Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Kathryn Come Over!

One of the local groups I belong to does a challenge every year with the unveiling around the same time as the Canberra Quilt Show. One year the challenge theme was 'Red and White'. As usual, I faithfully collected red fabrics and waited until the last possible minute to actually get started. This design was born of a creative burst sparked by an immovable deadline.

My friend Kathryn had come to Sydney for the unveiling and spent the night before handing me pieces to sew together so that I had a top for the unveiling the next day. The white bits were supposed to all go in the same direction but one row got 'translated' in the late night sewing frenzy.

Here is the finished quilt that I entered into the Sydney Quilt Show last year (June 2005). The title of the quilt is based on a game I played a lot when I was in primary school.

And here is a close-up of the quilting. I quilted the entire thing by machine using variegated cotton or rayon threads. The pattern wasn't marked in advance. I did the circles from the back using the polka dots on the backing fabric as a guide and just free machine quilted the rest making it up as I went along.

This is also a UFO (unfinished object) because I am in the process of adding beads and square sequins to it, especially along the swirls of machine quilted circles, to see if I can liven it up a bit.