Sewing

Welcome to the book hop for Modern Plus Sign Quilts authored by Cheryl and Paige. Being a hard core paper piecing designer, I don’t get to play with traditional quilting. I had been wanting to make a Plus Sign quilt for a while, so I was thrilled to have a chance to make one for this event.

The book is full of beautiful quilt patterns, it was quite difficult to choose one. Ultimately though, I kept coming back to the one called Signature Plus due to the history behind this quilt.

Photo by C&T Publications

Cheryl’s post about the history of Signature Plus

You can also see a photo of the original Signature Plus quilt on that page. It’s simply incredible.

Plus Sign Quilt - Tea Mat & Coasters In Yellow & Grey | Whims And Fancies

Yellow and grey is my favourite combination. The colours represent my favourite seasons – autumn and winter. I love yellow leaves on grey asphalt, nature mingling with man-made. The colour choice was easy and I had my pattern. The only question remaining was what to make.

Plus Sign Quilt - Tea Mat & Coasters In Yellow & Grey | Whims And Fancies

Tea is a very big deal in our home. I have more tea at home than most tearooms. On weekend afternoons, we read together over cups of tea. Inspired by the various tea towels I have collected during our UK holidays, I decided to make a tea mat.

Plus Sign Quilt - Tea Mat & Coasters In Yellow & Grey | Whims And Fancies

I reversed the colours and made four matching coasters. I quilted both with mostly vertical lines, crossed with very sparse horizontal lines to draw the eye in one direction, lending a sense of flow. I also used a lighter yellow binding to stay with the colour palette while drawing focus to the Plus Signs. The binding fabric has tiny little leaves, tea leaves if you will – a happy coincidence!

Plus Sign Quilt - Tea Mat & Coasters In Yellow & Grey | Whims And Fancies

The pattern was very easy to follow. I used a small section of the Signature Plus quilt from the book to make the mat.

One of the big advantages of this book is that it is full of patterns for both beginner and advanced quilter alike. You can make a big or small quilt, or use part of the design for a small finish like I did. Cheryl and Paige even included general instructions for all techniques used in this book. It is a great introduction to Plus Sign quilts.

Signed copies of Modern Plus Sign Quilts can be purchased at –

Meadow Mist Design (Cheryl) Etsy Shop

Quilted Blooms (Paige) Etsy Shop

Can also be purchased @ amazon.com

I hope you get to make something from this book that you get to cherish or as a fabulous gift for someone else.

Plus Sign Quilt - Tea Mat & Coasters In Yellow & Grey | Whims And Fancies

Many thanks to Cheryl and Paige for including me in this fun book hop. I will be thinking about my friends when I use this tea mat and coasters during afternoon tea. If it weren’t for them, it would have been forever before this paper piecing designer got to make her Plus quilt.

Thank you for visiting me! Make sure to visit Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs and Paige @ Quilted Blooms for the full list of quilters who are participating in this book hop, and please also visit these wonderful quilters who are showing off their beautiful makes today –

Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting
Kitty @ Night Quilter
Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts
Afton @ Quilting Mod
Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Happy Sewing,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

Speeding Through Space

A few months ago, after I came back from a holiday, a wonderful email from my dear friend Janine was awaiting me. She talked about a new art quilt group called The Endeavourer, hosted by her and Catherine. We are a group of 14, creating quilts that feature a chosen theme. This quarter’s theme was Nature.

I love spending time under the open sky, hiking trails while looking for small hidden surprises. I made quite a few nature-themed paintings last year, and I was looking for another creative angle. I love the natural sciences, specially astronomy. Looking at nature through science-coloured glasses gives me a deeper joy and that is what I wanted to use for inspiration. I began sketching.

Science Inspired Art - Wave Interference Double Slit Experiment by Thomas Young | Whims And Fancies

I have always had a keen interest in the properties of light. This was my first sketch based on a double-slit experiment by Thomas Young. It demonstrates the dual nature of light. The design was defined by simple shapes and limited colours. That became the style for rest of the sketches.

Science Inspired Art - Quantum Mechanics Atomic Orbital | Whims And Fancies

Then I started going down the rabbit hole. The dual nature of light sparked another sketch from my all-time favourite – Quantum mechanics featuring atomic orbitals. It is a function that calculates the probability of an electron’s position in a region around an atom’s nucleus. I find the orbital shapes to be really pretty.

Science Inspired Art - Turing Pattern Tiger Stripes | Whims And Fancies

Even after two drawings, I still continued sketching. An English mathematician named Alan Turing wrote an article on patterns found in nature. That and my love for tigers prompted this design. I was pretty sure this was going to be the one.

Science Inspired Art - Sea Stacks And Star Trails | Whims And Fancies

Then last week it was raining here. I was so deliriously happy that I cast aside all work and painted Sea Stacks with Star Trails. I love the use of blue on this painting.

Science Inspired Art - Comet Speeding Through Space | Whims And Fancies

The markings from the Turing pattern and the colour blue from the sea stacks gave me my final drawing. As I very hurriedly sketched this comet, I knew that I had my design. I couldn’t believe I had not thought of this earlier.

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

The rest was easy! I used converging variable-spaced straight line quilting from corner to corner to give it a sense of motion. Once that was done, I started painting on the finished, quilted piece.

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

Painting on dark fabric required thicker paint. I already had a set of acrylic paints at home. Combining that with fabric medium, I slowly painted the comet on the quilted piece. Nature is ever changing, ever moving, I believe a comet is a perfect representation of that.

Lunar Eclispe Montage January 31, 2018 Backyard Astronomy | Whims And Fancies

I will part with this lunar eclipse photo I took yesterday. Nature inspires me to be creative every day. As I made those different sketches, I got to explore different facets of nature. I thought I’d share a little about my inspiration with you today. I will write more about the making another day.

-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

Modern Plus Sign Quilts Book Hop

An Endeavourer – The Journey Begins

Speeding Through Space