Friday, April 17, 2009

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Favourite Quilt

I just read about a fun event organized by blogger Park City Girl Amy (not Red Purl Amy): a bloggers quilt festival for all of us who can't make it to real quilt festivals nearly enough!

Today there will be a great circle of bloggers posting about their favourite quilt. The idea is great on its own but she upped the ante by adding prizes (and you know I can not resist prizes!). They are random prizes so there is no need to vote or judge or pick between the quilts: you can love them all. You can view participants' quilts by following the links on the bottom of her post.

So what would I pick as my favourite quilt that I have made?? I had to think about it because I really love the Hawaiian Star I'm working on...but it's not done. I really enjoyed working with my sisters on the quilts for our mom and dad. I loved the shower/wedding quilt we put together for my sister with squares from all kinds of people that love her. But my favourite?

Today I'd have to say the Fibonacci Quilt I made for my in-laws and was (finally) able to complete and give to them as a house warming gift.

I got the idea from the article "Pythagorean Tree" by Diana Venters in AQS's American Quilter: Ultimate Projects (vol XIX, no 5, 2003) in which she discusses how she used quilts to demonstrate mathematical principals. It was my MIL's magazine actually that I was reading while visiting them.

I love math and all things math-like so the quilt really appealed to me. The Fibonacci Sequence is a series of numbers in which the next number is simply the last two added together. (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...you see how this works.) Now Fibonacci didn't just make up this list because he thought it was fun; it actually appears often in nature (flower petals, snail shells) and turns out to be a very pleasing relationship to the human eye.

So, lopping off the first "1", I put together a series of squares that were defined by that series. I can't remember how big the smallest center squares were, but the next one was twice that size, the next one 3 times that size, the next 5, etc.

I picked the colours based on the brightness of the paint that the ILs had chosen to paint their walls. I wanted four primary colours (ok, I know there are only three primary colours, but you know what I mean) and went shopping with my sister to find them in a light and dark. We did alright, I think.

Assembly was pretty straight forward as long as I kept the lights and dark straight. (Two quadrants were the same, and the other two had the lights and darks reversed.)

The hard part was deciding how to quilt it. All sorts of crazy ideas swirled in my head. There were a lot of squares to play with and I could have put a lot of motifs or medallions in the squares.

But in the end, I kept it simple and decided on lines headed in different directions in each quadrant. the number of lines in each stripe determined by the Fibonacci Sequence again. I used a variegated thread in primary colours.
Right about the time I started quilting, I went out and bought a new sewing machine, the Viking Sapphire 830. It has a large throat so I could fit the quilt in there quite easily, and it was the first time I used a walking foot: boy does that help!

I loved the fabric I then found for the binding. It looked completely crazy and I can't imagine what other people used it for, but it was perfect as the binding on this quilt.

I liked that the design was made up of squares separated into quadrants (not that you could tell once it was made into binding) and of course that the colours matched so well.

But I would have to say on top of all this, the big reason I would pick this quilt as a favourite is the reception it received from the ILs. I know we who are in the business of making things for others have to count on enjoying the process and not the adulation because you never know how something will be received, or treated.
But when the recipients show that they really love and appreciate it, I have to say, it feels good!

31 comments:

  1. awesome quilt and I learned something new!

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  2. This is such a cool quilt...I love the simple colors!

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  3. Fabulous quilt!
    Beth
    http://cornerhousequilts.blogspot.com

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  4. What a cool quilt and a great idea!

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  5. Wonderful Quilt!!

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  6. Wow! I absolutly love this quilt. I was shoked when I saw the last picture, I was not expecting it to be so big.

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  7. Great quilt! I keep meaning to use Fibonacci one day, too. And the binding was inspired!

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  8. I absolutely love this one.
    My partner is a mathematician and will demand one for our bed when he sees this.
    Love it!!
    Andi :-)

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  9. Living in a nerdy household I can appreciate your quilt idea. I wish I had thought of it. Thanks for sharing your story and your quilt.

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  10. What a fabulous quilt! It is huge! The first photo does not even begin to let you know the dimensions. I love how the border fabric worked out! What a wonderful gift!

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  11. Advanced math in a quilt - fascinating. It is great.

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  12. It does feel good when they love it! I love your quilt - I tend to be a math geek at times, this is really striking to me! Thank you for sharing it :)

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  13. Love this one. Absolutely wonderful! Enjoy the festival

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  14. What an interesting way to design a quilt! Love it!

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  15. I'm making a fibonacci quilt, too! It looks quite different than yours and I can't wait to get it near completion so I can post a picture. I knit in fibonacci, too. Can't go wrong with organically pleasing numbers!

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  16. My husband loves math and I have often thought about making him a math quilt - we have talked about a number of designs including the fibonacci sequence. The other math project I have thought about is a golden ratio quilt- using stars ( my husband is an amateur astronomer)... I am still pondering it..
    Your quilt worked out beautifully and it is obvious the owners love it. Thanks for sharing your wonderful story.
    Regards,
    Anna

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  17. Beautiful. And it shows how much they loved their gift. It would have been hard not to love that work if you ask me! Lovely.

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  18. I love your quilt and all the math behind it. it is the first time i heard about Fibonacci pattern, but when you described it , it sounds familiar. Beautiful work.

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  19. Your mathematical quilt is avery interesting study,rather reminds me somewhat of Ricky Timms Convergences- thanks for showing it. And yes the recipients reaction is always an added joy to the creating & giving process.

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  20. This is so awesome! Great job on the pattern and colors! this must have taken alot of work!!!

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  21. I love it. The color placement is great.

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  22. Awesome quilt! Gorgeous. Love the binding fabric. Great job!

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  23. What a great gift. You put a lot of thought and creativity into Fibonacci Quilt. Thank you for sharing.

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  24. I really like your quilt and the interesting story that goes with it. And I completely agree, it feels SO great when the recipient of your hard work appreciates it! :-)

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  25. Just talking yesterday with someone about the fibonacci quilt. I love how simple, yet complex this quilt is! I love how the design is repeated horizontally and vertically four times! I may have to try an idea like this some time. Putting fibonacci on my list of "must do sometime" quilts.

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  26. How do I get a hold of you to see if I could reference your fibonacci post and maybe use your pictures on my blog / podcast (with giving you full credit for it of course)? As I love math & science and quilting, I have a blog and podcast with the two and this perfectly fits the bill. My e-mail for the blog & podcast is scientificquilter@gmail.com

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