Ok, You asked for it

G - R - O - A - N ! ! ! ! !

For that you should have to make us all quilts. About this size would be fine for me - thanks!

A beautiful quilt. Congratulations.

What a beautiful quilt. I love triangles ! If you can't take it with you to the asylum, we could provide a happy home for it here :-)) Heidi John schrieb:

On Apr 20, 8:42 pm, John wrote:

After a good nights sleep I can explain the process of this quilt. It all started with the excess of small pieces left over from other quilts. Rather, the large excess due to over buying of the fabric. I had originally intended to make it 1" finished sized squares but upon cutting the 2-1/2" strips into diagonals I found that made 1-1/2" pieces finished. so 1-1/2" pieces finished it is. Then after sewing the diagonals together in contrasting squares I stacked the various squares in piles on a work table and picked random squares and sewed them together into a long strip. The fun came next in trying to figure out the placement of the squares in the next strip that wouldn't exactly match and adjoining strip. After all was said and done, and joined together into a finished top, I pinned together the fabric and yesterday morning starting at 8 am, started top stitching in the ditch along each of the 40 lines separating squares in each direction with a walking foot and Janome 1600P. I finished last night about 9 O'clock after taking a break for lunch and dinner of about 15 minutes for each and 20 minutes for a dog walk. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a high speed machine and a dedicated amount of time and no interruptions. My wife left for a weekend get together in Columbus with one of her girly organizations, and it was just me and my machine. I love the random nature of the colors into various color patterns that seem to never stay still. There are about 20 different colored blocks that make up the whole pattern. In a curious aside, we used to know a young woman that worked for my wife in California who came over to our house so I could show her woodworking techniques in my shop in the basement. She wanted to learn how to make furniture and I used to spend a couple of hours one or twice a week for a couple of months showing her how to do the various procedures required in making furniture. You might notice that in the picture of the quilt, it is positioned on the floor on top of some Persian Rugs. We have a large collection of mainly Persian Tribal Rugs on the floors of our house and when this gal came over she used to be troubled by the patterns that the rugs made. She had Epilepsy and the patterns would trigger a seizure if she looked at them. She would have to come to the front door and then go down to the basement door and I would then go down and let her into the shop in the bottom portion of the house which is where the shop was located. The point of this whole story is that the color patterns on the quilt almost trigger that sort of effect on me. While I don't suffer from Epilepsy, I can see the shifting effect visually of the patterns. Very curious and a most pleasing visual experience. The whole thing was a probably the most demanding quilt that I have tried. Not from the complexity of the design, but from the sheer gut determination that was required to finish the darn thing. I am happy with result, and looking forward to a nice 60 mile bicycle ride today to clear my brain, or what is left of it. Thanks for the feedback; And now for something completely different.

John

That is so interesting John. I'm astonished that there are only 20 combinations. The way you describe the quilt as almost moving - and I said in my post that it was 'shimmery'. Thinking of strobe lighting, and the way it affects epilepsy sufferers, I can understand that this quilt would do the same. How amazing. It's still a work of art, though! and a testament to patience and determination. . In message , John writes

That is awesome. Oh my, what a nightmare. What a dream come true! Well done! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!!!

Karen, Queen of Squishies

This is my absolute favorite of everything you've done so far! (Well, I also love the Shaker quilt rack, but it didn't involve needlework.) Roberta in D, Queen of the Scrap Heap, bestowing the Royal seal of approval!

"John" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

I like the way my eyes follow the reds in the lower corners. I have not got the patience to do something like that! It is a great accomplishment. Congrats!

Holy Cow! I think you deserve to lay down in a Presidential Suite somewhere in the Bahamas! What a beautiful quilt.... gorgeous!

Patti in Seattle

That is absolutely amazing! It does make me want to try something like that, but I'm not sure I could do it. I absolutely must get some of my old UFO's done before I tackle anything else < VBG > Of course, DH & I have been taking some trips lately, and I have bought at least 4 new projects to add to my never ending stack of "important" things to get done, lol.

Sherry Starr

Awesome!!!!!!!!!! Gen

Yes, BLATANTLY "pointless", I am shocked and appalled at Polly's thinly veiled ruse to abscond with this lovely quilt. However I can see a few places where *somebody* was licking at the Elmer's School Glue. That probably happened at some unsupervised moment in the 'Happy Farm" you must have been 'visiting' while you assembled that masterpiece. Certainly not your fault. If you'd care to send it to me I would be more than happy to very carefully clean those spots for you. ~rubbing little hands together~

Your new very best friend, Val :)

Thanks so much for pointing out the problems, but I wouldn't want to trouble you with that effort. I guess I will have to convert it to shop rags.They should add a festive tone to the area under the cars during oil changes. ;>)

John

Well I am back from a 60 mile bicycle ride and have taken a bubble bath and eaten a bag of gummi bears. One must sustain life you know, and what better way than with one of the three food groups. I am planing the next adventure behind a sewing machine. I have the fabric for that idea for a Mondrian inspired thing and I just need to finalize the design. I think the problem will come in whether to quilt within the larger openings made by the large color areas. If I do, I think I should use thread that doesn't show or that might introduce an element that could detract form the whole design. Not sure at this point, but some of the spaces are somewhat large 8" x 10". I am starting to think of things that challenge me in relation to this quilting thing. I started out on the more traditional designs and have now started to do my own designing and that is very rewarding. I still will do the traditional designs when I can ,but new vistas are so much more visually rewarding for me right now. Is this a common development in quilting? It would seem that it might be, but I don't have any other input than you folks. Inquiring minds want to know.

John

dammit......~banging head on mousepad~

Val

Very awesome quilt, John. But I can see why you might need some rest! :-)

Michelle in NV (who loves scrappy quilts)

Yes! And once you start designing, you begin to see patterns *everywhere*. It makes previously dull things come alive. You will look at floors, ceilings, tiled walls (public restrooms are a great source of inspiration!!!). You will see patchwork blocks in simple floor tiling. It is a 'box of delights', from now on. When I used to sing in a Choral Society, I used to envy the newcomers when they experienced their first St Matthew Passion. Now, I nod with nostalgia as newcomers to P&Q find their own paths, and achieve success in their projects.

As to your Mondrian quilting: if you find thread which exactly matches your fabric, it will not detract from the overall pattern effect. You can choose different designs and matching colours for each section, and this will actually enhance the divisions of the 'picture'. You do not have to do a single overall design. You might like simple grids (close grids, using the foot as a guide for instance, look wonderful); or, something I very much like with a large but simple shape, is a straight-line spiral following the outline of the shape and moving towards the centre by smallish increments. . In message , John writes

Every public bathroom I go to, I analyze the tiling on the floor whilst, er, doing my business. Is that too much information?

-- Anita --

Wow, John! That is awesome!