Artquiltmaker Blog – Page 299 – Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity

26 Projects April Update

Here is the list, again, still in no particular order. This time I have moved the finished pieces off. 23 WIPs left! I had to add two more projects to the list. I can’t believe I forgot about the Stepping Stones. Also, I have a Super Secret project that I did, but it took me such a short time that I don’t know if it really counts.

~~Food Quilt~~: at the quilter, needs binding.
~~Jelly Roll Race~~: at the quilter. Needs binding, quilting, sleeve.
Original Bullseye: needs border, backing, quilting and binding. Went rummaging through my fabric closet to find this top, because I was fired up to put the border on. I couldn’t find it. It is lost. I know it is in there somewhere. I am also working on my border idea and have definitely decided not to put that particular border on this quilt, if I ever find it, but I am glad I am doing the test.
Corner Store: foundations cut; some blocks made, triangles pinned to foundations and ready to sew.
Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered.
Infinity blocks: I know where they are.
A-B-C (A-Z) BAMQG Challenge – I am actually not sure if this should be considered a WIP, because I don’t really have enough blocks with which to make anything yet. I am making good progress. In April, I need to make O and P blocks.
Aqua-Red Sampler – steady progress has stopped and the class more than the quilt is really weighing on my mind. As far as I know Frances has still not finished her Dresden Plate. I really don’t know what am I going to do with her? The next class was going to be fusible machine applique’, but I haven’t gotten past cutting out the templates. Perhaps I should skip to machine piecing curves?
The Tarts Come to Tea: I haven’t quilted on this since April 2011. I need to work on the quilting. I was making good progress and then got sidetracked.
~~FOTY 2011~~: at the quilter, needs binding.
Flowering Snowballs: I have several parts of several border blocks done. I am doing them assembly line fashion, so there will be a lot of borders blocks all done at about the same time. The hand piecing is going very fast, but it usurping work on the Stars for San Bruno #3 binding.
Garden: used this piece for my beading demo for the 2012 EBHQ Voices in Cloth show (March 17), which means that I added some beads. It needs some machine quilting.
Flower Garden: I still find the ‘flowers’ too spiky. I think I need to soften them up a bit.
Moon and Stars: need to finish handquilting. This quilt is not interesting.
Pointillist Palette #4: needs tiny square patches sewn together.
See: needs satin stitching.
Self Portrait
Spiderweb
Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much.
Flower Sugar Hexagon: sewed more hexagons together. Sewing Y seams is a bit of a chore, so I get tired of doing it after awhile.
Young Man’s t-shirt quilt: have cut up the t-shirts and am in the process of applying fusible.
~~Stepping Stones~~: at the quilter, needs binding.
New: Super Secret Project: top, back and binding made. Ready to go to the quilter. Stayed tuned. 😉

Finished or Abandoned projects that were on the list:

Stars for San Bruno #2: Finished! YAY!
Pavers. Finished! YAY!
Kissy Fish: Finished! Yay!
Pineapple: Abandoned; will remake blocks at a later time with more care.
~~Stars for San Bruno #3~~: Finished! YAY! Just last night, too. 😉 I’ll show photos soon

FOTY 2012 – Progress

This week’s patches are from the batches I have washed recently. I have been trying to press a few yards as a warm up for my quiltmaking sessions. Trying to do that means that I am making progress on the ironing and cutting.

I was afraid that I just wouldn’t get to the washing and cutting and ironing this year. I know people say that they get so much fabric that they can’t wash it all before they use it anymore. I can’t imagine using a lot of fabric I haven’t washed. The unwashed fabric stinks so when I press it.

As I mentioned, the squares and rectangles are a pleasure to work with so far.

A lot of the black on white prints come from working on the Flowering Snowball. I cut two of the purples (above towards the right side of the photo), because the motif is so large that the pieces I cut look very different from each other. I like that print a lot, especially the background color. We’ll see if I remember once I start arranging and laying out the quilt top.

There is a lot of white in the prints I have cut so far this year. I wonder if this will be the year of the much lighter quilt? The white doesn’t bother me so much, but we will see once I start arranging.

I also found that I have started to press and cut the larger pieces that have been languishing. In some cases, at TFQ’s suggestion, I am just pressing the edges and leaving the rest of the piece until I use it. Most of them are not very wrinkled, so I think it will work out.

