Hello and welcome to the second stop of the Blog Hop featuring and celebrating (Quilter's Treasure Chest) Raija Salomaa's signature fabric line, 'Autumn Twilight' by Island Batiks.
Raija has made several patterns using this line! Raija is an accomplished quilter, pattern designer, and teacher. If you have not seen her pattern designs, check out her website. (LINK)
Here is a peek of the Autumn Twilight collection.
Here is the Blog Hop Schedule, click on the links to see a few other projects made using these fabrics (plenty of eye candy and ideas) ...
Monday 6/23/2025 Raija Salomaa of Quilter's Treasure Chest (LINK)
Tuesday 6/24/2025 Shelly Watson of Wiggle Creek Designs (you are here!)
Wednesday 6/25/2025 Tracey Stinger of The Busy Bee Quilter (LINK)
Thursday 6/26/2025 Terrie Welch of Quilters Journey(LINK)
Friday 6/27/2025 Toni Raynolds of Love Pieced Perfection (LINK)
The Wave
When I was given some fabrics from this collection, I was reminded of all the different colors that can be seen in water. I decided to make an art quilt of water (a wave in particular), so that I could utilize all the colors in the Autumn Twilight Collection.
My inspiration for this project was the iconic Japanese print 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' by Katsushika Hokusai. Fun Fact: this print was made in 1831 from an image carved into a wooden block, isn't that amazing!! Here is the print ...
Here is my version of the wave ...
As you can see from the photo, I have not yet finished my Wave art quilt! The Wave image is still attached to the shiny brown appliqué sheet. To complete this quilt, I need to trim it, fuse it to a background fabric, and then quilt it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of my process, which I now regret! Here’s a brief description of how I created the Wave image:
My first step was to sketch out a Wave. After completing the sketch, I decided that the 'Crest of the Wave' (the white portions) would be made from one solid white fabric. I opted to use white Grunge fabric instead of any of the whites from the Autumn Twilights Collection. I chose this white grunge fabric to achieve a contrast against all the batiks.
Next, I traced the Crest of the Wave portions onto white grunge fabric that was backed with Steam A Seam Lite fusible. I then cut out the design and set it aside for later use.
For the blue water in the Wave, I used a collage-style assembly. I took some pre-fused batik fabrics from the Autumn Twilight Collection and cut them into random slivers. By cutting the fabric into very small pieces, I could isolate various colors, such as blues, purples, greens, grays, and blacks. Batik fabrics are my favorite for art quilts because they contain so many different colors! I then placed my sketch under an appliqué sheet and randomly arranged these fabric slivers according to my sketch. Once satisfied with the arrangement, I used an iron to fuse them in place.
After finishing the blue waters, I fused my white Crest of the Wave to the top. At this point, I stopped, as I was still debating whether to leave the background plain, add a sunrise, or add a Mount Fuji like in the Japanese print. Hmm, what to do - all options would look good.