Mies Van der Rohe

   I didn’t enjoy this challenge as I am not a fan of modern architecture. It is  too cold, bleak and clinical for my taste. All I could see were the straight lines disappearing into the distance (I wish I’d found that staircase!), so I tried to do something with those. Like Rosemary I liked the view of the buildings when looking up, and decided to use that in an abstract quilt. My original design was similar to Rosemary’s, but it was in plain colours: blue to represent the sky and I decided on an orange to represent the building. It was really boring as there was nothing to hold the interest, the lines just leading the eye off the quilt. Finally I decided to make four ‘buildings’ leading into the centre of the quilt, changing the colours around as the orange was a bit too overwhelming. I hand dyed some ombré fabrics, which took two attempts to get something that I could use. The blue fabric could have done with being a bit darker at the centre. I experimented with using inktense to darken it on some scraps, but it was too patchy, and when I tried using Markal with a stencil brush, the colour didn’t really go, so in the end I left it as it was as I was worried about ruining it. I hated it, and felt that I’d just made a glorified quilt block! However, once I’d quilted in the black lines, I decided it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought. It hasn’t photographed very well, the blue looking a uniform colour however I photograph it. The only way that you can see a difference is in the black and white photo.

Seagram Image chosen

This is the image of the Seagram Building which I chose to interpret. I liked the perspective .

Mies van der Rohe

 Here is Rosemary's piece.  

If anyone is using a Mac and would like to help her be able to upload an image and not just text, both she and I will be very grateful.  It just isn't logical.

Hilary

The library???

 My first thought was panic but this was quickly replaced by thoughts about a potential source of inspiration - one to be explored before committing to publically!

Then I remembered a "library" created many years ago for a dear friend. At the time I belonged to a round robin group of seven friends and we went through the usual styles of round robins before breaking out and making our own rules. This friend invited us to each make a bookshelf  which she added to to make this bookcase. I'm not embarrassed to admit that given my friends antipathy to dusting I made the shelf with the, now faded, polish spray and duster lingering amongst the books.

What Will You Put on My Bookcase?

​by Margaret Menzies

The Library

 Over the millennia libraries have been built to store knowledge and in later years, to share that knowledge on a wider basis.  These buildings were important within each society and in current times they are also considered an important place for people to meet and learn and exchange ideas.  As a result they were often built as very impressive buildings.  Or not.  Some are just small log cabins - whatever works in the locale.  

We have all been to libraries, our own and as visitors to others.  I'm partly influenced by a virtual reality "movie" of Great libraries of the world that I watched and I can't seem to  now find a link to it.  But I do see that Harvard has a virtual tour of their library which is quite interesting.  

I hope you have fun with this. 

Westmount Square

 I can't believe I got this finished before the end of the day!!  My eyes are crossed from sewing all the lines.  And it's not quite finished - it needs a back and a border.  I use an iron on fleece on which I quilt and sew/embroider directly.  And I haven't decided whether more squiggly lines would be good in the sky.  I was trying for a more organic contrast to the straight lines. 

The building was completed in 1967 just in time for our Expo 67.  If you would like to read a bit about it Heather has done a nice post which is in June .   I found most of Mies's buildings very stark, and rather boring.  I know he designed chairs, a few of which are in this building's lobby.  I didn't see  his Barcelona Pavillion  in my search and which obviously held a lot more interest.  

I've based my quilt on a photo off the internet.  I had quite a few that I had taken, but now seem to have lost.  I liked the fact that one building was reflected in the other.