I also have to say that using rectangles and squares makes it much easier to photograph the patches when they are cut.

Renewed Jelly Roll Race Update

The top and back are done. The binding is made and I took the quilt to the quilter on Friday.

You will have to click on the photo to see the border I put on. It is relatively small – 3″ or 4″, I forget- and mostly it is there to stabilize the edges of the piece. I think it gives the diamonds some breathing room.

When I look at this piece, I see a lot of movement. I first thought the rows and columns weren’t lined up, but the variety of fabric makes the piece look like it is moving rather than misaligned. At the moment, the top is 61″x61″ approximately.

I decided to use most of the rest of the diamonds on the back. I still have a few left, but they will end up in some other project another time – perhaps in a pencil roll or gift bag. Hhhmmm….

Again, I decided to try not to make myself crazy. I used a large piece of purple Moda Marble for the sides of back. Around the diamond is some random solid I had and I had to throw in a few other pieces to make the back large enough.

I felt bad having so little to show at BAMQG, but next month, or in June, hopefully, I will will have a lot. I do like those finishes.

I have decided to give it to my aunt as a gift. She is doing something really nice for me for which I can never thank her.

BAMQG April Meeting

The BAMQG Meeting was yesterday. There hasn’t been a meeting since the February meeting, so people were anxious to see each other. TFQ thought there were about 35 people at the meeting. Sara reported about 50 members total. Adrianne was sick, so she didn’t make it and we missed her smiling face. Kathleen did a great job standing in. It was good practice for when she is Prez next year. 😉

A-B-C Challenge

We had the big reveal of the A-B-C Challenge blocks and they are great. this time we were asked not to bring all the blocks as the “design wall overfloweth” — heh! — just the ones for the past two months (K-N). My March blocks were King’s Crown and Lincoln. My April blocks were May Basket and Northwind. Now I have to get busy with O & P. I have O selected, but not P. We’ll see what Around the Block has to say about P blocks!

Whenever I see what others have made, I want to make more blocks. I like Kathleen’s Jester (don’t know real name) block (top left) and Rhonda’s Kansas Dugout block (bottom right, circle-ish).

I hope we have another block challenge when this one is done. I was trying to think of what would be good parameters for another block challenge. In my mind, a good block challenge would have some constraints, but not so many that people couldn’t make what they wanted. I thought of blocks based on a 9 patch or 4 patch grid, but haven’t thought of anything else.

Swaps and Challenges

Both the Echo and the Pillow Swap were due on Saturday. People did GREAT work. I especially noticed it on the pillows. The work made my Teacher pillows look sad. There were zippers and covered buttons and piping and ruffles, etc. I was impressed and glad I didn’t participate, because my pillows would not have looked nearly as good as these. I was so pleased to see people doing their best work.

Joy-Lily used one of the patterns from her book, Carefree Quilts, for the pillow she made. One of my favorites was the pillow that Amanda received. I liked the block (the maker used 4 of them) the maker used to make the pillow. It has that Lozenge shape I have been thinking about.

My camera is acting up and this photo does not do justice to Marci’s awesome work. Her personal challenge this year is the Storm at Sea block. She said she used every scrap of the challenge fabric and other bits from her stash. Marci did not buy any fabric for this challenge.

Someone brought a journal cover for the Echo challenge. I wanted to see it closer, but unfortunately she left before I could talk with her.

Show & Tell

Kathleen showed the blocks for this quilt before. She made them in a Flickr Swap and it has taken her awhile to put them together. I really like the way this quilt turned out. She said she won’t put a border on it, but will bind it in orange. The blocks were wonky 9 patch blocks. I really like the setting. They don’t look like wonky 9 patches. I think I need to sew faster, because I just thought I would like to do something like this.

A number of people said that they were very productive, but had already sent off their finishes to their swap partners from Flickr or other sites. This reminds me of doing swaps when the Internet first became available.

Claire was inspired by my pencil rolls to make to make a sewing tools holder. She did a really clever job with the top. She added a kind of elasticized cover to the top so that the tools wouldn’t fall out.

