Lost City – Cuzco Quilt

This pattern by Kate Spain uses her line of fabric called Cuzco. It is easy to imagine her inspiration being the Lost City of Cusco. When I research this Inca city, I found the pictures showed walls that went across the mountain, almost horizontally. So I thought the quilting should reflect the Inca influence.

Quilt top was pieced by my friend and customer, Lynette.

Thought I would try taking some photos outside since the light in the house seems dim. But then, the trees were creating shadows.

I used Rainbows variegated thread, with colors that are in the quilt, to quilt double lines following the piecing lines. Also used the Rainbows to stitch an Inca cross called Chakana in this area. In between those lines I quilted double lines and the white area with white Sew Fine thread.

Since I pebbled the center circle, I repeated these circles in several other different areas.

The large white area kept telling me to quilt something with vertical emphasis. So I divided the space into three areas and filled them with swirls and a design I thought was very “Incan.” You can see instructions for this design at Feathered Fibers. She calls it “Sprocket.”

This quilt was quite a challenge for me since it is my first modern quilt that seem to ask for extremely dense quilting. Frankly, I told a well known modern quilter that I was “freaking out” about it. Not far from the truth. But in the end, I practiced several ideas on my computer, went with my instincts, and watched the design develop as I drew in the lines. Didn’t turn out too bad! JIMO

Thanks for stopping by.

Linda