Quilt 9 - 2018  'Fireworks'

 

I decided for this quilt that I wanted to extend my use of the turned edge weaving technique from two directions to three, something known as "triaxial weaving". With this already at the back of my mind I attended a class with Jinny Beyer in March 2017 to learn more about what could be done with the diamond shapes which are the inevitable consequence of triaxial weaving and "Fireworks" is the result.

 

I again wanted to use my favourite ombre fabric collection--Pointillist Palette --because the very steady colour shift across the fabric is ideal for what I want to achieve. The very small size of each of my "patches" means that, if I were to use one of the beautiful ombre batik collections which have come out recently , there would be many occasions on which it would look like I had made a mistake by taking a piece from the wrong part of the fabric. I also (of course !) wanted to continue creating 3D illusions with shade choice, helped on occasions by the use of tulle.

 

The major departure, however, in the making of  "Fireworks" is that, having used alternating "patches" of colour and black in my previous three quilts, I wanted this time to try without the black. The foreground design is actually quite simple, comprising of only 12 different large diamonds placed in varying orientations. These 12 possible diamonds are themselves made up of 16 small diamonds which go from light to dark either horizontally or vertically, ie  just 2 possibilities for each of the 6 different colours I have used.

 

For the background I sought to give the impression that the older fireworks were fading into the night sky and in the process losing some of the perfect symmetry they had had up until then.

 

"Fireworks", which has some 26,500 "patches" and took me 14 months to make, has just been unveiled at an exhibition I shared with my friend and quilting star Ximo Navarro at the Sitges International Patchwork Festival.

 

Click thumbnails on the right to enlarge.

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