Sew Time

I have been a slacker about the binding for Stars for San Bruno #3. I am so close and yet, I have have been working on the Flowering Snowball during my hand sewing time instead of the binding. SO I brought only the Stars for San Bruno #3. I did not have anything else to work so I had to work on the binding and when I wasn’t chatting I made some progress. I sewed down the binding on one whole side and just rounded a corner before it was time to pack up. Being int he groove, I also worked on it in the evening. Still not done, but I want those quilts out of my hair and I want a finish, so I am going to get myself in gear.

We stopped at Nancy’s after the meeting and had some cocktails and cocktail snacks. Nancy and I need to hop back on the Tsukineko ink bandwagon soon.

Happy Easter!

And Passover and Bunny Day! This photo is too funny not to share. Have a great day. Hope you are sewing or spending it with family and friends that you like.

FOTY 2012 Update – Early April

I have to admit that I am enjoying just cutting squares and rectangles for FOTY 2012 so far this year. I am so glad to be using simple shapes and the squares and rectangles are making me feel much more creative with FOTY 2012. I have been playing with the layout of the little groups I cut as I go along.

I do not regret using the diamonds for FOTY 2010 or the triangles for FOTY 2011. I am pleased with the results. Both were great experiences and I am glad to have worked on them. I do think that it is good to simplify sometimes.

The aspect of FOTY 2011 that I am carrying forward to 2012 is the idea of using smaller pieces of the fabric I have used during the year, but didn’t buy this year, alongside the new fabric. I am being much more diligent about cutting fabric I have used and I have used a fair amount already this year. I love most of the fabric I have bought, regardless of when, so I want to give all the pieces an opportunity to shine. Also, in an ideal world, I would use more fabric than I would buy. Since I like to make decent sized quilts, that means that I would need to include more fabric. Definitely a wallet vs. idea war going on in my head.

Creative Prompt #151: Memory

memory book

The Persistence of Memory (Salvador Dali)

loss of memory

City of Memory – story map of NYC

memory album

Barbara Streisand – Memory

my memory is going

what a lovely memory!

random access memory

Definition: In psychology, memory is the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the information so that we may put the memory into the encoding process. Storage is the second memory stage or process. This entails that we maintain information over periods of time. Finally the third process is retrieval. This is the retrieval of information that we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of information.

computer memory

improve memory

American Memory from the Library of Congress

UCSF Memory & Aging Center

Memory (Cats Song): “Memory“, often incorrectly referred to as “Memories”, is a show tune from the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats^[1] sung by the character Grizabella, a one-time glamour cat who is now a shell of her former self. The song is a nostalgic remembrance of her glorious past and a declaration of her wishes to start a new life. Sung briefly in the first act and in full near the end of the show, “Memory” is the climax of the musical, and by far its most popular and well-known song.

Please post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

Thoughts on Shapes

I really can’t figure out how my mind works. Sometimes I like the way it works, because it sends me off in a new creative direction.

I was making the Northwind block for the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild A-B-C Challenge and got to the point that you see in the top left photo. All I had to do was put some larger triangles on the sides and I would have a nice tidy square, but this shape stopped me in my tracks.

I have been wanting to make a Lozenge quilt for awhile, but it hasn’t come up high enough on the to do list yet, but seeing the way this shape went together made me think about that future piece a bit more.

You can easily make this into a square by adding triangles. In this case, the triangles will be part of the design, but they could easily be background as well.

I could change the colors around so that the piece would be really scrappy or use 80% of a line of fabric.

The piecing isn’t difficult – few half square triangles and you are in like Flynn.

So, this is an example of a quilt made with this shape/block.It is a quick and dirty EQ7 design and I can already see some changes that I want to make, but you get the idea of what you could with this block. I like the diamond shape. It reminds me of the Stepping Stones quilt.

Various & Sundry 2012 #5

Fabric
I fell off the fabric wagon. I was trying really hard to be restrained (Nota bene: I am NOT saying “refrain from”) about buying fabric. I kept it up for awhile, then there was a sale and that temptress, Joyce at Quilting Adventures showed me some photos of my favorite (if I had to choose a favorite) designers, Philip Jacobs and Martha Negly. Now I see a link from Adrianne’s blog to the Mama Says Sew site where they have a new line of fabrics that I might-well, probably- need to buy. 😉 They would go with that nice piece of Circa 1934 (red background with numbers and letters) I have leftover from the Stepping Stones. Perhaps Stepping Stones #3? Sadly this line Mama Said Sew from Sweetwater won’t be available until August. Perhaps I won’t want it by then?

