Island Batik "New Beginnings"

Every time January rolls around, many of us think of  New Beginnings as it is the start of a New Year! Therefore Island Batik thought it would be a great idea to have "New Beginnings" as their Blog Hop theme this month for the Island Batik Ambassadors. 

 I had so many ideas for "New Beginnings" that it was hard to settle on just one. However when I looked at the fabric collection I was to use, I knew that I was definitely going to have to go to Plan B and I wasn't sure what that was.

The collection is called Glowing Embers and it is absolutely beautiful. I thought of so many designs where it would be "purrfect" but none of them suggested "New Beginnings". Don't you just love all those bright vivid colors!





 

Here is my stack of fabrics. We were asked to use at least eight of the colors in our designs. What I thought would be easy turned out to be a real challenge.

Just for the record, I am not a purple person. It was my favorite color as a child only because it was fun to say. But since then I have given purple the slip!

Until this quilt.... 



 
For some reason the purple kept calling to me as well as the gold and green.  These are Mardi Gras colors and here on the Gulf Coast we have just started to celebrate. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to make a "Mardi Gras" quilt as that is definitely a "New Beginning". Mardi Gras  is the beginning of  Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and ending on   Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And Lent is a time of reflection, fasting and preparation which ends at Easter which is definitely a New Beginning!
 

 There is a King Cake which is usually eaten on Three Kings Day, January 6, but you can find the cakes throughout the Mardi Gras season.The King Cake historically marks the arrival of the three wise men/kings in Bethlehem who delivered gifts to the baby Jesus. King Cakes contain a small figurine in the shape of a baby which symbolizes the baby Jesus. This is a key part in the celebration of the holiday for which the King Cake is made. (This is a King Cake from our local bakery and it needs more yellow sprinkles in my opinion.) Nevertheless it was good! But check out the fabrics that I chose for my quilt! 

 And so I present to you my quilt which I have named "Crescent City King Cakes". 

New Orleans has many nicknames but Crescent City is one of my favorites as it was built around the crescent of the Mississippi River. 

The quilt measures 34" x 34" and I used YLI thread to stitch in the ditch for quilting. This pattern will be available later this spring. 

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment about what New Beginning you like as I will be giving away two of my new Island Batik patterns which were introduced at Fall Market. They are using the new fabric collections which have been featured in this blog hop by other Island Batik Ambassadors.  Here you will find a list and I hope you will stop by each and every one as there are some great prizes available.

Thank you again and have a good week.

Until next time bye ya'll,

             Nan

 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway