Friday 21 September 2012

Simple, Modern, Rooted in Tradition



I just finished this quilt. I love it. I think it sums up what I'm about.

Simple
Modern
But Rooted in the Traditions of Quilting.

 This is a pattern I doodled back in the spring. Its loosely based on the many traditional applique patterns that you see in Baltimore album quilts from the mid 19th century
Google 'Baltimore Album Quilt' in images and it will blow your mind. These were serious show pieces made by women with the time to show off in those days, not designed to ever get sat on or slept under mind you! Whenever I look at images of these quilts they look so modern to me, especially the simpler less 'look at me' ones. I wanted to make an applique block quilt, but make it modern. I hope you like it.

It kind of sparked a creative explosion in me and I just kept having to 'reinterprete' more traditional blocks from Baltimore to the Amish(!) - the result became my Modern Applique Sampler Quilt which I will teach as a class after Xmas.I hope some of you fancy quilting along with me on that one to make your own modern 'look at me' quilt!