Japan meets Zimbabwe

I have finally finished off the whole set that is destined for a little girl residing in Zimbabwe. The Sun Star Quilt was the last one awaiting final touches, which were done today.

Since there were five empty circles, I had thought to embroider or free-motion quilt five Japanese characters, namely: mother, daughter, the little girl's Japanese middle name, love and happiness. After having contacted a Japanese friend of mine to have the translation of the above, I became a bit dismayed. The characters were all Chinese (as these characters are part of the Japanese written language) and were rather complicated and not all were just one character.

After much reflection, I decided to stipple the white circles white and contour stipple the girl's name in the center red circle.

Before sewing the red sun, I visited my husband's tool box and found some green tape that was ideal for masking out the said symbol. Using very fine stippling, the contours started to emerge.

Do you see the relief? I was going for a discrete approach, so as not to spoil the holistic look of the quilt. Doing the same in all circles would have been too much, I reasoned. With this solution, I thought that if the recipient's mother does not care for how the red circle looks, the stitches can be removed and just left plain without spoiling the quilt's final look.

And this is the quilt all done.

Here is the entire package: two quilts (both of which may be used as wall-hangings), two mouse sleeping bags for her dollies and a bonus pillow cover. I had thought to sew sashiko on some of the Sun Spiral Quilt circles, but changed my mind once I did a couple. It just did not turn out right. An idea to use in the future, though.

I took my time with this project, as I wished to have cohesion between the different items but that they could stand alone if desired. Also, I learned to free-motion quilt, so I think it was worth the effort and the time. Hopefully the items will be treasured and well used.

So, it is off to the post office.

Have a Happy Canada Day!

Christine