Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to quilters everywhere!  Today, we celebrate the "wearing o' the green" in honor of the patron saint who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century A.D.

Irish Knots and Golden Coins by Jaynette Huff, Conway, Arkansas

Jaynette's quilt is a beautiful example of an unbroken interlaced design that is historically popular in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Scotland, and the rest of the United Kingdom. Celtic knot designs are very old, and some of them date back to the mosaic floors of churches in the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries A.D.

Jaynette notes, "I love adding Celtic knotwork to my quilts, and the joy of (over 2,400) hand-beaded embellishments adds so much sparkle and light. "  Jaynette paper foundation-pieced these blocks and hand-appliqued the Celtic knotwork using cotton fabrics to create this fabulous quilt with its outstanding workmanship.

Close-up,Irish Knots and Golden Coins by Jaynette Huff

In this close-up, you can see the golden coins represented by over 225 circles which are hand-stuffed and appliqued. The golden coins are symbolic of the treasure which is said to be stored up by the little leprechauns, mythical Irish fairies, who each keep their own pots of gold.

On the dark border, you can see some of the very pretty metallic thread that Jaynette used for quilting her fantastic creation on her home sewing machine.  She  continues, "The use of metallic threads for machine quilting was a new technique and tool. ( Now......on to the next quilt!)"

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival.