Eclipse Sky made its debut!

Thank you all for your encouragement on my last post.  The trunk show was well attended and I think went very well.  At least, it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves.

My latest pattern made its debut at the end of my presentation.  Here is Eclipse Sky, in anticipation of next Monday's solar eclipse.

Of course there is some artistic license here, but my astronomer husband vetted it for basic scientific accuracy. He's a helpful, supportive kind of guy! The panels going from light to dark and back to light again represent the sky during the eclipse.  At totality the sun's disc is completely obscured by the moon and you can see stars, as well as the sun's corona flaring out beyond the disc.  You usually can't see the corona because of the brightness of the sun.

I had a tough time deciding what to quilt on this quilt, but when I finally did it made so much sense that I don't know why it took me so long to get there!  In the sun I quilted swirls like the swirling gases in the sun.  Pebbles in the moon remind me of the craters on the moon's surface.  Of course you can't actually see those details during the eclipse, but hey, it's a quilt!  Artistic license, right?

The concentric circles in the background?  Sorry, no great significance there.  I just thought they directed the focus to the eclipsed sun quite nicely. Looking at the quilts I shared last night, I realize I have used concentric circles several times.  I do like them, so don't be too surprised to see them pop up in more quilts.


We're going to head down to Missouri next Monday, hopefully down in Missouri Star Quilt Company territory (hubby does indulge me).  We'll try to get a picture of the quilt with a phase of the eclipse in the sky above it.  Then we'll focus on watching the celestial show for the total eclipse, I promise!  Weather permitting, of course.

Eclipse Sky is now available for sale as a pdf download in my Etsy shop or in print form from Quilting Connection in Ames (they are happy to take phone orders).  It will also be available for your favourite quilt shop to order from distributors very soon (or immediately if they want to order directly form me).