Roots

I too had an idea at the very beginning and stuck to it.

I wanted to show the connections between traditional quilting and contemporary work. I needed a simple block that I could make in various ways, and what is more simple than a 9-patch. The upper left section is pieced conventionally, and simply quilted, with the quilting getting gradually more 'contemporary' as it moves across the piece. The lower right section includes fabric that is hand dyed, rust dyed and deconstructed screen printed. The 'patches' are added by piecing, printing, overlaying, couching and sewing, with some hand stitching and beading.

The two halves are connected by strings of beads, possibly the ideas that flow as inspiration from the work of the past to the work of the present.

I enjoyed making this; but I have to confess to a mathematical error along the way. The piece is not perfectly 12 x 12 - I rounded the size of the first patch to an 'easy-to-cut' number - and forgot I would be multiplying the error by 9 across the piece!