A "Turkish Delight" for Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Blogging offers us so many opportunities to share our creative endeavors and Amy is providing yet another one with her Blogger's Quilt Festival! This is her third year and I decided that this year, I would share one of my favorite quilts called.....

"Turkish Delight"

This is not a large quilt, just a small wallhanging that measures about 21" x 27". The label that I made for the back of the quilt says....

"Turkish Delight - 2000"

An original design based on patterns found

in Persian carpets. All stitching done by hand.

Made by Sandi Andersen

"Shop 'til you drop"

Millennium Challenge Contest - Twin Cities 1999-2000

The fabrics in the quilt are from Ginny Beyer's Millennium fabrics from the year 2000. Entrants had to purchase a fat quarter pack of the fabrics and use them in a quilt that represented the observance of the Millennium. All entries would be displayed at the Minnesota Quilter's Show that year and there was a prize of $500 for the winning quilt. As I worked on the quilt, my husband asked if I thought I could win. I said "oh, no, there will be other quilts that will be better than mine, but my quilt will be displayed at the Minnesota Quilter's Show and that is something I would love to see".

There was a special inspiration for making this quilt. In 1998, my husband had to make a business trip to Turkey and because it was the year of our 30th wedding anniversary, it was decided I would go along and we would add a week and enjoy a visit to southern Turkey. We stayed in the city of Antalya. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed visiting museums and shops and I loved the Turkish rugs. We even bought a small one to bring home as a remembrance of that trip. So with that inspiration, I designed my quilt.
Here is a close-up of the center design.......

I did needle-turn applique on the center medallion and then quilted with gold thread. I did an embroidery stitch around the medallion in a black and gold twist floss. The label on the back of the quilt is actually a pocket and inside the pocket is a note that I wrote on fabric that explains my thoughts in designing this piece......

When I saw the packets of Challenge fabrics, I was reminded of my wedding colors - 1968 - olive green and ice blue. Second thing I was reminded of was our 30th anniversary trip to Turkey. I was fascinated by the colors and the patterns in the rugs. I bought two books on the history of the rugs and their symbols and we also bought a rug for our living room. One day in January, I was looking at the rug after having read about some of it's symbols. I suddenly realized how similar the designs were to our quilt patterns and I wondered.......Did some of our designs we stitch today, come from women who drew inspiration from their carpets?
Some of the designs I incorporated (names found in the books I bought) were the "Wheel of Fortune" symbol , the blocks in all four corners......the "Rose" in the center, and above and below it, the "Clover".......and to each side, the "Hyacinth". There are four red "poppies" and in each corner, a "triangle of charm". There are five borders that symbolize "earth, sky, water, holiness, productivity and fertility". In the outer border are six "eye beads" to ward off evil. The colors of blue, green, meadow saffron and deep red are common to the Turkish carpets. The blue fabric especially reminded me of the ruins we visited (on our trip) in what was once "the Cradle of Civilization".

I remember that as we visited historic sites and ruins on that visit to Turkey thinking......."wow, I am standing in places that I read about as a young girl growing up in Iowa." I could not believe that I had been so fortunate as to visit such an exotic and lovely place that I had read about in books. I even rode a camel. I'll see if I can find my pictures and share that one with you.

That's my quilt and story for Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival. If you have a quilt to share, just go here and you'll find all the info you need to add your quilt and story. Thanks, Amy, for doing this!

Now I'm off to find that box of pictures so I can show you I really did ride a camel!

Sandi

Almost forgot to mention......I didn't win but my quilt was displayed at MN Quilter's Show along with 24 other quilts made from the challenge fabrics. The winning quilt was a "stunner" that incorporated applique work of Cleopatra, the asp, a pyramid and other symbols from that time. I got a nice note and a compliment from the judges for my "lovely use of the red in the quilt". I was very happy. :-)