Horizon

This quilt was inspired by a 1957 photolithograph of a music program designed by Josef Muller-Brockmann, a Swiss graphic designer, teacher, and author (you can spend hours browsing through MOMA's online archive of images, so be forewarned).  I was struck by the effect of distance he achieved with such a limited use of shapes and colors. 

This is a quilt I didn't have time to make, but it just sort of flowed out of me, which I think is always a good sign.  It's certainly a great experience, when it happens that way.  I decided to make the quilt quite small (30 x 42), as an experiment for a larger quilt in the future.  If I get to come back to this design, I will change the proportions and quilting somewhat, but overall I am happy with what I was able to create improvisationally.

The binding, a text print from Mama Said Sew, is a nod to Muller-Brockmann's frequent use of typography. I used half inch straight line quilting across the whole quilt, changing direction to emphasize the illusion of a horizon line.

The back is a kind of psychedelic ombre dot. I think it echoes the feeling of depth from the front.

I hope to carve out some time to experiment with a few more ideas inspired by mid century modern art.



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Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I assume most of you already use a reader of some sort to follow blogs you enjoy.  You will also likely know that Google Reader, which I had been using, is going to disappear soon (oh the dependency we have on free online tools!).  I'm trying out Bloglovin as my new reader.  So far, so good.

If you don't use a reader and manually check blogs for updates, you should definitely try out one of the readers available.  It will show you when blogs you like have been updated, so you won't have to check daily.  It's a big time saver!

I am working with these fabrics today.  I'm thinking something angular and masculine.

Low Volume Quilted Pillow

I finished my quilted, lumbar pillow, which is based on a pattern in Malka Dubrawski's Fresh Quilting.  There's an affiliate link, if you click the photo below.

I used strips from my scrap bin, slightly larger than the pattern indicates, so the pillow ended up being 16 x 35.5 inches.

I quilted the top with simple straight lines to emphasize the zigzag pattern created by alternating the direction of the print and solid rectangles.

I backed it in cream linen with a lapped zipper, using this favorite tutorial again. The edges are bound in Kona Glacier for a pop of color to help the pillow stand out on my friend's cream couch. I stuffed the homemade pillow form firmly, so this lumbar pillow should be very functional. I hope it fits into the elegant, understated decor of its new home.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Low volume scraps, precise cutting, and following a pattern.  It's good to change things up sometimes.  I pulled some light prints from my 2 1/2" strips bin to make a project from Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky that I earmarked "long ago" as my boys would say.  This project may have started the current low volume trend, or maybe she was ahead of her time.  Either way, there is something very restful about working with these fabrics.

The project pairs solids with low volume prints to create a simple zigzag, but the slight variations in values of the fabrics give it a subtle interest I love.

I'm doing some straight line quilting, and then I'll need to buy a bunch of filler for a home made pillow form.  My strips are bigger than those in the pattern, so this is going to be giant.