Evolution- A Quilt Experience - MQX 2012

8/2/2019 Evolution- A Quilt Experience - MQX 2012

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Andy Brunhammer and Jim Smith

4216 Interlake Drive, Tampa FL 33624

(813) 962-2943 1 |Page - Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Quilts SB athttp://quiltsb.blogspot.com

2010-2012 Essbee, LLC

EVOLUTION

A Quilt Experience

MQX 2012
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Quilts SB, Tampa, Florida

Photo credit: Ray Smith, Clearwater, Florida - 2012


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Bio - Andy Brunhammer and Jim Smith

Andy and Jim began quilting some years ago when Jim as a part of his 1996 Masters' thesis projectworked on the construction of a cottage industry to a corporate concern. Due to the demands of their

respective banking careers, quilting, fabric, and thread were the furthest thing from their minds, hands,

or time.

Now early retired, and as of 2010, Andy and Jim decided try to spend as much time as possible creating

and experimenting with quilt designs, fabrics, their machines, and thread.

All their quilt projects are completed in Tampa. Andy and Jim try to create, design, borrow, and beg

their ideas from the past, the present, from those artists much more experienced, and at times from

that which takes their fancy. Jim is constantly saying that he now understands why he took so many

trigonometry and analytical geometry classes in the past. Both are always eager and willing to learn with

each new quilt project, and now spend as much time as possible honing their skills.



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EVOLUTION

1. Woven Scraps2. Nova Sun3. Beige Bargello4. Warhols Marilyn5. Betty Davis Tribute6. Primary Twister7. Twister Lightning8. AD I9. AD II10.Rainbow Glass11.Patience12.V-Bricks13.Provence14.Caf au Lait15.Kanzashi16.Nol Diptych17.OP Ornament18.Coral Steps19.Mauk I20.Born This Way21.Twisted Basket22.Civil War Re-Enactment I or CWR I23.Tetrishead24.MEM91125.Colored Windows II26.Blue Diamonds


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Woven Scraps

Woven Scraps is one of the first quilts that we created when we

decided to venture out on our quilting journey. We knew nothing

about quilting and this was an experiment and we had not decided

to get serious about this quilting obsession.

This quilt is a Woven Rail Fence pattern that we created with seven

fabrics. The fabrics were chosen off the wall from the quilting cloth

section of a no-longer existing Jo-Ann Fabrics store.

Dimensions: Length - 64" (163 cms); Width 49" (125 cms). This is can be used as a table, a wall or an

accent quilt. It also can be used as a small lap quilt.


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Nova Sun

Nova Sun is our original design and can be considered a large wall

hanging or lap quilt. It could be used as an accent on a bed or a sofa.

Nova Sun is 45" (114 cms) wide, and 68" (173 cms) long. Quilting is

effectively the rays of the sun.

The construction ofNova Sun is an experiment in strip-piecing. The

idea was to play with the elements of color shading in fabrics. The

strip-pieces are attached to cotton muslin and therefore we excluded the use of batting. The quilt

sandwich is the top, the muslin, and the backing.


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Beige Bargello

This is Beige Bargello. The transposition of needlepoint Bargello is a

very classic and beautiful design process in quilting. The 16

beige/brown fabrics graduated by size and by tone are sewn

together to create a cosine curve.

Dimensions - Width: 57" (147 cm) and Length: 80" (203 cm). This

quilt can accent the mattress dimensions of a full or queen bed.

Beige Bargello is the predecessor to a number of our subsequent

Bargello designs. They are all now in private collections and include Christmas Cosine, White River

Rafting, Dorothys Window, His American Flag, and NC the coast. (Images of these can all be seen on our

Site Quilts SB.)


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Warhols Marilyn

This quilt, a wall hanging was created using Andy Warhols

Marilyn Diptych 1963, from a private collection.

This was the first attempt at conversion to cross-stitch

needlepoint using a scanner and a unique PC program we

found in 1998. The stitch work and coloring is identical

from panel to panel and the fabric background is in keeping

with the ideas of Andy Warhol. The dramatic diagonals

offset the individual portraits.

We first scanned a Warhols Marilyn print and created an image file. We converted it and created a

cross-stitch production file. We used an Embroidery Sewing machine to create the portraits.

DimensionsWidth: 35 (89 cm) and Length: 31 (80 cm).


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Bette Davis Tribute

One of our original designs, and we call it our Bette Davis Tribute.

Dimensions - Width: 48" (122 cm) and Length: 29" (74 cm).

This one is definitely, in our opinion, a wall hanging. It combines

cross-stitching and quilting, computer technology, scanning,

machine-stitching and a bit of grey-matter.

We first downloaded six photographic images of Bette Davis. First we printed the image and then

scanned it. We converted it and created the cross-stitch production files. We used an Embroidery

Sewing machine to create the portraits.


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Primary Twister

Primary Twisteris our original design and one of the first quilts where we ventured into the realm of

color play. This was a challenge to ourselves to take our paper draft and convert it to a fabric

construction.

Dimensions - Width: 46" (117 cm) and Length: 78" (198 cm). It can be used as a wall hanging, a room

accent, or a lap quilt.


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Twisted Lightning

Twisted Lightning is our color copy of our own design, Primary

Twister. Tampa Bay is the center of lightning storms in North

America and we wanted to capture the raw nature of the

atmospheric manifestation.

Dimensions - Width: 46" (117 cm) and Length: 75" (191 cm). It

can be used as a wall hanging, a room accent, or a lap quilt.


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AD I

AD I is the first of two in our original AD Quilt Series. This fabric is

called African Drums, hence the title and series AD. TheAD I colors

are a black and off-white. The design is a very simple geometric onebut yet complementing the movement of the lines in the fabric. We

have quilted in the ditch through the body and stippled quilted the

border.

Dimensions: Length - 73" (185 cms); Width 58" (147 cms). The size of this quilt is just about 29

square feet. It can be considered a lap or cot quilt, and could definitely be used as a large wall-hanging.


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AD II

Were really pleased with this quilt addition to our AD series.

Okay, we know its the second one but we portend that two

make a series. And here it is,AD II.

The fabric is the same as inAD I, African Drums. The colors

are black and off-white with two small squares of red. It is a

great compliment toAD I.

AD II is somewhat larger theAD I. The dimensions: Length - 75 (192 cms); Width 62 (159 cms).

This quilt may be measured as a lap quilt or a wall-hanging.


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Rainbow Glass

Rainbow Glass is our original design.

Can we claim complete originality? Heck no. We based theconstruction on Marian Eides stained glass window panel,

Abstract 33.

Most recently we have been working on a couple of new series,

one of which has been based on Frank Lloyd Wrights work and stained glass designs and elements. We

peruse the Internet at times and in one search we came upon the web site Glass By Design. In a review

of the work, we were very taken by one of their stained and leaded glass panels,Abstract 33. We

immediately thought that we would like to reproduce the similar concept in fabric and create a quilt.

We contacted Marian Eide at Glass by Design, in Bryan, Texas, and asked if we could use the design ofAbstract 33. Marian was very considerate and has allowed us to use their design to create our quilt.

The final dimensions ofRainbow Glass are: Length88 (224 cms); Width 72 (184 cms). It may

be considered as a full size quilt. The construction ofRainbow Glass is of various batique or batik style

and different fabrics. Our quilting is in-the-ditch.


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Patience

More than 190,000 quilting stitches later, our quilt, Patience, is

completed. This is the second completed quilt in our C&N

series.

The primary and outstanding appeal of the construction of

Patienceare the parallel quilting lines that are (0.64 cms)

apart. Patience's dimensions are Width62 (158 cms) and

Length80 (203 cms). On a quick calculation that means that

there are approximately 320 horizontal lines of quilting and each line is made up of about 594 stitches.

All these stitches make for a relatively trim and smart quilt.

Thanks to Sushma Patel-Bould for allowing us the opportunity for working and adapting her original

design. Sushmas quilt Bauhauswon the Quilt National 2003 Jurors Award of Merit. You can see

Sushmas Bauhaus Wall Hanging at her website Sushma Quilts.


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V-Bricks

The ideas for the design ofV-Bricks originate from three sources.

1. Some pictures of some Utility Quilts. The earliest exampleof a record that I can find of a Brick Quilt is about 1875.

2. From Kaffe Fassetts book Museum Quilts, Designs Inspiredby the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Taunton Press, CT, 2005 and

his Bricks Patchwork design.

3. The horizontal quilting technique used by Sushma Patel Bould in her Bauhaus design. As you cansee from close-up we decided to run the horizontal quilting perpendicular to the bricks. The

similar quilting in our Patience runs parallel to the rectangles.

The dimensions ofV-Bricks are: Length78 (198 cms) and Width 75(191 cms).


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Provence

We are pleased of our first quilt of our TayTow Series

Provence.

