The November Summit called “Making Traditional Blocks Your Own” is over, but the quilts we made will last forever.
We had a phenomenal group, and it was no surprise to me that each of the quilts was unique and wonderful.
Our first day had a lot of instruction and exercises related to design principals and color theory. During the day, each participant chose a traditional quilt block and made multiple variations of it. Then we chose a single modified block and modified it in more ways. Then we traded blocks and got a shot at modifying someone else’s modifications. In this way, we learned to really look at things, and to look at them from many different perspectives.
From these exercises, some of the quilts were off and running. Fortunately, we had a terrific discussion about grid theory on day two, and that helped firm up design for most of the quilts. On day three, we talked about borders and quilting and had an in-depth evaluation session on the quilts.
Even the quilters who went home with “finished” quilt tops are planning to kick them up a notch. I hope I’ll be able to share the completely finished quilts with you down the road. In the meantime, here are some photos from the Summit.
Great colors in this medallion quilt, the star in the center is a perfect focal point for this quilt.
Here is Jan with her beautiful quilt.
Susan’s quilt started as a nine-patch that became a four patch and ended up as a modified nine patch. I love how the lines and colors create visual layers in this bold geometric.
Sharon used a drunkard’s path block as part of this modified log cabin. She was planning to add more deliberate randomness in bordering her quilt. I can’t wait!
The creator (Sharon) with her work in progress.
Vikki went right home and modified her quilt top so the top and the bottom are both anchored by three full blocks.
Vikki used an offset grid to make this tessellation quilt with a gorgeous color combination. Her first color choices were white, navy, pink and the print. There was a lot of contrast in her initial color choices. Adding the medium gray value visually unified this happy quilt.
Teri is using an alternate grid sees infinite possibilities for this quilt. I’m confident it will be finished. I’m also certain it’s not going to look like this when she’s done. Can’t wait to see what final decisions she makes.
Keta left the Summit with a clear idea where this quilt is going and it’s all about the borders. (Stay tuned.) I love that she choose mirror (or reflectional) symmetry for the blocks, rather than giving into a more traditional radial symmetry. Then she kept a traditional grid but twisted the blocks randomly.