North Country Batik

I've been at the cabin in Michigan for a week, now, and haven't sewn a stitch.  Eight people in the cabin is lively, to say the least!  But now everyone has headed home, so the other night, to celebrate our newly-empty nest, my husband and I went to a local spot for dinner.  Hanging on the wall near our table was this beautiful quilt!

I'd seen this last fall, but wasn't yet blogging and so neglected to take any photos.   The fabrics are batik, the colors are definitely north woods.  I don't know if this is a common pattern or not.  It might even have been a kit -- I'm not sure how to find out. 

Green diamonds alternate with brown squares (left), but when you step back, you can see that the light background fabric creates a larger diamond that surrounds each square.   It's going to take some studying to figure out just how the block(s) are constructed.





The centers of the brown squares and the green diamonds are similar, with a medium-colored four-patch and a dark green square at each corner of the four-patch.  The diamonds actually look like an argyle (below).

It's hard to tell whether this is a little bit scrappy.  Mostly it appears not to be; the variations in color are just the variations in the batik, I think.  But the center of this diamond does look scrappy, which makes me wonder if maybe it wasn't a kit after all.












The quilting is an all-over large machine-stitched stipple, nothing fancy.  The colors are doing all the work here.

 Sorry for the blur; I was in a rush at this point.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the binding, nor to peek behind the quilt for a label, because the table right under the quilt filled up with an invasive species that has become common around here, the Guzzling Golfer.

I did manage to cut the batting for two small quilts for the boys yesterday.  But last night the heat wave final broke and the rest of the week is expected to be pleasant (78-80 degrees) and sunny.  Can't stay inside sewing on days like that!