Jan Talkmeme - quilting

[tielan]

I'm going to spread this out a bit - probably into February, since I'm also doing the Snowflake Challenge in Jan.

Talkmeme Masterpost

alexseanchai asked for a topic about quilting — favorite patterns, favorite techniques, whatever.

My favourite patterns and designs are really anything that fools the eye, and makes you look twice, with a lean towards bright fabrics and designs.

Some examples from my own quilting are the Salt Air Split Square which was made 2015 for the combined 30th-31st-1st of a couple and their son:



Mondrian Dreaming was made for the 2014 Sydney Quilt Show, and is basically the old ‘disappearing nine-patch' quilt pattern, only with more solids.



I like when you can make the same block over and over and then do a small change, to make a startling result. Interwoven (2015), while looking pretty complicated, is actually the same sixteen-piece block repeated and rotated through 90degrees. I colour-shifted it to get the rainbow effect.



Did I mention bright colours?

I designed Swarm myself, and it's presently on its way to the US and the Quiltcon quilt show 2016 in Pasadena:



This quilt design is someone else's, but it's got lovely pattern and movement, and is actually quite simple: The 3:10 to Mendocino top was finished over the October long weekend:



And finally, there's the prospect of just making something different, that nobody's seen before or expected to see. Like Eternity:



The whole process of creating the Eternity Quilt is documented at my quilting blog here.

I give my quilts meaningful names, because it helps me remember them (although sometimes I still don't remember them because it's not one that I have an investment in), and because it gives them an identity.

In 2016?

I want to make a full-size quilt from the pattern in Interwoven. Pieces started, but there are a lot of them...



I want to complete the Technicolour Galaxy, for which my colour-in design is here. Working title Use Duct Tape Or The Force (a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the galaxy together).



And finally finish the Plain Jane Passacaglia:



It's doable. Maybe.

Comments

[tamsin]

Interwoven is my favorite, but they are all very pretty! For how long have you been quilting?

[tielan]

On and off since, oh, the late 90s - maybe 1996-1997-ish? But I only really started getting into it around 2009, and the last four years have seen me getting more completely into the scene, complete with regular meetings and sew-ins with other women who quilt.

[sixbeforelunch]

Your quilts are beautiful!

[jelazakazone]

Your work is just stunning. You do the quilting too, right? You have mad skillz.

[tielan]

Thank you!

[jenab]

I really love how you use colour in your quilts.

[tielan]

Thank you! They're not your art quilts, but they're simple (well, relatively) and I like making them.

I don't always do the quilting. Salt Air Split Square and Swarm were both quilted by my quilter, who has a machine hooked up to a computer that does pantographs (patterns) - it's relatively cheap in time-and-money terms, it's good quilting, and I like her work.

Eternity, Mondrian Dreaming, and Interwoven were quilted by me - for Eternity and Mondrian Dreaming, the Guild that runs the show requires that the quilt be pieced and quilted by a member - I'm a member, but my quilter isn't. And Eternity was an art quilt which required my attention.

Interwoven was straight-line stitching on a domestic machine, not a longarm.

[tielan]

The quilting zeitgeist (yes, there is a quilting zeitgest) has really shifted in the last few years; brighter colours, not the dowdy, dark stuff that used to be sold in quilt shops.

And I love playing with colour and design and how it all intersects!

[jelazakazone]

Hey, don't downplay your own art! The fact that you like making them makes it all worth it. and they are beautiful. Art quilts are one thing, but I firmly believe that traditionally pieced quilts are art too.

I really loved the quilting on Eternity especially.

How big is Interwoven?

I think we have some tastes in common -- especially when it comes to colors and half square triangles. I love the elegance of HST and how versatile they are! I got myself a bunch of Japanese fabrics last year and I am thinking I'm going to make a quilt with HST squares. Will either make it like square inside a square or just sashing around each block. First I have to finish up some commissions and a present. And my guild contribution. Am doing a group project for our show this year.

Thanks for sharing!

[tielan]

Interwoven is a mini quilt - those HSTs are 1" finished (or thereabouts) - piecing them together was AWFUL. :D

The next Interwoven I'll be making will be with HSTs 4.5" square. Just a wee smidge larger...

[jelazakazone]

HOLY CRAP. That is intense. I am doubly impressed. Damn.

So the bigger one will be to scale? :D

[beatrice_otter]

I don't know that I often comment about your quilt pics, but I always enjoy looking at them. Thanks for posting them!

[rmc28]

Same here. They are beautiful.

[tielan]

Thanks for letting me know that you're looking and enjoying now, then! :)

[tielan]

What I said to Bea: thanks for letting me know now, then! :)