Sunday, March 21, 2010

Going through a phase...



When I start to get the itch for a particular design idea I go looking for pictures that inspire me. The 'quilts' file on my computer contains nearly 400 photos. I have 20 photos of various bargello quilts, for instance. Right now I'm still stuck on middle eastern designs. Today while waiting for my research poster to print I spent an hour and a half searching for more images (see my first post) of Arabic architecture and decoration. The geometric designs appeal to me most, but the intricate, swirling floral designs are a close second. I'd give anything to be able to quilt like that. I think it would be the most beautiful, dense, artistic quilting I can imagine.

This particular line design, with the stars, seems to be very very common in various iterations. There are versions with six pointed stars, eight pointed stars, and even more. Some have hexagons in the negative space and some have 5 pointed stars. I'm completely fascinated by the complexity and the variety. This is definitely something I'll be experimenting with in my quilting. Since it's all straight lines I know I can do it with a ruler and fabric marking pencil.

I would like to make quilt patterns based on these type of wood panel designs. I had expected that someone would have done it already, but for the life of me I can't find it! Last night I finally found one picture that appears to be a variation of the same stars pattern, but it's only of a portion of the quilt and I haven't been able to find anymore. Still, it's extremely helpful to see how it might be done. I'm not sure how or when these designs will be realized in actual quilts, but it's definitely going to happen.

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