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.

All the Albersesque

Going through my list of current and upcoming projects the other day, I was reminded that I still need to pull my Bee Sewcial Albersesque blocks into a quilt top. Fortunately, I have an idea for that!! Meanwhile, I thought it would be fun to show off all the blocks I received from my bee mates, each inspired by the work of Josef Albers. First up are my own inspiration blocks.

my blocks

made by Felicity @felicityquilts

made by Karen @capitolaquilter

made by Kari @quiltsforthemaking

made by Leanne @shecanquilt

made by Marci @marci_girl

made by M-R @quiltmatters

Stephanie @spontaneousthreads

Aren't they a fantastic bunch? Like I said, I have an idea for the quilt top, but need to choose background colors and probably order the fabric. I'm really looking forward to puzzling this one together!

Albersesque

Once again, it's my turn to put forward a prompt for my Bee Sewcial mates, and after much internal debate, I've decided that we will spend the month being inspired by the work of Josef Albers, making blocks in a style I've dubbed 'Albersesque.' "Josef Albers was an American-German artist best known for his iconic color square paintings, also know as his Homage to the Square series. These works, along with his writings, are considered invaluable contributions to color theory." [artnet.com]

I've created a small Pinterest board with several of Albers' pieces, though my mates are welcome to be inspired by others of his works. Another good source of inspiration would be Josef Albers' book, Interaction of Color. I'm just looking for inspiration images with basic shapes, not necessarily the ones illustrating transparency.  I'm also ok if they create their own Albers-like block to recreate, rather than an actual one. The key focus should be on simple shapes and color.

I'm asking for three 9.5" square blocks from each member. No gray/black/brown or white/ivory, but all the other colors are welcome. 

Each block should be its own palette, though there would preferably be some minimal crossover between blocks. And each block should definitely be improv, preferably ruler-free (until final trimming), and inspired by a Josef Albers or "Albersesque" piece - maybe even recognizable as such, but not necessarily. 

Each of the three blocks should follow the same inspiration piece. I made my first block quite similar to my chosen inspiration, hoping to illustrate clearly my intent with the prompt, though it isn't necessary to be quite so obvious.

I usually choose a narrower color palette for my Bee Sewcial prompt, so I feel like I'm going out on a limb here. But I wanted a prompt that wasn't overly demanding, yet fun, and I hope this one will prove to be so. You know I'll share more as blocks start rolling in!