Four panels, each 27" wide and 77" long. These southwestern pieced Roman shades are displayed in a family room. The two center shades are on French doors, while the outside shades are on casement windows that open at the bottom.

The pattern was chosen to coordinate with the furniture and area rug. I was afraid that the pattern would look to repetitive, so I used lots of fabrics. While the same shapes are repeated across each shade, the colors of the sueded solid cotton fabric vary. I used 12 tans, 5 greens, 8 blues, 7 greens, 5 browns and 6 pinks (in other words, very shade of each color that I could find). I don't usually work with solids, but I found it very calming to sew these subtle fabrics together. The shades were assembled in strips, rather than blocks. 

The size of the strips was chosen so that the shades would stack up to the required length. I used the technique described in Quick Quilts from the Heart by Liz Porter and Marianne Fons, Oxmoor House, 1994, to piece the 45-degree angles.

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