Sunday, November 16, 2014

One Block, Six Designs, Modern Style


Modern Quilts_BarbForrister 004a Hocus Pocus_BarbForrister 001a
Hello, I have been busy in the studio gearing up for the second modern Quilt Con coming to Austin in February. This year, I have decided to create variations of the Bow Tie traditional block with a modern twist. Hocus Pocus (seen above) is the first in this series and incorporates octagons to create a colorful dimensional quilt. Here, I have decided to punk up the design by adding three colored squares in three of the white octagons. The remaining octagons have been quilted with black thread to provide interest and depth, a scary undertaking but I am so happy I did it! The half hexagonal edge pieces have been quilted in white and an additional white border was added to give the illusion of a floating grid like lattice. To create the quilting lines, I first photographed the entire quilt and printed it on a plain sheet of copier paper. I then overlapped it with a clear transparency sheet and began drawing the quilting lines with a Pigma marker. Below are some dBarb Forrister 007etailed views of Hocus Pocus. Barb Forrister 004

The second piece in this series is KodaChrome (seen below) and uses the same bow tie blocks but in a medallion style with playful colored piano keys on two edges while white borders making up the remaining two sides. I love the shift in design that is created by playing with these added borders in unexpected ways. How fun?!!! Again, I used the same technique as described above for determining the quilt lines.

BarbForrister 004 KodaChrome_BarbForrister 001a

Here, I opted to quilt the white areas in white while using fluorescent and very bright colorful threads for the colored areas. The entire quilt was bound with Moda Chartreuse binding as a finished edge. I think perhaps this is my favorite of the three. Below are a few detailed shots of KodaChrome.


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The third piece in the series is called Entropy and features bow tie traditional blocks with added negative space to provide interest and give it a more modern feel. I love the playful design that this quilt invokes and the way it appeals to the viewer's imagination. I am still in the process of working out the quilt lines for this piece but I am thinking of adding a tree behind the floating lattice just to shake things up. I like the idea of adding
organic elements to this piece.

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new 005Although, I have opted not to make the following quilts, I have decided to include these mock ups as additional inspiration for Bow Tie quilts. The first one on the left is another version of a medallion style quilt though done in a very different style than KodaChrome. The photo below on the left plays on two different concepts. Here, the octagons are created in bold colors while the background is filled in with lighter colors. The blocks are set in a directional manner where the bow tie arrows point up and to the right. I think this is an interesting take on both color and design. The final design on the lower right shows how the addition of a simple narrow strip of colored fabric changes the whole feel of the quilt, especially when you rotate directionality. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I have enjoyed the design process itself. Please feel free to leave a comment. I love hearing from you! Wishing you a fabulous and creative journey!

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