The Marvelous Taj Mahal -

The Taj Mahal.

We were really here!

An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra, India between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife. (Because, you MUST have a favorite wife!) The Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.

Also, please notice the artfully placed bug in the photo in the upper left corner! LOL!

The goal was to leave the hotel extra early (still mostly dark, really) and get to the site just as the sun was rising.

I had only seen this monstrosity in photos, never really knowing what was inside, or what it was for and here we were, getting up close and personal.

First things first - photos are not allowed inside, but the outside only.

Tile walkway and a minaret in the background..

The building detail isn't so visible in the far away "get the whole thing in my camera" view, but when you get up close and personal....he REALLY must have loved his favorite wife.

You can hear the voice of our wonderful guide, Ajay who was with us the whole trip.  And that's Wonderful with a capital W!

And yes, the minarets do lean a bit -

There are earthquakes in India and the lean ensures that they will fall away from the Taj, not fall toward it should anything happen.

More close up detail before going in.

It's just gorgeous.

Bas relief wall detail.

This kind of construction in 1631!

Inlaid chevron wall panel.

And of course I had to have my photo taken where Princess Di sat!

Can you see the lean of the minarets now?

This was a magnificent visit and a highlight of our tour.  
By the time we were leaving the sun was high in the sky and the air was humid and getting stickier.  We headed back to the hotel for our breakfast, and continued our touring day in Agra with a visit to the Red Fort. (Will post about that soon! So many pictures, so little time!)

This happened yesterday!

I mentioned earlier that the borders I was thinking of wouldn't work.  Because these are diamonds, not half-square triangles, but I've figured out a workaround and I'll get started on that this weekend.

Some of these scraps date back to my early quilting years - 1980's calico? It's in there.  1990s prints? Yep.  Y2K fabric? Of course! Everything under the sun.

Are my points perfect? Nope. Is there bulk and thickness? Yep. Do I care? NO! If this kind of quilt was good for folks in the 1930s, it's good for me in the 2020s.
And yes, I have about 90 string diamonds I didn't use because I decided to make the center symmetrical. But whatever.
Those could become a baby quilt at some point?
The Shippenstitchers began to arrive yesterday afternoon around 4pm. I'm excited to visit with them over the next several days!

September's  Goose Feathers  pattern release and gift-away is off to a grand start!

Did you get your entry in on the gift-away post?

I'll be drawing for 2 winners who will each receive a Goose Feathers PDF pattern from me and an Aqua color roll from our friends at Cotton to Quilts.

Intro pricing: I have placed Goose Feathers at 25% off in the Quiltville Store through 9/30/26. No coupon needed!

*NOTE* I am still in the midst of the website debacle and am having to create new links for items in the store. If you saved my old bookmarks, please update to the new one. You can also get to EVERYTHING by simply going to my main website at Quiltville.com. You can click the store link there.

We'll draw for our winners on 9/28/26.

Tuesday the 29th - I am leaving the house extra early to drive up to Buena Vista to deliver a quilt to my niece who is attending college at Southern Virginia University. 

There will likely not be a blog post on Tuesday because of my early departure, but we'll catch you up with the details on Wednesday.

I spent part of yesterday dealing with piles of scraps after finishing my string star quilt top center.

 
There is still so much fabric!

 
This is not a complaint!

Challenge accepted.

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone -