I wish I could keep better records of my quilts, so I'm going to try and get some details down before I forget!
Started: January 2016
Finished: March 2016
Fabrics: Kona oyster (background), assorted solids from my stash, freespirit, Bella, modern solids from Alissa H. Carlton, moda crossweaves, cotton couture. I don't discriminate. Wink wink.
Backing: Amy Butler, Meadow Bloom in Minty and Lizzy House Tonal Pearl Bracelet
Binding: Kona Oyster
Batting: Pellon natures touch, white, 100% cotton with scrim (my favorite, very low loft, love the drape)
Thread: Aurifil 50, 2000, light sand
Pieced and quilted by myself.
(Photo below by Alison McQuain Photography, quilt hanging in KMQG Show at Striped Light)
I made this quilt based on a design from my friend, Ashley Pace's Color Theory class. She teaches classes at the University of Tennessee, College of Art and Design. I love the designs that come from her classes. She uses Color Aid papers to create color illusions. (I hope to make more transparency quilts!-- but, I'm getting ahead of myself.)
I decided on four colors and used the shape from her class as my jump off point.
I also decided, I wanted it to be very organic and free, so I went ruler free for cutting. This included trimming around the edge before binding. For each color block, I started by drawing on paper the overlapping rectangles. This helped me to visualize the end result. After I made the four color blocks, I had thought I'd over lap those four again. See below:
But I wasn't sold on it. I struggled and just waited a bit. During February, Season Evans, had a challenge with the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club. She spoke about subtraction and minimalism. I knew at that moment, the middle had to come out. Stephanie Ruyle (spontaneousthreads) suggested I off center the colored blocks within the background, of course I listened! So, I subtracted the middle and cut more Kona oyster and repieced the top. I've never regretted it.
Then, it came down to the quilting... I looked into other Josef Albers works (thanks Michelle Bolt!) to help with inspiration for the free motion quilting design. I found several that led me to my final design:
I love this quilt. I'm hoping to enter it in the 2017 QuiltCon show. Fingers crossed.