In case you were worried, the Vintage Modern precuts are now available for purchase at the Fat Quarter Shop. I am already getting some charm packs from Julie at Intrepid Thread, and I am sure she will have other/more precuts soon. I am going to hold off on yardage until I see what the prints are like and how they would go with what I already have (Ruby, Bliss, other aqua). I know I won’t buy Jelly Rolls.

Cat Beds

Speaking of fabric, Amanda has allowed me to post two tutorials (one short Simplified Cat Bed Tutorial, and one longer that I can’t post for some odd computer reason that I don’t understand) for cat beds. You might remember that I was saving my scraps for Amanda and her cat bed project. I was feeling very good about my additional recycling efforts and then Amanda got too much filling and not enough cat beds to stuff with the filling overflowing her garage so she stopped accepting filling. I thought that posting the directions here would encourage you to make some cat beds. The organization for which she is currently sewing these beds is called HCN – Homeless Cat Network. They are a small, non-kill shelter with a physical building up in the San Mateo/Burlingame area. They also have a foster home network. Amanda says that the very cool thing about this group is that every cat gets a bed, and when the cat goes to its new home, it gets to take the bed with it. So it has that double-extra niceness to it. HCN also has a very good feral cats program.

Quiltmaking and Copyright

The Emily Cier Scrap Republic issue, detailed in a post from several months ago, has been made more public. Todd Hensley of C&T wrote about their thoughts on the issue, as does Kate Spain, the designer in question, in a recent post. Public statements and some additional information are also listed on Emily Cier’s site. I found out that a resolution had been reached when Weeks over at Craft Nectar wrote about the issue from her perspective. Kim from TrueUp also put in her two cents with some interesting comments. Leah Day, not talking specifically about this Emily Cier/Kate Spain issue, has some good questions and a unique way of saying commenting on copyright. Amazon has a photo of the offending tote bag, but it is listed as currently unavailable. All of these posts are very thought provoking. Many people have things to say about this particular issue and copyright in general. I am not excluding anyone by not mentioning their post here. You can find more via any one of several search engines.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you are not a lawyer or do not have some special, intricate knowledge of copyright law, I would urge you to refrain from sending disparaging remarks to any of the parties. Ms. Spain also goes into more detail about why this came about. I think that she also details, very civilly, what she does to support (posting blogs, selling items made with her fabric on Etsy, etc). Ms. Spain also has an interesting graphic that shows how her business works. She includes, as part of her post, “If not, I would risk losing my livelihood.” It is my understanding that this statement is ultimately true, though a better statement might be that she is obliged to defend her right to license her designs or risk losing those rights and, yes, ultimately her livelihood.

Todd Hensley also has an interesting perspective. I was surprised to read on his blog post that they had admitted being wrong and tried to work something out with Ms. Spain when the issue was identified.

I think that the parties came to an equitable agreement and am glad the resolution didn’t seem to involve too many lawyers. However, if I had been directing traffic, I would have told them all to keep their mouths shut, and leave the PR statements to explain everything.

If you want some info about copyright, check the website law librarians rely on for their own purposes, CopyrightLaws.com. There was a great post recently called Copyright Facts for Librarians. I don’t think anyone will hit you if you are not a librarian and read it. 😉 The article starts off with “6 essential facts for librarians…”.

The overarching message of all of this seems to be to give credit where credit is due. I would urge all of you, regardless of whether you have a quilt business or not to give credit where it would be a nice thing to do – on your blog, on your quilt label, in forum postings, etc.

Around the Web
Quiltville‘s Bonnie K. Hunter interviewed Simon Beck about his snow designs that look like embroidery.

Jane Davila has a great idea to gain additional space in her workroom. I have seen the clipboard idea in Libby Lehman’s studio (via The Quilt Show – great episode, you should watch it), but read through Jane’s post and see how she made the clipboards pretty. I would take a few of those if anyone was giving them away. Or perhaps I can make some as gifts? Hhmmm.

You can join the ArtQuiltmaker page on FB, if you want.

