Monday 30 September 2013

Midnight Sun memory

If you are looking to enter the
You will find the Link up here


As regular readers will know the impetus for the Holiday Memories competition was an Arctic Circle cruise that my husband and I took in July this year. The scenery of the Norwegian Coast was truly stunning, but the most spectacular part of the cruise was sailing across a Norwegian Fjord with the Midnight Sun as our backdrop.

There was something magical about standing on the ship's deck watching the clock head towards midnight whilst the sun dipped towards the horizon. If you ever get the chance to experience anything like it, take it, it is definitely a sight worth seeing!

Needless to say this was the memory that I wanted to capture for my own Holiday Memory mini quilt.

I initially thought about using the New York Beauty Block to represent my photo but couldn't settle on the right pattern. Then I thought about some free-form curved piecing but decided that was maybe a step too far :)

When I got the Pillow Pop book for my birthday I found the perfect solution to my problem. One of the patterns, Crystallized, was for a cushion entirely composed of HST's with contrasting warm and cool toned fabric that gave a kind of shimmer/ripple effect.

Using the Palette Builder from Play Crafts I generated a list of fabric colours for my cushion, and set to sorting out fabrics from my stash. Needless to say as I started on the cushion some other fabrics crept in! I had to have some green to represent the Norwegian forests, then some blue to represent the Fjords so my final palette was a bit removed from the original photo, but the memory is still there.


Midnight Sun Cushion

I embroidered a clock face with the hands pointing to midnight in the middle of the cushion front, and echo quilted the diagonal lines of the HST's with a pale grey thread to represent the ripple of the water as the boat sailed through the Fjord.

I was delighted with the cushion cover, which already has pride of place in our living room, and brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

If you haven't yet entered the Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition there is still plenty of time as submissions will remain open until 23.59 GMT on Friday, October 4th. There are some great prizes up for grabs, including several randomly drawn, but if you aren't in it you can't win it :)

All the information you need to enter is available here


Check back tomorrow for more details on one of the wonderful prizes up for grabs.

Linking up to

Fresh Poppy Design
and to the great monthly link-up Beth hosts to encourage us to learn and stretch ourselves with photography at

This post is for the colour palette inspiration theme, naturally :) 



24 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures from the beautiest part of Norway, where I'm from. I'm originally from North Cape, but I now live at the west coast near Ă…lesund, also a nice part of the country. Your cushion cover is so cool, sea and sky parts with the "bright coloured" air around. Impossible to explain that if you havn't been there.

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  2. This is a stunning photo and a beautiful cushion cushion :)

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  3. gorgeous!!! and perfect fabric colours

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  4. You really captured your lovely picture with the colours you chose and I love the clock and ripples - what a great memory.

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  5. wow - its wonderful. The colours and the design just reflect the memory so beautifully :-)

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  6. every time you look at this lovely cushion it will bring back wonderful memories of your trip to Norway, a country I would just love to visit.

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  7. Gorgeous pillow!! I love the additional colors you added to the palette to complete the memory. :)

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  8. I love the clock you've added to the cushion, Fiona... very clever!!! Just that detail alone will remind you of what sounds like a wonderful holiday.

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  9. That's beautiful! I hope it continues to make you smile and relive those memories :D

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  10. I can see why it makes you smile!!

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  11. Hi! Your pillow is so beautiful and you made fantastic design inspired by that photo! x Teje

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  12. Yay for smile-inducing sewing!
    Sounds like an experience worth capturing in fabric forever x

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  13. Wonderful! I loved your cushion when I saw it and even more with the story, photo and details added in.
    Thanks for linking up this week.

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  14. what a fab cushion! So arty, but so beautifully made

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  15. Beautiful sunset and what a perfect choice for your cushion! It really is stunning, no wonder it makes you smile!!!

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  16. Beautiful! I love the color pallete inspiration. I really need to try that sometime.

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  17. There is such a wonderful mood to the cushion. The dark horizon is great.

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  18. What a fabulous memory. Love the transition of colours on the cushion and the clock is fabulous.

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  19. Oh my goodness, I have never seen that palette builder before, but I LOVE it! Off now to download/figure it out...

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  20. That was such a beautiful palette and I love your interpretation of it in your cushion!

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  21. Really lovely color palette!

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