It's A-Maze-ing - Progress

My theme for the Quilt Studio 12x12x4 Challenge is 'Circles'. My first exploration this year is a circular maze. I've always thought a maze would be a neat quilting design.

The design I chose is a floor pattern in the nave of the cathedral in Chartres, France. This cathedral was built in 1235 AD. The pattern is known as 'Chemin de Jerusalem' (Road to Jerusalem). Here's a picture of the floor:



In the process of investigating circular mazes, I learned the secrets of how to draw a particular type called a Cretan maze. Fascinating stuff! I decided the full Chartres maze would be too intricate for my little 12 inch piece so I used a modified version that has 5 rings instead of 11. Here is the pattern:


I used a piece of mottled green flannel to represent the green turf that a lot of mazes in Europe are constructed with. I used my old Staedtler Mars SuperBow compass from my early college days to draw the rings onto the flannel and then used pre-fused bias tape and ironed on the maze walls.

I need to stitch down the bias tape and put the on the backing and satin stitch bind...and I have a little surprise that I haven't finished yet - hopefully it looks as cute as I think it will.