Rail Fence #1 and #2

Our guild was fortunate to have Sujata speak at the August meeting last Friday night. Her presentation, with scenes from India as well as the quilts that grace the pages of her book, "Cultural Fusion," was received with enthusiasm by members. The icing on the cake was the Rail Fence workshop the next day. I was an early follower of Sujata, and had already made one Rail Fence quilt top earlier this year. When I made this first Rail Fence, I was in the middle of something else that needed to be finished for our guild show this spring. But the Rail Fence was calling my name, so I took just enough time to make this smaller version.

Here is Rail Fence #2 so far. I asked Sujata to select fabric combinations for two of the blocks so that I will have a little bit of her in my finished quilt. Her selections are the top row, middle block and the second row, right block.For some reason, I can't get the color in the left block, middle row to photograph correctly, It is nowhere as light as it appears in the photo. The green fabric is almost a lime green. This quilt will be larger than #1. I am also cutting the blocks with a gentler curve than Rail Fence #1. After hearing Sujata's presentation came the understanding that the idea is to show the human hand in the making of the quilt, not necessarily to make something uber-wonky. Although the technique certainly lends itself to wonky and the ones I have seen that are much curvier are also very cool.

I feel to happy to have had the opportunity to meet Sujata and to learn from her - a sentiment that has been voiced to me by many guild members since Friday evening!