I had no idea this Jane Pizar quilt was all the rage on the Internet. If Barbara Brackman says so, it must be true. It is from 1860 and was, in my quick Internet look (note that I do not say research), her marriage quilt. As an added bonus, Ms. Brackman talks about the age and the prints in her blog post, citing to other quilts as well. A real eye candy fest! It looks very intricate. I can see myself making one with a group of friends also making versions of their own. Is this the new Dear Jane?

Blog Problems
You may have noticed, if you use Google Reader, that intermittently it looks like I am trying to sell you P-r-e-d-n-i-s-o-n-e (trying to avoid more spam with my weird spelling) or some other crazy drug. Have no fear, I have not sold out to The Spam Man, but I have been having trouble with Google Reader replacing information in my blog posts. I am trying to ferret out the problem with the help of some fabulously tenacious people. One of the things I am doing is deleting widgets and replacing buttons with static images. I apologize to all who link to other sites from my buttons, but I have to try and eliminate all possible ways of infiltrating the site. If you see a problem on a certain day, especially if it is NOT via Google Reader, I would really appreciate a screen shot and some commentary about what you were doing. If you need a WordPress programmer who can talk to people, please let me know and I can give you a name.

Other, etc

I have created a Flickr Group for the EBHQ show I attended a few weeks ago.

I wrote for the SeamUp blog last week. It is a post called Future Quiltmaking: Guesses and Reality.

I entered the Modern Quilt Showcase and was disappointed not to get in. If you didn’t see my self pity and whining on FB, count yourself lucky. I was disappointed, because one of the few times I can get my act together to enter, I get rejected. I know it is a numbers game and I need to enter way more than once a year! I was also disappointed, because I thought the two quilts I entered, Chocolate Box and the Zig Zaggy Quilt, were both modern and innovative. After buying two books 😉 and calming down a bit I realized that it could have been anything – poorly written application, crappy photos, wrong look and feel. Until I see the quilts that were chosen I can’t say really whether mine would have fit in. It was really nice of some of you readers to take the time to tell me their thoughts and to make an effort to boost my morale. Thanks.

Completely not Quilt Related

Unless you listen to audiobooks while you are sewing. J.K. Rowling has finally gotten the Pottermore store up and running so you can the Harry Potter series in audiobook format now. And eBook format. I really like listening to audiobooks. I get a different experience. I am annoyed about having to go through a different site, though. I want everything to play nicely together and I have a feeling the audiobooks from Pottermore won’t. I hope I am wrong.

Donation Blocks Again

I made a few more donation blocks in between another project I am working on. I know I said this, but I enjoy making these blocks so much. I have only two more blue blocks to make until I have enough blocks to make a large enough Donation quilt.

Florets

Yes, I am working on the Flowering Snowball. It is a hand project (as I designed it to be) and I work on it when I watch TV.

I did a lot of cutting a few weeks ago, as I mentioned and the result is that I am putting segments together until there are none left and then putting other segments together until I can start sewing blocks together. At the moment I am working on sewing a foreground piece (the printed, colored fabric), which has been joined with a black on white piece to a different foreground piece that has been attached to a small black square.

So far, I have done three. When I looked at them the word ‘florets’ came to mind. Yes, like broccoli, but not broccoli. Nicer than broccoli-not that there is any thing wrong with broccoli, but fabric is much better. So I am calling these joined segments florets.

One of the things about this method is that I put all the squares together at once. I sew the same segments to each other until all of the blocks are done and then I move to the next segment. When I start finishing the blocks, they will be done quickly.

Creative Prompt #150: Quatrefoil

Definition: The word quatrefoil etymologically means “four leaves”, and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts. In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets (such as a four-leaf clover). It is sometimes shown “slipped”, i.e. with an attached stalk. However, it is not defined as a flower, but called a “foil”. In the U.S. Marine Corps, quatrefoil refers to a four-pointed decoration on the top of a warrant or commissioned Marine officer’s dress and service caps (see peaked caps, also known in the Marines as “barracks covers”). According to tradition, the design was first used with Marine officers on sailing ships so that Marine sharpshooters in the rigging did not shoot their own officers on the deck during close-quarters gun battles (as when crews of opposing ships attempted to board each other’s ship).

