A couple of years ago, Ruth invited me to a wonky house swap on Flickr. I was at a loss what to make because Ruth, Sil and Sandy are expert wonky house designers. After a short while of thinking over many ideas, I decided to make 12 castles. I have loved castles since I was a little child, reading about the brave men and women defending the stronghold. I have quite often arranged our travel plans around cities with castles in them. So it was an easy choice for me and my swap-mates loved the idea. Along with the 4″ blocks that I made for them, I also made these 10″ blocks.
I found these three fabrics of different colours with foliage prints on them. I used the same white for the sashing and the binding, and other two for the two borders. I was reading a short story at the time which may have influenced my choice of putting foliage around the castles.
I quilted the main part with a yellow variegated thread and the outer border with a teal variegated thread. I didn’t want to add extra colour to the inner border, so I used a white thread for that one.
back of the quilt
Last weekend we drove up Napa Valley to the Culinary Institute Of America. The college is in a magnificent stone building surrounded by lichen and moss-covered stone walls. I knew I had to take my castle quilt there for a photo since the day I first clapped eyes on it.
Once we found a quiet spot my poor husband crouched down behind the quilt while holding it up for me. I took at least 10-12 shots with a manual focus lens (a lengthy process) before I decided I didn’t like any of them. So he found a way to anchor the quilt on the wall. Although I said I didn’t like the photo, I decided to show the photo anyway!
The campus of the Culinary Institue of America has many magnolia trees and all of them were in full bloom. We walked around the campus for a little while, admiring these gorgeous flowers before driving to Calistoga, the neighbouring city nearby, for some pastry and coffee. It was a perfect day!
Links to individual castle quilt patterns –
-Soma
19 thoughts on “Castles In The Air”
Vera March 7, 2015 at 12:46
That turned out as very original creative and pretty quilt!
Lynette March 3, 2015 at 07:01
How fun! I love castles, too. Your blocks are really very cool. I don’t think I could get that creative with them. Very fun photo op site, for sure. :)
Laura @ Prairie Sewn Studios February 25, 2015 at 12:46
I love this twist on houses! Beautiful quilt.
Mary Huey February 25, 2015 at 08:04
What a fun quilt!!
Anita February 24, 2015 at 12:35
Love your wonky castles!
Julie Stocker February 24, 2015 at 10:29
I love the way you’ve used the batiks as weathery backgrounds for the castles. It adds to the realism, and I think makes this a standout quilt. Very nice indeed.
Julie @ Pink Doxies
Beth February 24, 2015 at 03:13
Your castles are great! I’ve always wanted to do a house quilt and I had thought that I should try to stick in a castle. Now I see I absolutely must! Yours is a great inspiration!
Wendy February 23, 2015 at 11:50
What a wonderful quilt!! I just love their storbybook wonkiness, and would love to visit some of them ;) I noticed the mossy rocks in your first photo and thought it was a perfect backdrop for your castle quilt. I’ve been using our bright white snow as a backdrop lately. I hope it hangs around enough for me to photograph a knitting project I’m close to finishing!
Wendy
Karen in Tucson February 23, 2015 at 07:46
This is magnificent!! Your quilting enhances the design. It’s picture perfect.
Mary February 21, 2015 at 17:20
That is a fabulous quilt. I love the idea of wonky castles.
The magnolias look so pretty too.
rightpattern February 21, 2015 at 03:01
What a lovely quilt. I remember first castle, but now all of them collected in this order looks perfect . Awesome quilting. LOVE.
krislovesfabric February 20, 2015 at 08:58
Pretty pictures, beauty of a quilt. Those castles do look like they are floating in air. What great stories their walls would tell.
Marly February 20, 2015 at 04:00
Lovely castle blocks all together make a super quilt.
Kim February 20, 2015 at 04:00
You amaze me, Soma. Your castles quilt is superb as is the quilting! I must say I love the lichen covered wall; tis the perfect background for your beautiful quilt!
Susie February 19, 2015 at 16:40
Wow! What a gorgeous Castle BoM Quilt!! It’s really pretty how you quilted it, too. I like those focal points that radiate outward….
And your “castle wall” is perfect to show off your latest keepsake!
Kim February 19, 2015 at 14:52
Looks amazing, Soma. That’s definitely a plus of moving from Oz to the UK, the accessibility of history. Castles, which growing up, I could only imagine and dream of, here lie all around, many in beautiful cared-for states, others left to crumble within the landscape. I like the variety of castles you’ve incorporated, just beautiful!
Janine February 19, 2015 at 14:10
This is fantastic. I loved seeing your castles block by block but seeing them altogether is even better :)
Kathleen February 19, 2015 at 13:27
I like :)
Susan February 19, 2015 at 11:43
I love castles too and collected these when you had them as a BOM. I have been inside a couple of castles in Michigan where I live and saw several in NY when we lived there.
I love the setting of your castles. That blue with the skinny white border & binding really sets them off. Thanks for sharing.