A little Mid Mod inspiration

See my blog for a short, slightly whiny post and a few photos from my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Open-ended:

Wow Cheryl, You really had me stumped here! I'm not sure if this is what you were aiming for, so let me tell you about my thought process. The words that stuck out to me in her directions, were barkcloth and curves. I googled barkcloth and came up with this:

It didn't contain the curves she was looking for so I came up with this:

Still, this design seemed plain and quite circular, so I moved on...

Now this was both atomic and curved... but I wanted to do something other than boomerangs...

After more searching, and many more images, I realized a commonality to all this was that the shapes were neither symmetrical or complex. Some of them stood alone, and some were embellished with lines and other shapes layered on top:

I tried here to use each fabric more than once, thinking that they would play off each other and unify the piece. I also kept my shapes rather simple... for ease of construction as well as simplicity in design. The fabrics you chose Cheryl are lovely indeed! Looking at it now, I'm thinking perhaps the black fabric should have been used for larger shapes or at least outlined with another fabric, but all in all I think these work well with each other. In the end, I'm thinking if I have time, I'll put together simpler blocks with the leftovers... smaller simpler blocks may help to offset this loud little puppy.

I'm very excited to see how the rest of you interpret Cheryl's instructions. I'm thinking this really could work because the fabrics she gave us are all related. It will be interesting to see the thought processes that went into this one. Please do comment on your trains of thought when posting your pictures! Good Luck!

Quilt Block for Jess

I really love the design of this quilt Jess. I just hope my square can be "squared". I tried to vary my design and keep it different from the rest of the blocks everyone had completed. I thought I had enough of the cream fabric to make it the finished size you needed, but was just this much shy before I ran out.

You can kind of see where I was trying to get every last bit of width from the vertical seams.

I'm really enjoying these quilt blocks!

Curves

It is my month for the bee. And boy have I struggled with this. Too. Much. Influence.

Idea #1 Charlie Harper quilt. I picked up a Charlie Harper colouring book and debated sending out images to ask for blocks based on them. But a) that seemed too prescriptive for you and b) I would have ended up with blocks that seemed to beg (in my head) for a straight set with sashing and that is so not me.

Idea #2 Imitation of a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass pieced. This was actually Hubby's idea. While I love Frank Lloyd Wright this idea again seemed too prescriptive for my liking.

Idea #3 Because I love the mid century clocks and chairs so much I thought an Ingrid Press inspired layout could be quite interesting, despite my aversion to straight sets and sashing. This idea was okay, but it didn't feel original enough for me, especially when it comes to bees.

Are you sensing a theme? Original and challenging. Bold and graphic. Colour and no straight sets.

Soooo..... This is what I've come up with. In the end I went back to two of my first mid century modern loves – atomic barkcloth and curves. Seriously, I couldn’t get curves out of my head.

But it is really hard to ask people to simply be inspired by curves. For me, it is the curve in so much of the furniture, like the Saarinen Tulip table, an Eames chair (pick any one), or the Noguchi coffee table. It is the organic shapes of Alexander Calder mobiles and sculptures or Alvin Lustig graphics. It is the George Nelson clocks. It is the fun styling in atomic designs and even things like the Jetsons’ set.

Half of you have been sent fabric to produce a curved block. If you have a fat quarter of a light background, then this is you. There doesn’t have to be curves in the piecing, just that the final block has an organic, curved shape. As for what the block itself looks like, well be inspired in your own way by my inspirations.

The other half of you were sent an alternate package of fabric for a different block. If you’ve got a teal/turquoise fat quarter, then this is you. If you could finish your blocks with right angles that would be great, so please, square it off.

I hope (and fear) that this is a challenge to all of us. But it is such a great group or artists that I have no doubt something amazing will happen.

Simple, for Jess

I was so afraid for Jess that no one would make her simple block. Sure, it would have been more fun to do the pieced blocks, but her design calls for a number of these simple blocks. This was not the easy way out, trust me!

Color Bars

Here's Jess' block.



I'm liking how this can be viewed as three bars or white tracks down the center. I can't wait to see how these all come together. I'm always so impressed by your sketches (and coloring skills), Jess!

Block for Jess

I finished my block for Jess yesterday and mailed it out today!  I am ready for September!  I hope you like it, Jess, and that it fits with the other blocks well since it isn't wonky (at least not on purpose!).

November is my month and I am mulling ideas so I have a question for you all:  do you applique?  Are you opposed to applique?  As you might have guessed, one of the ideas I am mulling would be an applique quilt.  I have other ideas too, so if applique is not our collective thing, it will not be a problem.  Thanks!