Reflections of Egypt Quilt

My husband and I spent several years living in Egypt and this quilt has been inspired by our time there. It is not going to be finished overnight - or even this month; and most likely not even this year but you are welcome to journey with me, as it unfolds...

These 12 crosses will form part of the border. They are each 4" square, on calico which is currently 7" square but will be cut down to a 6" square, closer to the time. The crosses are taken from photos we took as we travelled about the country.

This too, is a pattern taken from one of our photos and is one of 6 or 7 such scenes of Coptic Egypt that will eventually make up the quilt. It's a typical scene of Coptic Churches which are dotted throughout Egypt.

This is the 2nd embroidery piece that I've finished. The picture depicts an inner sanctuary of the Church compound.

And this is the 3rd piece finished thus far. It depicts a village built into the hillside away from the Nile, with crops growing along the banks of the river. For those who haven't been to rural Egypt, houses are built away from the fertile land and in many villages, each house is painted a different colour than its neighbour - which gives a happy look to an otherwise mono-tone landscape.

And that's it for now - I'm busy drawing the next picture from one of our photos but you'll have to wait and see what it is... However, I can tell you that if it works, it's some challenge I've set myself...

The next picture in thread will be one of the many market corners in Cairo but as one can see, it's only half finished - but I thought I'd upload it, so you can continue to journey with me, as I finish more of it.

I've been busy with other projects and so haven't done much hand stitching of late, but it'll still be there when next I pick up my needle and thread...

You will notice that none of the edges have been stitched or finished off - that's because I want to do them all the same and until I have more of them finished, I won't know what colour to use - see!!! - there's an answer for every occasion or in this case, for every question!

And finally, I've started planning for the quilt itself - here's a template I've made as an idea for the background patchwork.

Egyptian Applique, Embroidery & Crosses

And "no" I didn't make these - we bought them from Tentmaker Street in Cairo, when we lived there.

 This is our shepherd with his sheep.

 And our cameleer with his camel out at the pyramids.

I love donkeys and so when we saw this one, we knew we had to have it.

 This is village embroidery - it was a part of our farewell gift from our friends and was made by women in a particular village who are well-known for their embroidery - the scene depicts life in their village and when you look at it, you can see they have covered just about every aspect of every-day life... it's simply beautiful.

These are embroideries done by another group of people, who make small gifts to sell. Amongst other things they make are recycled paper from which they make cards, boxes and a whole array of other stuff. They also weave rugs from old clothes and linen, which are specially treated and torn into strips before being woven.

And finally, a selection of crosses which we bought from various churches and monasteries around Egypt.