Aurelia's Granddaughter

March's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is It's All Up To You.  Meaning Ambassador's choice.  March is usually when I'm trying to finish up the teacher quilts, so the timing is great for me!  (I make quilts for Fire Monkey's teachers every year, to be gifted the last week of school.) While I love all of the teacher quilts, this is my favorite of this year's batch.

Now that you've seen it, let me back up and give you some details. 

This year, Fire Monkey is in TD (Talent Development) enrichment classes twice a week.  I asked Fire Monkey to find out the favorite color of the teacher, Ms. L.  It's pink.  I had a strip pack of Precious Pinks in my January ambassador box, so I knew I'd use that.  Island Batik recently put together Gradations, each containing 20 of their basics in a a color graduation.  I've had Precious Pinks before and it's probably my favorite of the gradation collections, even though purple is my favorite color.

 

Items used in this project were give to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, Hobbs, Schmetz, and Oliso.

At some point in January, a new issue of Make Modern Magazine came out.  My friend and fellow Island Batik Ambassador Preeti had a pattern in this issue.  She calls it Aurelia and it's beautiful.  I loved it!  Preeti's version has a gradient of two colors, blues and purples, paired with white and black solid.  (Her fabrics come from the Porcelain Blue and Morris Mist collections.) I wondered if I could make a single color version.  That was not as challenging as specifically working within the strip set I had.  Mine was going to be a little bit scrappy.

Aurelia by Preeti Harris

I got out my strips and put together 2 different strip sets for the blocks.  One set used Hot Lips, Camellia, and Blush, while the other set used French Rose, Ballerina, and Carnation.  Instead of the black in Preeti's version, I used Sangria as the darkest pink, and the neutral Coconut for the background.  There are six different fabrics in the "flower" blocks: Petunia, Bubblegum, Tea Rose, Geranium, Raspberry, and Grenadine.

I ended up laying mine out a little differently than Preeti's version.  Hers is in narrower columns and uses blocks and reverse blocks.  With the monochromatic version, I liked the look of wider columns and chose not to make reverse blocks.  Fire Monkey got final decision and agreed on the layout change with the pink fabrics.

This came together really quickly and I absolutely love it!  Preeti named her pattern Aurelia.  I know there is a relative in my grandmother's family tree named Aurelia, but I do not remember who or the relationship, and neither does my brother.  I think Aurelia might have been my grandmother's grandmother.  So I'm naming this Aurelia's Granddaughter, therefore essentially naming it after my grandmother, or so I hope!

 

I quilted in Preeti style, meaning a grid of wavy line stitch.  I used Aurifil thread 2425 Bright Pink.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 and the piecing and quilting were both done with Schmetz needles.  I pressed with my new yellow Oliso iron.   

Aurelia is in issue 56 of Make Modern Magazine.  You can also find it in Preeti's etsy shop.  AND!  Preeti is generously giving away a copy to one of my readers; leave a comment by April 4th and I will choose a winner randomly.  My version is 60" square but the original pattern is 60" x 84".  I absolutely love this quilt! I hope Ms. L loves it too! Thanks, Preeti, for such a fun and fast pattern!