Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Space

September's Mighty Lucky Quilting Club challenge was presented by Jacquie GeringSpace: Your Final Frontier. Though I struggled through it a bit, it left me with alot to ponder, and that's a good thing.


One portion of the challenge was 'seeing space,' and it was indeed interesting to see the differences as the space between design strips was adjusted.


The part of the challenge that really caught my attention, though, involved designing and constructing blocks, then observing the space as the blocks were rearranged.

Here's the 4" block I designed using paper shapes....

and after making four blocks as instructed, the variety of ways I arranged them.

         

     

I was all set to make up the lower right design in fabric, until my 5-year-old grandgirl walked in the room, saw my blocks, and rearranged them to make this:

Oh yeah, my plan changed in that moment. Inspired by her design, I made six blocks in fabric, and filling in the background with more white, gave the piece an entire new look. Since I'd been making my Mighty Lucky quilts all 17" square, I added some black and white stripes to bring the piece up to size.


Admittedly, as I sat down to quilt, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but with a weekend getaway looming, I wanted it done and fast. So making it up as I went, I stitched a mix of straight-line, match-sticks, and randomly-places Xs.


One of those times when no binding seemed quilt right, I opted for a faced-binding. And wouldn't you know, between the quilting and the faced binding, my final piece measures a scant 16 1/2" square. Oh well.


Finished just in the nick of time, I packed the little quilt, and on our last morning in Chicago yesterday, we hurried over to the Riverwalk to take some photos, snapping the last one (above) on a couch in our hotel lobby just before checking out.


So this was kind of an intimidating challenge for me, but it was worth exploring, and the info Jacquie shared, definitely worth revisiting.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

11 comments:

  1. well done! hope you (and your little quilt!) had a wonderful weekend

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  2. Oh wow, that is much smaller than I had thought when I saw the first photographs. I love that your granddaughter contributed to the final design. :)

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  3. What an optical illusion! In the first photo, I thought your quilt was a full-sized piece and was hanging from a large wall. I love how it is complemented by the buildings in the background, especially the one in the middle! It's a perfect mini and those that make us "think" are the best!

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  4. I had no idea how teeny, tiny this was until I realized the backdrop was a step and not a wall. I love the gray building in the background. Way to go, taking on new challenges and pushing yourself!

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  5. Hah when I first saw the picture I was wondering if it was a small quilt or a large step :)

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  6. That five-year-old has a very good eye! And how affirming to her that you followed through and used her idea.

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  7. I so enjoyed reading how you, and your granddaughter, designed this quilt and love the photos. When I saw the first photo I thought you had based the design on the high-rise buildings with their many windows, and the sense of space that comes with them. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. What a great challenge! Mostly I love that your grand daughter had the final say!

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  9. Did you notice that the building in the background looks like Monochrome? What a happy coincidence!

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  10. I love where this challenge took you and I really like that your grand-daughter had a part in it. Very nice finish.

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  11. Fun to learn about the process. I imagined it being a much bigger quilt.

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