Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 09:24 pm
It's a long way to the finished quilt if you want to design your own...


Swarm #swarmbysel

Say hello to "Swarm"!

I started it around May 2014, with a design idea but not very much of a clue on how to execute it. I knew I wanted to use the new line of quilting fabrics, Cotton + Steel (designed by modern quilters for modern quilters), so I bought a great deal of the range, and then set about cutting it up.

I swear @cottonandsteel have something in their dyes. I'm starting to like colours I wouldn't usually touch with a ten foot pole..


There was a lot of sewing and cutting and ironing and trimming. It has 20 rows, and nearly 30 triangle blocks in each row. That's 600 pieces - not counting that the large triangles are made up of 2 pieces, and the small triangle blocks are made up of 4 pieces that need to be sewn together.

Piecing, piecing, piecing. #secretproject #ofDOOM and in the background my hard-driven Brother NS50 which I bought before I realised there were machines specially designed for quilting. And which is in for its first service in...um...as long as I've had i


That's at the old house - the one that we had to clear out before buying a new house, redoing it, and moving into it last year. So it kind of went on hold in the middle of all that, and then there was the settling in and the starting of the garden and the summer... I didn't get back on the job until Autumn 2015 - around March.

It took me a year (April 2015) to get to the point where I had enough pieces to start putting it all together:

Many things


THere were times when I despaired of how many pieces were needed, and how complicated the whole quilt was. However, my quilt groups kept telling me to keep going, keep going, it looks great, it's going to be gorgeous

And when it did start coming together, it was beautiful!

Swarm


I don't know what it is about this quilt, but it just hits people in the feels. I've had a lot of people admiring it! Maybe it's the colours, the brightness, the...well, playfulness of the pattern... At any rate, it's definitely a show-stopper!

WIP Wednesday: swarm by Sel


Maladicta even gave it the butt-stamp of approval. Which, okay, in this house, isn't difficult. But she was quite happy with it...

WIP Wednesday: sprint for the show


I had a backing, I had a plan for quilting it, tt was going to be submitted in the Sydney Quilt Show...

And then I pulled a muscle in my calf. Ow.

And I couldn't do the quilting and couldn't find someone to do the quilting for me in the time left before the quilt had to be submitted. So, no show. *sighs* While at the show, I looked at the two spaces alloted to the quilts that I couldn't finish due to my injury, and sighed.

I sent it off to my quilter before I went overseas, I think, and have been waiting for her to get back to me. It took a while, but when it came...it was definitely worth it!

#swarmbysel is back from the quilters and has been promptly colonised by Smokey. #advenchuresofsmokeyandmal #cats #catsofinstagram


Smokey agreed. No sooner had it taken it out of the mailing bag, then she settled on it. She's since pretty much taken every opportunity to head-butt it, muzzle-rub against it, or roll in it.

There's a part of me that still can't believe I thought up this pattern, let alone executed it! And I'm trying to write a pattern for it, but it's kind of exhausting...

"Swarm" - photographed square! Such a labour of love and inspiration. And yes, @2bees, I'm filling out the competition forms now! #swarmbysel



I've submitted it to the Modern Quilt Guild's competition for Quiltcon 2016 in...San Diego, I think? However, I doubt it will make it in - it's not quite 'modern' enough. (The 'modern' aesthetic is defined in the sense of 'abstract' these days - a couple of years ago, the Guild shifted the definition and required anyone calling themselves a Modern Quilt Guild to comply with the definition articles. Which required my quilting group to rename ourselves, since we didn't agree that 'modern' only encompassed artistic, abstract 'modernism'.)

It looks stunning, though. And I'm definitely keeping this one. :)
Tags:
Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 12:44 pm (UTC)
This is great. You should apply to Houston too. I have no idea how to do that, but it's really lovely. It should travel. Maybe submit pictures to some magazines too.
Monday, November 23rd, 2015 12:42 am (UTC)

Definitely too late for Houston this year, but you can submit for next year, right?

And yes, you should definitely submit your pattern to a magazine, if you get it written :D

Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 01:52 pm (UTC)
That is so cool!
Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 02:14 pm (UTC)
It looks fantastic. You've done a wonderful job on it.
Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 02:18 pm (UTC)
That is so gorgeous. You did a fantastic job on it.
Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 07:00 pm (UTC)
It's beautiful.
Monday, November 23rd, 2015 04:50 am (UTC)
That is a stunning piece! Congrats on the design, and the execution! It is very op-art to me, which is certainly modern in my books. I hope it gets shown around a lot, it deserves the attention!
Monday, November 23rd, 2015 05:06 am (UTC)
It's absolutely lovely!! I'm sad now that this is the quilt (or one of them) that couldn't get done for the show, I bet you would have gotten so many compliments!
Thursday, November 26th, 2015 07:50 am (UTC)
I'm even more impressed hearing you designed it yourself!
Friday, November 27th, 2015 02:58 am (UTC)
Your quilt is gorgeous! I loved seeing the steps and all the work you put into it.