January's Mighty Lucky Quilting Clubs lesson from Amy Friend (during quiet time) was "Transforming Inspiration into Original Designs. That month's challenge coincided with a resolution I made to both participate and teach ( December, 2017) while really stretching myself to incorporate one or more pre-set challenge into any given project.
The arrival of my fabric-dream-come-true, compliments of Paintbrush Studios, lead me to a startling intersection. That although I was intimately familiar with many details of my house (I did help in the remodel 10 years ago), there are things that I look at every day but don't actually "see".
Case in point: my back door mat. Understated in teak, and exceedingly functional, I have tread on this mat several times a day for YEARS. It wasn't until after I had read Amy's lesson that I actually "saw" the doormat.
And what I saw got me thinking.... we surround ourselves with things we like. We may know exactly why we like something, be it's style, or it's color or it's functionality. But sometimes we just like it, no other explanation needed. Many of us avoid things that are unappealing but are not always successful for valid reasons- I mean even I have wedding crystal and a vase or 10 that I'm not crazy about. But not counting the ugly crystal, most of us crave things that speak to us, that make a connection, recognized or unconscious. Seeing this door mat now, after discovering things about me as a quilter makes me smile. Although there are 2 rather obvious places that wood is absent, the construction centers around 3 columns. (I'm a HUGE fan of odd numbers, and if you count the non-columns, then 5 vertical features, another odd number). It's rectangular rather than square and looks good in either orientation (horizontal or vertical). It retains some symmetry but isn't equally symmetrical. The aesthetic lends itself either to uniform linear repetition OR irregular linear representation, (varying linear aspects -the quilt interpretation). That's just good design.
Meet: "Don't Tread on Me"
55.5" by 65.5" quilt made with 15 different Painters Palette solids and inspired by a humble door mat.
The linear aspect carries over but I varied the width of all the vertical lines cutting them randomly in different thicknesses. The contrast between the warm and cool tones mimic the open spaces in the door mat. The colors of course, as sheer fun.
Details:
Fabrics: All Paintbrush Studio Painters Palette solids in: Yarrow and Frolic (continuous horizontal aspect). Warms: Tangerine, Burnt Orange, Raspberry, Poppy Red, Bittersweet, Crimson, Tomato. Cools: Teal, Poseidon, Gulf Stream, Cyan, Pale Aqua, Aruba.
Backing fabrics: Frolic, Yarrow and Raspberry (solids) combine with Anna Maria Horner Good Folks and Tula Pink Parisville. Hanging sleeve stash fabric.
Threads: color coordinated but varying in weight (28-50 wt) and composition: 100% cotton, poly cotton and 100% poly.
Batting: 100% cotton
Pin basted
Quilting: dense color coordinated vertical matchstick quilting with over a dozen different threads from caring manufacturers (Aurifil, Mettler, Marathon)
Binding: 2" SOG in Yarrow, hand sewn on back
Signed and labeled:
Lesson learned: Inspiration is everywhere even in the humblest of things.
and this post is quite inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI love your quilt (colors, pattren, quilting...) and your inspiration. I played like you in January and it was as fun for me as it was for you! It's a very interesting exercise.
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