The intention ofProvence is based on the steadfast andtrue quilting pattern ofTrip Around

The World. We also borrowed the

construction idea from Blanche Young

and Dalene Young Stones book

Tradition With A Twist; C&T

Publishing, CA: 1996. The fabrics are a combination of 10.

This is a large quilt and its dimensions are: Length 98 (249 cms.) and Width 88

(224 cms.) It is made up of tons of small rectangles, each 3 (8.9 cms) by 1 (3.8

cms).

And just how did we come up with of our quilt, Provence? Mentally we envisioned

the colors of our fabrics and as always, we searched the Internet looking for some triggering ideas. We

came upon a picture image that seemed to capture that of which we were envisioning. The site, Tongue

in Check belongs to Corey Amaro. The above image, on the right, was photographed by Corey Amaro, of

three woman musicians in traditional costumes resting. It affirmed that we should name our quilt,

Provence.

Other quilts in our TayTow Series include: Caf au Lait; Bayberry; Tango 3; and Kanzashi.
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Caf au Lait

Caf au Laitis a sister quilt to our Provence. Both quilts

share the same fabrics. Caf au Laitis an adaptation of

Kaffe Fassetts Yellow Potpourridesign from his book

Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts, Abrams, New York,2010.

This is a sort of large quilt and may be considered as large

full-size and its dimensions are: Length102 (259 cms.)

and Width 70 (178 cms.).

Other quilts in our TayTow Series include: Provence; Bayberry; Tango 3; and Kanzashi.


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Kanzashi

The fifth quilt of our TayTow Series, Kanzashi, along

with the four others: Provence, Caf au Lait,

Bayberry, and Tango 3. All five were the culmination

of a challenge that we took on - Create as manyquilts from a given set of fabrics.

Our KanzashiQuilt is a design incorporating a

variation on a foundation 16 x 16 (40.6 cm x 40.6

cm) square that I had chanced upon. We found the

pattern for the square in Kumiko Sudos book East

Quilts West, published by The Quilt Digest Press; California in 1992. The authors explanation of Kanzashi

is a Girls Hair Decoration. Wikipedia states that "Kanzashi are hair ornaments used in traditional

Japanese hairstyles. Kanzashi were first used in Japan during the Jmon period. During that time, a

single thin rod or stick was considered to have mystical powers which could ward off evil spirits, sopeople would wear them in their hair." With this information we could only title our quilt, Kanzashi.

The dimensions of our Kanzashiare: Width61 (156 cms) and Length 68 (173 cms). Its

dimensions place this quilt in the category of a lap quilt. The backing fabric color is a smoky blue to

compliment the colors of the top. The quilting is in the form of continuous spirals possibly depicting the

swirls of long tresses.


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Nol Diptych

Nol Diptych is a result of the workings on a first draft for a commission that included the elements of

Op Art and geometrically straight lines. We liked what we had previously designed and thought that we

could do the same with some Christmas fabric. The two fabrics are Peace Love Faith in cream designed

for MMFab, Inc. and Marcus Fabrics Rustic Christmas Twinkle in red.

Thinking that it may be a nice idea to create a Christmas Wall Hanging instead of a quilt, we worked on a

simple checkerboard idea with the two fabrics. And not satisfied with only one hanging we then decided

to recreate a mirror image of the first. And Nol Diptych was generated.

Nol Diptych is a set of two panels. Each individual panel is 72 (182.9 cms) in length and 25 (65.4

cms) in width. We hand-stitched the binding of each panel and completed each with four loops at the

top on the back to allow many different means of hanging. And if one would like to join the two panels

together we have created three sets of ribbon-ties which all can be paired up and tied together from

panel-to-panel. Together the two panels are 72 (182.9 cms) in length and 51 (130.8 cms) wide.


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OP Ornament

This is the last quilt of our 2010 OP Nel Series, OP Ornament.

The design for OP Ornamentwas inspired from a piece entitled

Hypothesis Art From Pure Mathematics by Harvey Rayner that

we stumbled upon in our search for possible optical ideas for

our quilt series. His website is Root 2 ART: .

OP Ornamentbegins at the center of the quilt with four 9 by 9 (23.5 cms by 24.76 cms) almost-

squares. The four corner squares are at about by (1.9 cms by 1.9 cms). Thats right; the four

corner squares are small. They are about 0.6%, that is, less than 1%, the size of the center almost-

squares. Excluding the binding and the backing, there are 960 squares and rectangles all pieced

together. The dimensions of OP Ornament are: Length - 68" (172.7 cms); Width - 77" (196.8 cms).

