I knew heading into designing Girt By Sea that I needed to make this quilt for myself (as opposed to just my border for the pattern sample!), but that I needed to make it in the colours of Australia. From a sunburnt desert centre through to the oceans that surround my island home, and deeply inspired by the poem My Country by Dorothea Mackellar. It’s a poem that has always filled my heart with a love for the landscapes of Australia, especially this verse:
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
In fact, that’s where I got the title of my log cabin mountains border from – Ragged Ranges!
But what fabric to use?! I played with the idea of pulling from my colour-ordered stash, and even cut into it for the centre medallion, but as I was preparing to baste, I noticed that I had pulled some of the orange leaves from Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics range. And I suddenly remembered – I had also toyed with the idea of doing it in all Carolyn fabrics, as I recently mixed her prints up into colour order to store them!
So that’s what I’m doing. An ode to the Australian landscape in some of my most favourite fabrics. From the red(ish) centre, to the mustard golden canola fields I used to drive through as a kid on roadtrips. To the dry, grassy greens of our bush, and over the dark and hazy deep green rainforested mountains, ending in the sparkling blues of the ocean where we dive in to see the glorious coral reefs that fill our tropical waters.
Call me a dork, but I just love the colours of our country, I always have. And after living in a concrete jungle for four years, I constantly yearned for open spaces, far horizons, and colour. When we arrived in Cairns for 3 months on our way to our new home in Melbourne last year, the greenery that surrounded me from those rainforested mountains filled my soul back up. My world was so vibrant again! So to say that I’m excited about making this quilt is an understatement. I can’t wait to see it finished!
Robby H. says
I’ve been intrigued by Australia for many years, but it’s a long way off. I saw a great many pictures of it when the Cambridges did their tour and it was just so gorgeous, I think your color choices will be a great interpretation.
Alyce says
I certainly live in colourful country!
Amy, a redeemed sheep says
Oh, that will be incredible! You are brilliant!
Alyce says
Naw thank you!!
Susan says
I like your color choices. I’m a desert lover myself, so I can completely see loving a sunburned country!
Alyce says
Desert sunset was another colour scheme I briefly toyed with, but I need the sea for “Girt By Sea” 😉
Chris says
Alyce, the fabric colors you chose are magnificent and they feel exactly what the words of the poem express! I can’t wait until you show us the finished quilt.
Alyce says
Thank you! I can’t wait to see it myself, haha!
Roslyn says
Lovely choice of colours and of course “our poem”
from one lucky Aussie to another.
Alyce says
Thank you!!
Monique M says
Living in New Hampshire U.S.A. I can sympathize with the lack of color although ours is seasonal. We just got another 14 inches of snow yesterday and I hope it’s the last one of the year because I need to start seeing color again. The white and dark green of pine trees is not enough after 5 months. I want some pinks and yellows and purples of the flowers and the lush green of my vegetable garden and the forest that surrounds my house. I’m glad you are back to having color.
Alyce says
Another 14″ of snow! That’s crazy! Hope you get flowers soon 🙂