I call it finished... after 10 years...

I hereby name this quilt Dharavi - after the Indian slum it now makes me think of. Look at the quilt as though it is a birds eye view.

Mum quilted it with swirls in the centre - over the slum roofs. The swirls remind me of dust moving in little eddies with the wind, or with the monsoon rains that pour and pour through the bits of plastic and tin used as housing.

Surrounding the patchwork of roofs made from varying found materials are people walking in bright colours. There are some make-shift tenements that have escaped the boundaries of the legal slum.

Then there is the ribbon border- depicting barbed wire. Legal slums have very specific boundaries. The ribbon border is made of three different materials, just as the barbed wire fences would be made from whatever wire is on hand.

Lastly, the slum is surrounded by tall buildings. Slums are always next to high-rise buildings. It's where the workers live while they are doing the building.... then the high-rise tenants move in, and they don't want a slum view from their windows.... so the slum dwellers move once again, taking their temporary dwellings to another site where they will hopefully be employed to make concrete once again.

The 10 year project

The Log Apartments quilt top is now finished. So is the back!! It took me a while to sew on the last two sides (they were already pieced), but then I wanted to arrange a few more log cabin squares into the outer border.

There they are. I am so pleased with it so far. I have even pieced the back and attached a label already.

Mum can take her time quilting it for me (while I am away on holidays... poor Mum!!). It has turned into quite a large quilt.

I am so pleased to have finished such a long-standing UFO!

Pop! It just works!

It is such a pleasure to be working on this quilt.

I am just letting "the next thing happen". At night before I go to bed I will draw a quick sketch of the next bit, and it just works! Pop!

The zig zag border is now attached. I need to make the next border before I can calculate the size of the light minty green strip between to make them fit just so.

After this (final) border is attached I will audition a few more "loose" (or is it castaway and leftover) log cabin squares. I might need to add more flow from the centre to the outside.

I am using "log shapes" in the outer border, but it is giving a slight curved edge to the outside. I am particularly happy with the alternating pinkish-red, then greenish-blue repeating theme as the borders are applied.

I look forward to seeing the next bit! Let's just see how it flows.

Is the ribbon border barbed wire?

If the centre of this quilt is Dharavi, then what is the next border? Spillage? Overflow?


The green background with "plinks" printed on do look like people walking around (with or without umbrellas) from an aerial view.Perhaps the ribbon border looks like concertinas that will expand to let more people in. I have used three different dark green-ish fabrics in the ribbon border.

So far they are not stitched on.

I need to calculate how wide to make the straight band of light minty green to make sure the ribbon border fits just so.

Maybe the ribbon border is barbed wire? Does it keep people in or out of Dharavi?

What else could it be? Any suggestions?

Edgeing

This is part of the next border. I won't be able to work on the quilt tonight - you will have to wait a few days until the next bit is stitched. I am up to the third dark print in the zig-zag outer border.

After that I am not quite sure what I will be doing. It will need another dark striking border so that this light background edgeing doesn't just float away from the outside.

Borders can make a quilt grow very quickly can't they? It's becoming bigger and bigger. This is so much fun!!

What does it mean?

It's growing and growing! I am thinking about the quilting already Mum!! I am not sure whether to add any applique around the "ribbon" type border, or whether to leave it open for quilting.

I will just let it all talk to me as it grows. I have only used one dark fabric in the outermost border so far, I selected another two dark prints to use as well. I want it to feel like it flows around the outside, and changes colour as it moves.

I originally thought of this quilt as "Log Apartments" - a modern version of a Log Cabin (when I started the centre in about 2000). It was the first time I really enjoyed playing with colour, and was successful with my combinations. Since then, I feel I have really grown when choosing fabric colours.

Now, I think of the centre as an aerial view of sarees lying out on the ground drying... or perhaps silk carpets... or perhaps the brightly coloured awnings or tarps etc used for roofing in an incredibly built-up area such as Dharavi in Mombai, India.

This is an aerial shot of Dharavi I found on google. Can you see what I mean?

This next photo (also from google) shows carpets or block-printed fabrics or sarees (not sure which) laying out to dry in the sun.

I started this quilt about 6 years before my first trip to India. What does it mean?

Digging them up

I sure am digging them up when it comes to this ooooold UFO that has been "hanging" around for about 10 years.I have trimmed the centre down (it used to be an odd shape) and used some of the squares on the outer border.

Still more to add to this border, then another round with a flying geese-ribbon border. That's not a very useful description is it? You will just have to wait to see. I would like to finish this quilt this year.

Sew! Sew! Sew! Go us!

Changing my mind

I dug out this UFO I started before I really became interested in Civil War and 1800s repro fabrics.

It's funny, but the colours in it (acid greens, double pink, deep turkey reds) - although not necessarily Civil War prints certainly are the most vibrant of the Repro fabrics - and I still love them!!

Even though I still love the fabrics and the look, I am not going to finish it as I originally intended. I will trim the quilt top into a rectangle, then add this green Kaffe Fasset print as a border - maybe with some purple in between... yes, I think so after looking at this on the computer in reduced scale.

I had named this quilt Log Apartments - it's a modern version of log cabins. What do you think?