like. Saw the Madiba faces printed on one of these fabrics and went home thinking that I would like to work around that. Paged through a couple of books and magazines and noticed the Kaleidoscope block playing tricks on your eyes by forming circles. So there and then I decided that this was what I wanted to do. Went back to buy the fabric and started out.

Not much planning, effort or difficulty level in this one but as my circles unfolded and Madiba looking at me from the fabric, I couldn't help thinking that this must have been what his fight for freedom was all about and after years of patching here and there, he has come full circle in his fight.

Being my first attempt at a challenge, working against time, this too was 'coming full circle' for me with my quilting. Therefor the name of this quilt "Coming full circle."

Completed: 1 March 2007