A Leap into the Unknown

In the autumn my sister asked if I would make her a quilt to give her boyfriend for Christmas.  He is a Karate Sensei, and she wanted a quilt to represent his art, and also his karate school.  She wanted to include some kanji with his personal and club motto, and also an photographic image of his silhouette.

What could I say?  I was completely terrified!  This was completely outside of my comfort zone, and yet I knew how much my dear sister had emotionally invested already, when it was still just an idea.  We got together to discuss the design further, and we bounced lots of ideas around.  The kanji to be used translates as"the peaceful way", and this set the mood.  I went away to look at fabrics, and this is what I found

This is a Kona Bay fabric called Sanctuary.  It was perfect for the background, and the name clinched it!

 This lovely batik reminded me of the sea in a storm, all those swirling blues and greens.  This would be the first border.

Having surreptitiously questioned C I knew that he loved cranes, and when I found this on Etsy I knew it would tie together the various design elements as the final border.

Finally, I found this fabulous kanji fabric for the backing and binding.  I was ready to go.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to make a start on this until the beginning of December, after the mayhem of the Bazaar had passed.  However, i found myself completely unable to start.  I had a serious case of the jitters.  Still, I was working to a very tight deadline, and I had to just knuckle down and make that first cut.  After that, it all got much easier.  I even finished it 2 days before my deadline!

Here's the finished article

Unfortunately, the quilting doesn't show up well, but there are rays of sunshine emanating from behind the silhouette.

 I quilted a sort of zen raked sand garden pattern on the lower half of the background, and a water design on the inner border.  On the outer border I outline quilted the cranes to make them stand out a bit more.

I can't believe I finished it.  Of course, it wasn't nearly as onerous as I was expecting.  In fact, it was all quite straightforward (except for the quilting on the inner border - the thread broke 23 times.  I know because I counted!)

Now, what shall I start as my next project?