Discovery of the Mar del Sur

My idea for the Time series came from the book Stellar Moments of Humankind by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. It contains twelve historical miniatures related to events that changed the world. I am not going to follow Zweig blindly: I will use two miniatures from the book, while choosing the other four myself. It has been almost 100 years since the book was written, and humanity has experienced many more stellar moments—some of which I was lucky enough to witness.

Time #1 tells the story of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a notable Spanish explorer and conquistador, born in 1475 in Spain. In 1513, he crossed the Isthmus of Panama and on September 25 became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean, which he called Mar del Sur (the South Sea).

My quilt shows how I imagine that first view of the Mar del Sur, seen by Balboa after climbing a rock surrounded by harsh rainforest. I also added a small portrait of Balboa himself, even though no verified portraits of him exist.

Techniques: machine piecing, raw-edge fused appliqué, machine embroidery, hand embroidery. As I didn’t think clearly, I cut the finished quilt to the size of 15×15 inches. Then I had no other option as to use the traditional binding. So will be with the entire series.
Materials: hand-dyed and commercial cotton fabrics, tulle for the mist, metallic machine embroidery thread.