Quatrefoil Library in the Twin Cities

window

Phi Mu’s symbol is their sacred four-point quatrefoil. It is a unique shape and can be traced back to early European design. Phi Mus love to spot the popular shape in everyday use. Many wonder what the quatrefoil’s importance is to the fraternity but only a Phi Mu sister will know.

The quatrefoil is an ancient symbol of good luck, a Celtic symbol representing “the wheel of being,”

Swoon #3

As I mentioned in my previous post on Swoon block, I am trying different ways of making these blocks. For this block, Swoon #3, I tried to make the yellow pieces one piece of fabric rather than cutting them into squares and half square triangles. I want to preserve the print as much as possible and not have those sections look choppy. I thought segments of the first Swoon block looked choppy.

I am very pleased with how this block turned out. The road was rocky, however, and I fiddled with it a lot. This block was on my design wall for a long time before I actually sewed it together.

First, I made the HSTs on the very outside of the block (pink dot and background) using my Triangle Technique.

Next, I cut 4.5″ squares for all the yellow pieces in the block (8 total).

Third, I cut 2.5″ squares out of the background fabric and the pink dot fabric. I sewed them on to the yellow, larger squares by drawing a line diagonally across the center of the smaller squares and sewing on that line. The goal was to fold the square back into a triangle.

After sewing the first one, I realized that sewing on the line was not the way to go. Folding back the square into a triangle did not cover the yellow 4.5″ square. I tried lining up the line on the small square with the inside edge of my 1/4″ foot, then I sewed just inside the line. That was just enough to make this technique work for me. I have tried to illustrate this part of the post with the photo of the piece (left) in the machine. Can you see how the foot is lined up with that drawn line?

There is a failure part of this blog post as well. In order to make sure the blocks would be large enough to cover the corners of the larger square, I cut the smaller (corner) squares larger than 2.5″ the first time around. I found, when I sewed them on that the idea was good, but didn’t work. The reason it didn’t work was because the squares were simply too big and went below the place they should have been. This meant that the quarter inch seam allowance was too large to produce good matching seams.

Once I had the correct size of squares down (thanks, TFQ!) and realized I needed to sew just inside the seam, the block flew together as much as an approximately 63 piece block can.

I am pleased with the look.

_____________________

First two Swoon blocks link

Design Series: Rhythm

For the audio portion, check out Sandy’s page or iTunes

Rhythm is a Principle of Design

Rhythm is a design principle based on repetition (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 100)

Definitions:

“Intervals at which related element occur throughout a piece of art” (Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class)
Visual rhythm is created when elements repeat in a sequence in a design. The repeated elements are often shape or color motifs…rather than simply repeating the elements to create a pattern. They act as a series of beats that ‘speak’ to one another.” (Aimone, Design! A lively guide to design basics for artists & craftspeople, pg. 112-113)
“..rhythm involves a clear repetition of elements that are the same or only slightly modified.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 100)

- Vertical slats on the back of a chair

Rhythm is “the repetition of a regular pattern, or a harmonious sequence or correlation of colors or elements.” (Art+Quilt by Lyric Kinard, pg. 80)
“Visual rhythm involves the movement of our eye from one element to the next in a regular pattern.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
“In visual art, refers to the movement of the viewer’s eye across recurrent motifs.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 155)

“…repetition of an element creates visual rhythm.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15)

The following relate back to unity, so be sure to review those notes and the podcast before you move to Rhythm

Types of Rhythm

Alternating Rhythm (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 16)

“…the variation of a repeated pattern between two or more elements.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- Example: the pattern of night and day (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- Example: “…a chorus repeated between different verses of a song.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
“…uses patterns that move back and forth.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 16)
- Light and dark
- thick and thin
- hot and cold
- tall and short
“A familiar example of this idea can be seen in a building with columns, such as a Greek Temple. The repeating pattern of light columns against darker negative spaces is clearly an alternating rhythm.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 104)

Progressive Rhythm (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.16)

