"Swan in the Moonlight"

In 2016, while I was living in Japan, I decided to enter a piece into the Open European Quilt Championships. That year's theme was the number "20", to mark the competition's 20th anniversary, so I thought a swan and the moon together could form a rather elegant twenty.

The photo of the swan was taken on 2 April 2016 in Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. My daughter Margrét and I spent a weekend there visiting a Japanese couple my husband Sigfús ("Siffi") had gotten to know on one of his own quilting trips, and we also got to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

The quilt went on to win 2nd place in the Novice category at the Open European Quilt Championships 2016 in Maastricht, under the title "Swan in the Moonlight".

There's a lot I'd do differently if I made it today — it's one of my oldest pieces in this technique, and it shows. But I still love this one dearly.