Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #11

    One of the interesting things each year, in preparing the Twelve Quilts of Christmas, is tracking down current locations of many of these quilting treasures.  Some of them I find first as pictures in old state quilt documentation books or other wonderful tomes from the quilt revival in the 70’s and 80’s.  This is one of those quilts, whose current location evaded me until the final hour.   I knew I had seen it in my digital travels over the years … oh but where?  I found it in the end.  The quilt landed, thankfully, safely in the hands of the International Quilt Study Centre.   Which brings us around again to the issue of custodianship and supporting the museums that continue to preserve and protect our quilting heritage.  It is why I try as much as I can to give accurate and full information about these quilts and where they are located now, in the captions below the photo of the quilt.  Our quilting history is important.  I want to honour the quilts, their makers and the custodians.     The second quilt revival in the late 1970′ and 1980’s saw a generation of quilt collectors who sought out some of the finest quilt examples and helped preserve them so we can enjoy them today.  It is time now, as those collectors grow older, for another generation to grab the mantle and do whatever they can to help, big or small, continue to ensure that wonderful examples of quilts that are not currently in permanent collections make their way there.  If in some small way my presentation of these quilts each year sparks an interest for antique quilts among a younger generation of quilters, then my work has had a beneficial side effect.     This year’s quilts also are shining a light on a word … “modern”. So many have commented, with surprise, on how “modern’ these quilts look.  I think we have an opportunity here to examine the meaning of “modern” as we use it in the quilting world today.  Interestingly the word “modern”  has been used many times in history to define a particular period in quiltmaking where there has been a shift in style of quilting.  And then slowly that newness and freshness of style shifts to become a tradition and something else comes along and is “modern” and embodies the purest of sense of the word as it is defined, in being “of the present or recent times” (Oxford Dictionary).  At what point will what is happening in this “modern” quilting movement today become tradition?      Back when all that collecting was beginning, quilts such as this one may have been overlooked, because of it’s quirkiness, but someone did appreciate it.  And that is all it took; the courage of one person to see the beauty in the odd, the different, the unique, the truly beautiful.      When I look at this quilt, it is it’s graphic beauty that draws me in. The stark contrast between the red and the black.  The pounding rhythm created as those two colours march boldly around the “frames”.  It is the beautiful pulse that is created by the ripples of purple borders that echo out and define the engaging purple centre.  It is the freedom of the piecing and the caution thrown to the wind as the corners of each round resolve as they will, no concern to refinement and rules.  You can feel the quilt being made, pushed to completion creating a composition that is actually perfection itself.  Anyone who would dare to “straighten” out the measurements and line everything up would ruin it.  I am so glad the maker did not have a rotary cutter and ruler!   A number of years ago I coined the phrase “Quilting With Abandon”.  This quilt exemplifies this philosophy to it’s core.  It is bliss.  It exudes joy. And it just feels right that it is was the one that I was going to end this year’s Twelve Quilts of Christmas with.  However, there is one more quilt tomorrow to make up for the “Amish Quilt That Wasn’t” that happened on day 8!   I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas! See you tomorrow.  

 

         

Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #10

 

 

This quilt has such a beautiful radiance.  It is hard to take your eyes off of it.

 

What at first looks like a scrappy quilt actually has quite a bit of intention behind it.  It almost mirrors from side to side, save the black and red patches.  Vertically, there is a repetition of sorts.  It is this search for predictability that draws the viewer in, engaging them in a exploration of what matches and what doesn’t.  There is a tremendous amount of thought that was put into the composition of this quilt.  

 

The quilting is subtle and well planned.  Simple grid quilting alternates with a circle design in the alternating blocks.  The border is defined by uncomplicated triple diagonal lines of quilting.

 

But it is the colours that grip me.  Those magenta patches.   Those puce green patches.   Those orangey-red patches.  They are juicy in their intensity.  Saturated.  Vibrant.  Gutsy.  Bold.  Unexpected. All tempered by the pumpkin-rust colour and blacks acting as neutrals to tame all the other colours in the quilt.  

 

Again we see the subtle variations in colours to create cohesiveness.  This time in the borders; golden pumpkin on two opposing sides and the puce green on the other opposing sides.  Both of these colours acting as neutrals and a calming influence to the other colours, but read fundamentally as the same colour until closer examination.

 

Gazing at it intently and contentedly, it is easy to not immediately notice the black inner border.  Have you noticed how many of the Amish quilts include a narrow inner border in their quilts.  If feels so artistic, but as we have learned it also serves such an important design function.

 

Do you think this quilt would be as successful if that narrow inner black border was not there?  Why?

 

 

Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #9

 

 

I love this variation on the rolling stone block.  The square within a square in the middle.  The larger proportions of the side squares.  And the delight of it all on point.  All of these together make for a splendid interpretation.  Sometimes I look at it and it feels flower like in a graphic way.  Other times I look at it and see a snowflake.

 

We saw similar colour combinations in the quilts on day 6 and yesterday, but those quilts had extra bits of zip and zing. Here the colours are more clearly and simply presented.  It is this straightforwardness of the colours that really enhances this lovely block and makes the whole quilt visually enticing.  

 

In the layout of the quilt, the black rolling stone blocks mirror the red rolling stone blocks.   There is something wonderful and calming about this arrangement even though the colour combination is rather vibrant. 

 

The fact that the borders are not of equal width on all sides emphasizes the orientation and presentation of the composition and visually helps expand the quilt horizontally.  The quilt on day 5 also used this technique with the borders to do the same thing.

 

I look at this quilt and see not only the beauty in it’s current design execution, but I also see loads of potential.  

 

What do you think of this one?

 

 

Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #8

    Unnamed Pattern … uh …  I think we can fix that.  How about “Holy Cow”  or “Oh Wow”.  I think those might do.     Oh where to start.  Focusing on the details is so hard with this quilt as the pattern is so mesmerizing and the chevron setting of the blocks so energetic!   Even with all this liveliness, there is continuity created by the repetition of the same block and the tight colour palette.  As is often seen in Amish quilts, the border colour is repeated in the “body” of the quilt, but in slightly different shades.  This happens repeatedly in this quilt with great success with the different shades of blue that were used. Add to that how interest is created with the purples that range from lilac to greyed purples. Do you see how some of those shifts in shade happen within a single block? The red blocks without a doubt add zing to the quilt. The secret ingredient though is the peachy-pink which adds so much to the overall success of these colours together!     And don’t forget the alternating black pieces in the blocks.  That element adds a wonderful rhythm to the whole composition.   Now let’s look at that thin inner border. You might think that if you were making this quilt, that maybe it wouldn’t be necessary to have that border,  but it is such a vital element.  (I might just be speaking from experience).  It’s job is to keep all the busyness of the middle controlled or “fenced” in.  I wonder if the centre design was done in prints and the hard edges of the design softened a bit, of maybe then that inner border wouldn’t be necessary.  Since it is there though, in the design, well I have to comment that the colour choice for it is perfect.  It speaks to both the red in the centre and the purple.     And if all that is not enough … it shines. This quilt just really shines.     What would you name this quilt pattern?