“…uses the repetition of an element to deliberately move the viewer’s eye in a specific direction. It is a pattern in which the viewer can see a sequence that is predictable. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 16)
“In visual art, a progressive rhythm might consist of any repeated element growing or shrinking in size, shape, or number.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- Example: “The expanding rays of a Mariner’s compass block as it reaches outward.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
“A progressive rhythm is often found in nature when the size or shape of something gradually increases or descreases.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- concentric layers of tree rings (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- a musical theme that “grows in complexity, volume, and instrumentation with repetition.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
- “gradually diminishing pattern of ocean waves as your eye moves toward the horizon” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
Commonplace in nature, but not always readily apparent (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 107)
- Cut in half, the inside of an artichoke shows a growth pattern. (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 107)
- chambered nautilus cut in cross section. (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 107)

Staccato Rhythm

“abrupt changes with dynamic contrast. The reccurrence of these dark squares establishes a visual rhythm. The irregular spacing of the small squares causes the pattern (and rhythm) to be lively rather than monotonous.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 100)
- Piet Mondrian painting called Broadway Boogie-Woogie expresses the “on/off patterns of Broadway’s neon landscape but also the rhythmic sounds of 1940s instrumental blues music.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 102)
Staccato rhythm can, sometimes, be exciting if unsettling. (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 100)

Static Rhythm

“…has no variety and can be monotonous if carried throughout a composition… If there is no variety in the fabrics chosen, the quilt will have static rhythm, …no movement.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 15)
“Static rhythm is only apparent; for in every seeming case, the rhythm really pervades the succession of acts of attention to the elements rather than the elements themselves; a colonnade, for example, is rhythmical only when the attention moves from one column to another.” (http://www.authorama.com/principles-of-aesthetics-6.html) – I think this is why we like those red and white Sawtooth Star quilts.

Syncopated Rhythm

“…gives surprising emphasis to a beat that is normally weak and adds unexpected interest.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
“A syncopation or syncopated rhythm is any rhythm that puts an emphasis on a beat, or a subdivision of a beat, that is not usually emphasized…Syncopation is one way to liven things up. The music can suddenly emphasize the weaker beats of the measure, or it can even emphasize notes that are not on the beat at all.” (Connexions http://cnx.org/content/m11644/latest/)

Visual Rhythm

“Repetition is another way to create unity in a quilt design. The repetition of an element in a composition can tie the whole together, creating a relationship among the elements.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15)
- “…repetition of an element creates visual rhythm.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15) Static rhythm, alternating rhythm and progressive rhythm have an effect on unity through repetition.
“Visual rhythm can be smooth and even, or it can be abrupt and uneven, depending on the goal the quilt designer wants to achieve.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg. 16)

Examples of Rhythm

heartbeat – “repeats in a regular, orderly manner and establishes a rhythm that underlies your very existence” (Aimone, Design! A lively guide to design basics for artists & craftspeople, pg.112)
“breathing consists of a regular sequence of inhaling and exhaling” (Aimone, Design! A lively guide to design basics for artists & craftspeople, pg.112)
“When you walk, you establish parallel rhythms with the two sides of your body.” (Aimone, Design! A lively guide to design basics for artists & craftspeople, pg.112)

Notes:

“Careful placement of accents pulls the viewer’s eye across the picture. The eye travels quickly when elements are closely spaced, more slowly across wider intervals. Use accents to control the rhythm and keep the viewer’s eye moving within the picture.” (Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class). This is one area where a border is useful. Instead of just slapping on a border (and you all know by now that this is one of my biggest pet peeves), look at whether your design is falling off the quilt and needs to be contained or whether you need to continue the design into the border to finish it.
“…rhythm relies on repetition. Repeating design elements over and over again will create a sense of rhythm with the design field.” (A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color & Design, pg. 127)
“Rhythm helps to entice the viewer to stay longer and can make an artwork easier to live with. (A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color & Design, pg. 127)
“..if the rhythm of a work becomes too static or monotonous then the work becomes easy to ignore.” (A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color & Design, pg. 127)
Visual rhythm is closely connected to rhythms in music and the rhythms of art pieces are sometimes inspired by music. (Pentak & Lauer, pg. 108)

Rhythm Resources:

A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color & Design book* by Heather Thomas
Art+Quilt* by Lyric Kinard
Design! A lively guide to design basics for artists & craftspeople by Steven Aimone book*
International School | Breda Principles of Design page
Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class
Rhythm – Basic Principles of Design post/article
The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d book*

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.