We caught up with quilt pattern designer Christine Slote to find out the inspiration behind her beautiful wallhanging for the 2022 Quilter's Planner, called Palace walk.

This week we’re excited to introduce you to quilt pattern designer Christine Slote.  Christine has designed a beautiful wall hanging called Palace Walk for the 2022 Quilter’s Planner, and we love the jewel tones, paired with hand quilted detail and fun tassels!

We caught up with Christine to find out more about her design practices and the inspiration behind Palace Walk.

Thank you so much for designing such a beautiful project for our 2022 Quilter’s Planner! Why did you decide to make this, and can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind it?

Thank you! I had been thinking of the Palace Walk design for a long time. I grew up spending all of my summers living with extended family in Egypt where there was an abundance of cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and neighbours to play with and to love. One of my favourite places they took me to visit was a medieval district of Cairo. This was a place where one could experience beautiful architecture, bazaars, and bustling crowds. Its streets were always full of laughter, coffee, glittering jewelry, textiles, and trinkets of every kind. The textiles that can be found here were the inspiration behind Palace Walk, which is named after a street in the district of the same name. It’s also the title of a novel by Nobel prize winner, Naguib Mahfouz. I wanted to create a piece that was bold and cheerful and would feel at home in a humble marketplace, and Palace Walk is the result!

How do you go about designing quilts and projects? What is your design process?

When I design quilts, I like to use software to come up with an initial design and play around with colour a bit. Sometimes, I may have ideas of colours that I think will go well together, but then when I try to execute my idea, it does not always go as well as I had imagined! I think it takes discipline to plan projects, and I’m slowly trying to learn that skill. However, I often find that the computer can be the starting point, and the design changes considerably as I cut and sew together the physical pieces of fabric. I love that improvisational element to designing.

Tell us a bit about your sewing space. Do you have a dedicated space or are you making space on the kitchen table?

That’s a fun question! It was during a COVID lockdown that I designed and sewed Palace Walk. My children were schooling from home, and my sewing space was shared with my kids who also used the room for their online learning. It was difficult to share! I remember my frustration tripping over computer cords and constantly rearranging stacks of their paper and books, but now it is a bittersweet memory. At this time, I am fortunate to have my own dedicated sewing space with plenty of natural light.

What is the one thing you can’t live without?

Fabric, of course!

What do you want to do more of in 2022? We’d love to know! 

I think the one thing that I really want to do in 2022 is to spend more time learning from other quilters. In part – I think – because of the COVID pandemic, so many different learning opportunities have become available online and suddenly, we have access to artists and experts from all around the globe that were previously inaccessible. I think it’s such a fabulous opportunity to learn and grow.
 

Thank you so much for chatting with us Christine!  You can find out more about Christine over on her website and follow her on Instagram @tessellate_textiles.