Battaile des cerf-volantes

There were a number of stories in our newspaper a couple of weeks ago about a new by-law banning kite fighting in one of our local parks as the strings were wreacking havoc with the wildlife in the parks and hurting adults and children in addition to being a nightmare for the workers to clean up.  I only saw a kite fight once, but it was a beautiful thing, and remembering it, I was inspired to make this quilt.



Originally, when BSP asked me what the name of the quilt was, I said "Kite Fight". 

"Fight? Fight? That doesn't seem very diva quiltish! Shouldn't it be called something more elegant?" 




Well, we do live in a bi-lingual country and, after all, everything sounds better in French, so "Battaile des Cerf-Volantes" it is.  *s*

Normally, I would make the "kites" separately and then applique them on; but when I saw this quilt in my head, I knew that they needed to be set in.  And so I girded my metaphorical loins and learned how to do so. 



I was quite pleased with the result, but what doing so has taught me is that I have to *gasp* make a traditional quilt, focussing on curved piecing to polish up those skills.  I have my fabric picked out already (though not cut); and a pattern picked from the Winding Ways book by Nancy Elliott MacDonald a quilty friend sent me last year when I said I wanted to learn curved piecing, so expect a traditional quilt from me at some point in the near-ish future.


I love the quilting on this piece because well, I just love doing this kind of quliting - but also because it give the quilt a wonderfully soft hand.  This quilt feels like buttah!



The bobbin thread was a varigated pink/blue/purple silky thread and the top was done in a varigated blue.  I quilted the kites with a silvery gray thread to blend well.

54 x 72 inches.

Et voilà!

Anonymous

15 comments:

  1. mimipark20.9.10

    Beautiful work Kit! I have a project coming up with curved piecing that I am intimidated by. Any tips? The story and title are excellent as well.

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  2. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    Hi Alexis, hope you had a great weekend! :)

    Well, as I said, what I learned making this quilt is that I have a lot to learn about curved piecing (lol)! But, I used Sarah's tutorial to get me this far http://www.sewn.net.au/TipsTools/Tutorials/CurvedPiecing.aspx

    And thanks! :)

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  3. This quilt is beautiful! Are the kite pieces silk? They sure look like it in the photos. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. This quilt is lovely! At first I thought they'd banned knife fighting and I was like "well, duh! What kind of place does she live in anyway?!" But KITE fighting...well, that's different.

    I love the color and movement!

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  5. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    no, they're satin lining fabrics lol. Lots of scraps. :) And thank you!

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  6. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    Thanks re the quilt, and you made laugh at "knife fighting". :)

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  7. Thanks for entering my giveaway, Kit! Good luck to you! I thought I was a follower of yours but apparently not, so that's my next step! Have a blessed week!

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  8. Vicki W20.9.10

    I don't know what a kite fight is but it sure inspired a cool quilt!

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  9. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    *hee* I had a good weekend too - and like yours, it went by quickly . Played golf on Saturday though, and it was perfect weather for it - probably only one more game before we shut down for the season so that time on the course is precious. :) And, as you say - quilting is always fun. :D

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  10. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    Thanks Jodi, you too! :)

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  11. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    kite fighting is cool to watch but dangerous . The one I saw was with Chinese people, and there were teams running the kite against the other kite - they try to cut down the other team's kite using the kite strings - it's literally a battle of kites. Apparently, this is also quite popular in other countries; Japan and Pakistan for instance, but is practially the national sport of Afghanistan.

    Toronto is an incredibly diverse city; so we have kite fighters from all countries battling one another. Unfortunately, depending on the cultural tradition, kite fighting can be quite dangerous - some use razors on the strings, or metal strings, and when they fall and get tangled in plants and trees and things, they're not only a tripping hazard but a cutting hazard!

    It's been banned here now, which seems a bit of an over-reaction; especially given that we're usually a more "let's find a compromise" kind of city; but it's an election month... over-reactions abound!

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  12. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    oh, and thanks!

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  13. Kit_Lang20.9.10

    Yes, although I didn't see the movie, I did read the book . It was amazing.

    Our winters can get quite bad here, but normally we would continue to play well into October - and sometimes into November (not to mention our annual New Year's Day game in the snow!); but we're cutting it short this year because BSP is having knee replacment surgery on the 1st. Ow, ow, ow!

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  14. mimipark20.9.10

    Oooh, yes, I hear you do get fierce winters in TDot! Glad you got to enjoy a near to last game... I think I'm going to try some little curved blocks for a mini quilt before I dive into the big one. I remembered what your quilt reminded me of, the book The Kite Runner. Heavy, but excellent reading. I think it's also a movie, too?

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  15. mimipark20.9.10

    Thanks! I did have a good weekend- I am just left breathless that it went by so fast I got barely half of what I needed to done. Oh well! How was yours? Other than producing another strikingly beautiful quilt?

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