I mentioned that last weekend was very productive for sewing.  Long weekends filled with rain will do that.   While I finished quilting “Farmer’s Market”,  I also pieced a few blocks that staged and waiting for direction.

Two of these were the Lady of the Lake blocks. They are part of the Two Sister’s series.  My color selections here were an effort to mix colors that I might not have in some of the others to give the quilt more variability.  I wish that I had selected prints with more contrast, or at least the same color print for the center as I did for the half square triangle borders.  If you make these, be careful which direction you place the center half square triangle, or you won’t get the continuous negative space in the center.  (I had to frog and re-piece the borders of the blue block.)

Here is what a traditional, two fabric, “Lady of the Lake” block looks like.  Do you see what I mean?  The block looks stunning with vibrant batik.

So, without more interest in my fabric, what makes this block interesting?  I am not a poetry buff, but know that the name of this block is the same as a poem by Sir Walter Scott.  It is easy to learn a little more with internet research.

“The Lady of the Lake” poem, by Sir Walter Scott, was first published in 1810.  The epic Scottish narrative lent itself well to opera. An opera loosely based on the poem (translated in French!) was created by Gioachino Rossini, called “La Donna del Lago”.  A beautiful lass, a King in disguise, civil warfare, rescues, romance, and death.  It certainly sounds like the stuff of opera to me!   When it premiered in 1819, it was not a success.  However, since it is still being performed today, I don’t think you could call it a failure!  Joyce DiDonato, of Prairie Village, Kansas, even performed the role of Elena in this opera with the Met in 2015.  Maybe, someday, we will have the opportunity to see it at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts with the Kansas City Lyric Opera.  The new facility is really wonderful!

(This reminded me how much I missed the opera, so I hopped out and picked up some value tickets to see the 2016 – 2017 season with Hansel & Gretel, The Marriage of Figaro, Dead Man Walking, and the Pirates of Penzance!  Now I will need to find a good Opera buddy to have some fun with me!) 

“The rose is fairest when ‘t is budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears;
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears.” 
― Walter Scott, Lady of the Lake