This quilt was a challenge for us especially as we wanted it to create some form of optical illusion while

keeping to the elements of our Holiday Series.


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Coral Steps

Our 81st Quilt is Coral Steps. Three fabrics; a simple,

geometric design; and variegated thread

Coral Steps, our adaptation of a design by Yoshiko

Jinzenji, is complete with the dimensions of Width 66

(168.9 cms) and Length 87 (221 cms). The coral

pink, deep red, and centers of yellow are set in a lacy

background of floral white and beige. The khaki tone of

the backing provides juxtaposition between the colors

and shades of the top.

The construction ofCoral Stepsis made up of two size pieces; 759 2 (5.1 cms) by 4 (10.2 cms)

rectangles and 46 2 (5.1 cms) by 2 (5.1 cms) squares. This is double the size of Yoshiko Jinzenjis

original design. Our Coral Steps is a smidgen larger than a twin size quilt.

Coral Steps took a 1st

Place Award at HQMS 2011 in Salt Lake City. Check out our derivative, Dogwood

Steps, now in a Private Collection in New York, which can be seen in our Grid portfolio at our site Quilts

SB.


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Mauk I

Mauk I, is the first of our Escher Series. Mauk I, formerly

known as Escher I is our first challenge into the world of

Tessellation Quilting. The new title is not intended to be a play-

on flight as we envision the flock or school of birds or fish,respectively. Mauk was Eschers nickname.

Mauk I is effectively a square quilt with equal Length and

Width dimensions of 78 (198 cms). The basic construction is a

long-standing quilt block pattern called Arabic Lattice. The earliest use of the Arabic Lattice in a quilt,

that we found, is a quilt dating circa 1850. We have used four fabrics.


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Born This Way

Born This Way's dimensions are: Width - 31 (78.7 cms) by Length - 45 (114.3

cms) and the top is seven batique cotton fabrics. The batique colors are beige,

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Born This Wayis an inspiration from the works of fabric artist Yoshiko Jinzenji.

The top is constructed of 791 beige and 58 colored rectangles. Each rectangle,

including seam allowance is 1 (3.8 cms) by 2 (6.4 cms).

And yes, the title of this new wall hanging has credit to a certain Lady Gaga.


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Twisted Basket

Our Quilt Twisted Basket is something different.

We have adapted and based our Twisted Basketon KimberlyEinmos Braided Links design from her book Jelly Roll Quilts &

More, AQS 2010. The multi-colored fabrics included are from

a Moda Dream On Jelly Roll designed by Urban Chiks. The

sashing and the backing are of two complimentary fabrics of

light yellow/beige and of an olive green with white polka dots. The sashing is called Squares on Point as

presented in Janet Kimes book The Border Workbook, AQS, 1997.

The construction ofTwisted Basketis a variation on a Log Cabin block. Per Kimberly This Log Cabin

block variation begins in the corner instead of the center of the block We created 30 blocks and

rotated each adjoining block by 90.

We added the effect of the sashing bordering the blocks to give a woven basket effect. Our quilting is a

play on horizontal, vertical, and radiating lines.


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Civil War Re-Enactment I or CWR I

Civil War Re-Enactment I, or CWR I for short, is sort of a labor of

history and a work of care and regard. CWR I is our original

design, but it is a compilation of parts and constructions that

have existed for years, and could be credited, all-things-being-equal to the Civil War era and times.

Our first intent was to create a reproduction of a quilt that was

made and produced about the time of the great event. In our

research and search for actual designs that may have been constructed during that time frame, there

appears to be a very small number in safe-keeping. Many were destroyed, and many were used to cover

up casualties and subsequently were buried with the soldiers' remains. The number of quilts that were

made during the War has been estimated in about 150,000 to 250,000. We suppose an actual figure

may never be known. Many more were made after as commemorative.

Our first goal was to find material that may be close to and may be claimed as a reproduction of Civil

War Era fabric. The fabrics that are used in the construction of the top are two by Judie Rothermel for

Moda Fabrics Presents The Civil War Chronicles. The third is by Sara Morgan for Bluehill Fabrics, the Civil

War Era C.1865.

The back fabric is a roll of cotton fabric that we discovered and thought it should be used to compliment

the top. The final dimensions of our CWR I are: Length 86 ( cms); and Width 69 ( cms). It is a wee bit

smaller than the proposed dimensions for a Double-sized quilt but somewhat larger than the

recommended Civil War Cot-size requirements.

