Each year, our Quaker meeting has a fundraiser to raise scholarship funds for a Quaker k-12 school on the West Bank in Israel. We sell Middle Eastern food, play Middle Eastern music, as well as have a white camel sale and a silent auction.

I was thinking of making a quilt to contribute to the auction. And given the theme of the Middle East, thought the quilt design should also be middle eastern.

But as I thought about it, I'm not sure what that would look like. Any suggestions? Pointers?

Thanks.

-- Jillaine

I just googled images of middle eastern quilts and there were too many ideas. Pick your comfort level and have fun. I liked the leather one, but could be done with fabric instead. Some wall art with horses had potential, and a simple block pattern in taffita was nice. Have at it.

Well, in that neck of the world, if you ask 5 people, you'll get 8 opinions.

You might look at the architecture and tile work as a source of inspiration (I don't know how complicated you want to get with this project).

The Hamsa is a very recognized symbol, as is the turquoisey-blue. Maybe different blocks using this symbol but made differently.

http://www.luckymojo.com/hamsahand.html
(Obviously, use the one on the right.)

http://www.google.com/images?q=hamsa...w=1280&bih=580

i don't know your skill level but there's a book called Bella Bella Quilts.

the designs in the book are based on mosaic tiled floors so it could work well in this situation.

some of the patterns are very easy and some are advanced so if you do buy the book it will certainly grow with you as your skills improve.

here's a link to her website and you can see many quilts in different colors and styles done by her and students of the books.


http://www.bellabellaquilts.com/home.html

That's a great book, but based on churches floors in Europe. While there might be some overlap, the tile work in the Middle East is markedly different, at least to my eyes (and seven years living there).

Here's an example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devinshire/5543995931/

But you can just do a search on combinations of the "country, mosque, tile work" and, guaranteed, someone has taken a picture of it and posted it somewhere.

But whatever, you do, unless it's so blandly generic, have it vetted just to make sure you don't innocently offend the recipients (or other locals).

these are great suggestions. I have one of the bella bella books on order. (I also have an Italian friend for whom I want to make a quilt based on Italian tile designs, which prompted the purchase of the bella bella book, but thanks... I'll consider it for this project as well.)

The other thing that occurred to me was to make a quilt based on the design of a rug. I attach a few images I found that might be "quilt-convertable". AND this also made me think that a OBW might actually work out as an interior section of the quilt with some sort of lovely border around....

(Isn't Google Great?)

-- Jillaine
P.S. on the sensitivity issue: yes, I'm very aware of this need. The purchaser of this quilt, though, would be an upper middle class white Quaker living in a well-off county in Maryland. ;-)

Then Gal288 found a wonderful PDF online about Islamic design, from which I extracted the following possibilities (in addition to some wonderful other ideas I couldn't pull out of the PDF):

Well, you know, Maryland does have its issues......
Just kidding. :wink: :wink: :wink:
OK, then clearly that's is NOT an issue. :lol: :lol:

The rugs are also a great source. I guess it just depends on how intricate you want to get.

Are you going to be doing the quilt all alone, or are there other members that can help out - making blocks, embellishing, sewing, whatever?

Can't wait to see what you decide.

It seems like in a quilt mag a couple of years ago there was an article about international quilters, and there were a couple from Israel. They were more artsy quilts and contemporary, but I do remember there being pomegranates in both of their quilts.

It might be interesting to do an applique quilt with fruits/flowers/plants from that part of the world.

Eq designed let me know what you think