42 Mocha Berry Shadows & Thanks for all the Fish

This quilt is headed to Germany shortly - it's a wedding gift.

The pattern is from Colleen Wise's book, "Casting Shadows: Creating Visual Dimension in Your Quilts".  Light/dark, sunshine/shadow is one of my favourite themes - a wonderful metafor for how much brighter the good days are because of the dark days.  And that together, you can get through the dark days.

The couple have mostly cappachino and mocha colours for their decorations, but also like blue.  I was actually trying for more of the mocha but the blue just insisted it be included!  


And there ended up being 42 'shadow' squares.  Which, of course, is Douglas Adam's ultimate 'answer' to life, the universe and everything.  And so, the hunt began for ...


dolphins!!!  Found some lovely batik dolphin fabric - actually, my youngest spotted it on one of our fabric hunts - perfect for the back - and there was just enough on the bolt!  Douglas Adams fans will also be familiar with "Thanks for all the fish!"  


The inner border is a 'film strip' - reminds me of the need to capture in our memories all the precious moments of our lives together - laughter, loving, living.

Each of the 42 'shadow' squares received its own feathery design - ferns, molars, hooks, echoed, feathers.  The film strip is a continuous feathered border.


For the outer border I got really brave!  Worked with rulers for the swags and the beadboard/piano keys - randomly spaced lines, not sure what they are called.  But I really like the effect :)


Some of the block designs ...





The backing shows some of the texture in this photo.


My middlest, who will be travelling to Germany to deliver the gift and attend the wedding!  Isn't she gorgeous!