Modern Sunset

June's challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors was to come up with something "Modern".  Hmmm...not really my style, but it's good to be flexible and keep an open mind.  Ultimately, I quite enjoyed the exercise.

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

Our guidelines used phrases such as "minimalist", with bold, high-contrast colours, and expansive negative space. Looking through my fabric stash, the available colours reminded me of a sunset.  I chose "Milkshake" from the "Foundations" line for the background, and added cantaloupe, grape,hazelnut, and daffodil from the Basics, orange and red from the Stashbuilder rolls, yellow and lavender from Morning Sunshine, as well as a dark grey belonging to the Paisley Dot collection. As soon as I began building the strata, I had an epiphany.

What could be more "minimalist" than the sunset being contained within the sun itself?! So the strata became a circle.

The quilting was kept to a minimum: straight lines quilted with the walking foot, 1/2" apart. The lines are quilted vertically through half of the quilt, and horizontally for the remainder.

I used Aurifil thread 40 weight in 2021 Natural White, and Hobbs Thermore batting. To maintain the clean look, I "faced" the outer edges of the quilt instead of using binding.  That technique is explained in an earlier post.

I like to photograph my quilts in interesting places and decided that the best way to view a sunset was on the beach, so I set off for the closest water. The park at Tidnish Dock is a provincial heritage site, as the remains of Henry Ketchum's ill-fated Ship Railway may be seen there.

The wind made it nearly impossible to hang onto the quilt, so the pictures had to be taken further back from the water, in a sheltered spot.  This shot is just to prove I tried :)

The pattern for Sunset is available for instant download. As always, a big thank you to Cheryl Coville of Grandma CoCo Designs for her willingness to help edit the pattern. Thank you to Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs Bonded Fibres for supplying the materials for this project, and the inspiration for its creation.