And the winner is.......

 With the help of my random number selector (Robbie - choose a number from 1 to 8!)  the next architectural designer is Linda Forey.  

I noticed that there are a number of drafts sitting on our site.  If you want them to come up on Nov 30th they need to be post dated and published.  

Dianne

Library in Alexandria ,Egypt

The Library in Alexandria is the most ancient library that we know of . It contained valuable scrolls of the ancient world which were lost when Julius Caesar burnt it down during his campaign in Egypt. It was only rebuilt in the 20th century and has a back wall which ,on the exterior has images of ancient heiroglyphics .The woman depicted comes from a frieze on the wall of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Virtual reality tour

 One of the things that inspired me to suggest this was a virtual reality tour of 10 libraries in a video created by Robert Lepage, a local brilliant director.  I have no idea where or how you would be able to see it, but there is a 4 minute trailer that you can watch.  The beginning is how our tour started, in what seems to be a small, personal library.  Then you go into a room with lamps with green shades and you put on the VR glasses.  And then you can see all the libraries -some very old, and look around at all there is to see in them.  It's very moving.  You get just a hint of it in the last minute.  If you ever have a chance to see "the Library at Night" it is well worth it.

https://www.mcq.org/en/exposition?id=425961

If the link doesn't work, google The library at night and then click on the trailer.

LIbrary challenge - thank you

It's been a while but I'm finally making a piece that is talking to me, and it's all down to Dianne's choice for our next challenge. Thank you. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process of choosing fabrics and filling spaces with quilting. I suspect the final piece isn't going to be too exciting but falling back in love with the process definitely is

We have an amazing library in the John Rylands Library in Manchester - https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/visit/. There are lots of amazing images on Google, once you get past the Harry Potter shots, but the history of the library and its' collections are interesting too.

But in the end this wasn't the library for me, or at least not at the moment when a visit isn't sensible. I've moved on to a library I visited just before our UK lockdown the impact of which I can still recall.  

This badly lit photo isn't giving much away, though some may guess my inspiration source from it, but you can't have a blog post without a photo! 

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.  

PERSPECTIVE INTERPRETATION Allison Moorcroft

 

Mies van der Rohe     Perspective Interpretation.

Excellent celebrity choice but what a challenge! His work is so modern, stylized, clinical and simplified. A true exercise in perspective lines, vanishing points and reflections.

Initially I wanted to interpret his art form as a precise photographic copy of straight lines but found it difficult not to embellish with cords and twirly lines, but I did sneak in some embroidery on the walls and for emphasizing the perspective lines. I used a self-dyed fabric for the sky and an organza overlay to darken the hue of the water in the pool. For the grey panels I found a fabric I had sprayed – with car spray – and it was just perfect!

Thank goodness we have 3 months to create our pieces!

Looking forward to our next challenge.

Allison