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Wednesday 15 February 2012

Solid Science

I'm finally up to my 4th and last swap in this little series of current swap/bee catch-ups.
This last swap is the one that I will be finished with first. It is a new flickr swap called Fab Little Quilt Swap (or FLQS from now on). This is an invitation only group and I was very honoured to be invited to join, and then, of course, I couldn't help myself from signing up to their first swap!

We are swapping doll sized quilts with secret partners. My partner seems very easy going and likes all sorts of things, so I though I would experiment with the Kona Solid charms I had left over from the Colour Picker Quilt I made for Felix last year.
Here's my (slightly rubbish) original sketch.
The idea for this design came from quite an unusual place. I was watching the Royal Institute Christmas Lectures on the TV a few months back, and a scientist was explaining all sorts of things to an audience of mainly children (I can't even remember what he was explaining now, only one thing has stuck in my head and only because it became quilt related!).
He was talking about circles and squares and said, "how can you make a square out of a circle?".
He then drew 4 circles on a white board and then rubbed a quarter out of each circle and, all of a sudden, a square appeared. And I thought "hmmm, that would make a great quilt..."
I've wanted to get down to some serious curved piecing (or Drunkard's Path as I still like to call it) practice for a while now, so after a positive reaction to the idea from the FLQS group, I got to work on the initial blocks.
I finished this first quarter a few weeks back and then got stuck in to other projects. But time is marching on, and I would like to have time to hand quilt this, so I finished the top yesterday.
And I totally love it! I also love the way inspiration can strike you at any old time from any old thing!

21 comments:

  1. Oooh, cool, love the bright/light contrast

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  2. Absolutely love it. Funny that I am doing DP blocks in solids right now too. But not with that fab faded out square in them!

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  3. An absolutely stunner! I can only hope and pray you are my partner!

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  4. Wow, that's lovely. The plain fabrics give the design real strength. xx

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  5. Great work. Bold colors perfectly combined. I wish I could be that adventurous.

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  6. This is a fantastic quilt Jo - I'd love it to be winging it's way to me, but know it's not. Someone is going to be very, very lucky

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  7. He was showing how the eye andthe brain can see something that isn't there, and not see things that are there! I didn't make the quilt connection (but curves scare me more than zips!) but this is a great interpretation

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  8. I've loved watching this come to life, Jo ... really fantastic. Sets my syn off delightfully!! Great inspiration too ... lovely when it comes at you from a tangent ....xx

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  9. Oh that's brilliant! Love those lectures too.

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  10. OK so four fine fillies is my sister's blogger profile, we were working on setting up a blog for her yesterday and clearly I did not sign out, it's Lynne, Lily's Quilts!

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  11. WOW - I LOVE those blocks ! VERY clever use of values - your swap partner is a lucky duck !!

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  12. It's stunning!!! Your partner is going to be thrilled!!

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  13. This is gorgeous. The faded out bits totally makes this. I love that when you view this small an not right up close it actually looks like four flowers. There is so much talent and great stuff being made in the FLQS

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  14. I love the story behind where you got the idea for this quilt. And the result is stunning. Can't wait to see it quilted.
    Teresa x

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  15. That is fab - and thanks for sharing your inspiration - great story! Is it small enough to go into the Modern Mini challenge (Ellison Lane comp)?

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  16. I absolutely love it!!! It's great! Love the game of colours! :)

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  17. This is my favourite quilt of the swap! If I was part of the group I'd be hoping so much that it was for me! It's brilliant!!

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