Tuesday 1 November 2022

Every which way with curves!

Boustrophedon - won't lie, I had to look this one up. Text that goes one way in line one and the opposite in line 2.  I love writing and stories, not so great with languages but they intrigue me,  so I am a bit taken by written texts especially how cool looking ancient writings are.  I did think of trying something with Ogham (language of the druids) but surprised myself by not using text at all.  I started playing with curves.

So this one was more of a jumping off point rather than an end destination.  The idea of changing directions in alternate rows using mirroring seems to have taken a hold of me and I had a lot of fun playing.

Things got a bit weird! 

So I went back to the drawing board and simplified the colour and settled on this design:

Must be the quilter in me but I think I ended up with a quilt block as the symmetry works great left to right and top to bottom and when tiled looks like this:

And in other colours like this:

Next was how to test it and make it?  I had planned on curved piecing and had just competed a workshop with our branch of the Irish Patchwork Society, so had learned a new way to piece curves and it would be perfect for this.  Bit of a hiccup with this plan - we're laying new floors so that means, painting skirting boards so that means painting the walls and yes painting the ceilings too!  

Last week when I had planned on making this block, my lovely generous father in law got to painting the ceiling of the dining room where I sew.  So everything had to be moved including my sewing stuff - never turn down someone kind enough to paint a ceiling!  

So to make this design and see if it worked, I had to handsew.  For some crazy reason, instead of old fashioned piecing or applique, I decided to use EPP.  The block comes together in two ways:


And yes you can EPP curves but getting all the points to match with EPP in the centre was where I came unstuck.  

Oh well, wonky piecing!  I now know if I write this up as a pattern I'll make it twice the size to make the curves gentler and easier to piece, combine the shapes in the middle, and it will definitely be a machine pieced pattern.

After all the hand sewing, sorry to say I ran out of time to quilt it, so I left the papers in and framed it!

Not sure if this meets the brief, but I missed our last challenge due to surgery, and I got the all clear last Thursday and didn't want to miss this one, so I am posting about a framed two layer piece (fabric and papers!), not exactly a quilt.

I had so much fun playing, exploring, testing and making- really looking forward to what everyone does with this theme.  Thanks for a brilliant challenge!

6 comments:

  1. Glad to see that I am not alone in having to look up the meaning of this quarter's challenge Ruth :) I love your idea of mirroring curves and your tiled quilt patterns look amazing. Your framed piece looks lovely, I hope it is going to be hanging in that newly painted dining room soon!

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  2. Yes, I had to look up the meaning too. I like your idea of using it as a "jumping off point." Great way to think about it, and I love your quilt.

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  3. I really like your fabric choices and how they echo and complement your block, especially the dark one with dashed lines (that could be the track of turning oxen), and the one with the little net shapes. A very nice crisp design!

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  4. I'm really glad to hear you've got the all clear after your surgery. I think you've definitely produced a piece of textile art, and once again it amazes me that everyone in the group can approach the theme in such different and interesting ways.

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  5. How fun to read your process with this challenge, and I think your end result is fantastic! I like the way the curves interact with each other, and think they do go back and forth. Such fun! Good to hear that you have the all clear, too!

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  6. Your final piece looks great and I love all the images you considered. If you ever have time, there are so many beautiful quilts you can make from those. I'm very glad your surgery went ok and you have the all clear now :)

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