Not sure what to do!
 

Hi everyone,
My next door neighbour has asked me to make him a quilt. He would like it to be a single bed size quilt. He has asked me to use a piece of embroidery that his father brought back from Egypt during the war as my inspiration.
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I have never done embroidery before so am thinking that would not be the best way forward for this quilt!
I have made a panel using a technique called 'pile and plunder' by Abbie Searle. This came out looking pretty good (apart from the fact that one of the pyramids is floating in the air!), but I am concerned that the raw edges would not be ideal for a quilt that will be used and washed regularly, as I made this a little while ago and it has quite a lot of thready bits all ready, and it has just been sat around.
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I am just not sure how to proceed with this one and thought you guys might have some good ideas! He is happy for it to be done using any technique and doesn't want it to be exactly the same as the piece of embroidery, he said he would just like some pyramids, palm trees and maybe a camel!
He asked me if I would do it at the start of the year so I feel I have procrastinated enough and need to get started on it! I'm just at a complete loss really!
Any suggestions will be gratefully received!

I did a search on Yahoo! Sand, Pyramid, Camel quilt pattern
I had a lot of responses.
This is a pattern that has several camels and a pyramid. http://www.critterpat.com/item.php?item_id=270
And then there was this scene http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=122169001
Another scenic that you might like http://vector.me/browse/222407/egypt...sert_landscape
If you Google the phrase, you get some really neat images that could really be helpful. Good luck!!!

I love the second one! I really like the idea of there being a reflection in a pool of water! I think applique may be the way to go with it...I made a quilt for my Sister-In-Law for Christmas that actually reminds me a lot of that picture. It even had camels on it and I never thought of doing something similar!
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I've done google searches but for some reason only searched for pyramid quilt and just ended up finding a load of triangle quilts.
I'm wondering if it would look quite good with the black like the one above. I have some more of the graduated colour fabric in blue, which might make a nice background.

you don't have to do applique. lots of "mountains" for the pyramids and so on. also make him a pillow with the piece from Egypt.

I may be wrong but I get the idea he wants more of an "inspired by" quilt than a quilt actually using the embroidery piece.

Sisty88 I like the panel you made. It reminds me of stained glass.
Rodney

Rodney, you're right, he'd never let me use the actual piece! He wouldn't even let me take it back to my house to take a photo of it (i didn't have my phone with me), it's obviously very special to him! I think that is partly why it's taking me so long to actually come up with a plan for this one...I want to do it well! Also, he wants to pay me for it...which is a bit scary, I've never done a quilt for someone who was paying me!
I really like how the panel looks, I just wish it didn't have all those raw edges, I'd be so upset if I made it and then it didn't cope with being used!

Look for paper piecing patterns for camels, pyramids and palm trees. Maybe a central panel of the pyramids with a border of camels and palm trees.

I think the panel you made is lovely.

My first thought on seeing the inspiration piece was to use it as a quilting motif - the palm trees around the pyramids. Would be great along the borders.

Cheers, K

You could opt with keeping it simple. something like this:https://www.accuquilt.com/spotlight/...gle-quilt.html. or http://www.accuquilt.com/go-majestic...t-pattern.html You could use coordinating colors to his piece and cut the edges even and use a border with palm trees/camels or Egyptian symbols quilted in.

I did wonder about paper piecing but I've never done it before and my attempts to learn how to do it just leave me more confused about it! Does anyone know of a good tutorial for first time paper piecing?
I like the idea of using it as a quilting motif! A simplified version though, I think!