About a year and a half ago, my cousin Sybella came to visit us here in Marrakech. It was her first trip to Morocco and Marrakech can easily overwhelm with sensory overload. She is an
artist and she preferred the new to the old but not knowing this at first, I took her round the narrow streets of the medina (the old walled city) and souqs and we visited the Bahia Palace.
The Bahia Palace was built in the 19th Century and is full of small tiled rooms with painted ceilings and courtyard gardens with trickling fountains.
Despite being closed for extensive renovation, it still looks a little tired at the edges. Ignoring conservation issues, this kind of adds to its charm. There are tiled steps for unscheduled rests....
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My son (who looks so young) sitting on tiled steps at the Bahia Palace
..and big mirrors...
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It was during this visit that I started snapping tile designs for quilt inspirations.
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| A typical Moroccan tile design |
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| This could be a green quilt with blue hexagons and white applique |
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Applique ideas from intricate Islamic plasterwork
When I looked back over these photos, it is this painted ceiling that really caught my eye - I think it would make a great quilt top!
It reminds me of Jane Brocket`s Russian Shawl (Matryoshka) Quilt, which you can find in her wonderful book, The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making - as she says, it is really only a large log cabin design and the beauty of it for me is that it grows quickly. I think some big Philip Jacob florals in yellows, greens and blues could look great and the centre could be appliqued. What do you think? |
