Albersesque

It's been months since all my Bee Sewcial Albersesque blocks arrived, and weeks even, since I've had a quilt top put together. But then I stalled out unfortunately. Bit by bit, here and there, I'd make another step forward, and finally.... finally I have a finished quilt.

The blocks created by my bee mates fit my vision perfectly - all inspired by the work of Josef Albers. In total, I had 24-9.5" square blocks to puzzle into a quilt top, and I chose to be inspired yet further by one of Josef Albers' own designs. All blocks were framed with Kona Bluegrass, then bordered on the top half by Kona Lapis, and the bottom half by Kona Canary. Sashing and borders such as these are not my norm, nor usually considered modern elements, but with these blocks, it only made sense to organize them in an Albers-inspired design.

Photo from Interaction of Color by Josef Albers,50th Anniversary Edition.

For the quilt back, another Albers-inspired design came to life. Beemate Leanne @shecanquilt had once published a pattern for this design called Canvas, and I referenced it as I settled on dimensions. I was happily able to use stashed fabrics for the center blocks, though purchased Kona Fern to bring it up to size.

Photo from Interaction of Color by Josef Albers,50th Anniversary Edition.

Once basted, I struggled over ideas for quilting (and thread colors!) and finally settled on yet another Albers-inspired design for my quilting pattern. I pencil-drafted the 'X on top of X' motif, then repeated it.

Photo from Interaction of Color by Josef Albers,50th Anniversary Edition.

It did require some hera-marked lines, but the 'X' design, which I set on an angle, felt worth it. I chose to just quilt the Xs and not the horizontal or vertical lines between them, which resulted in a less-dense result but I thought it served the overall quilt well.

quilt front

quilt back

I used several Aurifil 50wt threads in the finishing of the quilt - 2770 [Very Light Delft] for the quilting, 2840 [Loden Green] in the bobbin, and along with the Very Light Delft, 2115 [Lemon] for the matched binding. Albersesque finished at 55" x 78". 

Blocks were made by Bee Sewcial members Karen/@capitolaquilter, M-R/@quiltmatters, Leanne/@shecanquilt, Stephanie/@spontaneousthreads, Felicity/@felicityquilts, Marci/@marci_girl, and Kari @quiltsforthemaking. I'm really pleased with how many designs and layers we, together, were able to be incorporated into our Albersesque.

Here are links to my previous Bee Sewcial quilts - Mod Mood, Baconrific, Looking Up, Homage, Modular, Rings, Lined, and Horizon Views if you missed them.

Visit beesewcial.com to see other Bee Sewcial quilts. And of course #inspiredbybeesewcial is always worth a perusal on Instagram.