Check out the quilting. We based the focus of the quilting on the Baptist, or Methodist Fan style as what

appears to have been one of the techniques of quilting used during that time period. Oh and by the way,

there are approximately 104,000 stitches in the quilting.


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Tetrishead

Tetrisheadis the first of our new Cathedral Windows Series. Our

intention with the design of our Cathedral Windows Series is to see how

we can push and play with fabric and thread to give the viewer that

element of memory, time, and space.

The inspiration of Zo Keatings moving cello composition Tetrisheadwas

the inspiration for the title. We adapted the arrangement for our

Cathedral Windows based on English graphic designer Gary Clarke,

whose nom de plume is Graphic Nothing.

The dimensions ofTetrisheadare: Width39 ( cms); Length 48 ( cms). The majority of 100% cotton

fabrics were designed by Katie PM for Marcus Brothers Textiles. The separating grey cloud fabric is a

product of Timeless Treasures Fabrics. Our quilting includes three stylings; horizontal lines in each of the

rectangles and squares; an accented quilting of highlighting the clouds; and a subtle connection of the

actual window.


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MEM911

MEM911, our second endeavor of our Cathedral Windows Series, is our thoughts in commemoration ofthe 10th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Tragedy. Our Quilt and Wall Hanging is not intended to

be a reproduction of the tragedy and horrific devastation, but a quiet memory. A quiet and ethereal

portrayal of an event that has been etched in the minds of millions; an incident that should never be

forgotten.

The abstract and graphic representation of the Cathedral Window is a focus of our reflection. This is a

generation of rising shades of fabrics in the clouds underlining the glass and metal of the Twin Towers.

The beige fabric is the structure and strength that hold together all these thoughts and memories. The

patterned squares in the horizontal cuts of the colored fabrics represent the windows and the many

lives lost and those affected.

If you look closely at the quilting you will see an impression in thread of the Twin Towers. We wanted

the memory to be engraved in both the clouds and the patterns of the fabrics.

The dimensions ofMEM911 are: Width39 (99 cms); Length 48 (122 cms). The 100% cotton check

fabrics were designed by Michael Miller. The separating grey cloud fabric is a product of Timeless

Treasures Fabrics. Our quilting includes three stylings; horizontal lines in each of the rectangles and

squares; an accented quilting of highlighting the clouds; and vertical and horizontal lines representing

the Twin Towers.


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Colored Windows II

What is 498882? This is not a code. It is not a location anywhere in this world. There are 498882 stitches

in the quilting of our new quilt, Colored Windows II. This is our 88th Quilt. Colored Windows II, aka

Coloured Windows II north of the border, is our newest addition to our Rainbow Glass Series.

The 498882 count does not include the stitching of the fabric pieces or the hand-binding of the border.

498882 stitches equal to over 6,000 yards of thread. Thats just about 3.41 miles; or 5.49 kilometers of

thread. And the color is Butter Rum.

Colored Windows II is our adaptation of Amy Walsh's pattern, Rear Window, inspired by Alfred

Hitchcocks movie. We have used three primary- and three secondary-colored batik fabrics, as well as a

black one to create the shades of all the windows. Four beige-to-brown fabrics were incorporated to

generate the window frames, the brick wall, the backing, and the binding. The quilting incorporates both

free-motion stippling and cobble stone, and linear techniques.

Colored Windows II is 60% plus larger than our first Colored Windows. The dimensions ofColored

Windows II are: Length 109 inches; 277 centimeters, and Width 75 inches; 191 centimeters. This is

just somewhat larger than a standard Queen-size quilt.

Colored Windows IIreceived a Judges Award at MQX, West 2011 in Portland, Oregon. Thank you Scott

Murkin. And most recently our Colored Windows II was featured in the April/May 2012 issue ofQuilters

Newsletter.


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Blue Diamonds

Blue Diamonds is our original design inspired by Paul Klees

1923 painting Twin Tents. It is currently in the Angela

Rosengart Collection in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The top is composed of 63 blue diamonds. Each diamond is

unique and has its own disposition on an individual

complimentary background. Horizontal and parallel lines, as

well as the border diamonds were purposely composed to

highlight the impact of the rarity of blue diamonds.

The composition of the top of Blue Diamonds is comprised of

1,890 single pieces. To create the mirror imaging there are 945

pairs. Each one of the 63 blocks is not, and I repeat not, a duplicate of each other. Hence there is one

heck of a lot more time involved determining the color and shade combinations and mirror imaging for,

and cutting and sewing each block.

Blue Diamonds is also a matrix construction of batik fabric of 7 blocks wide and 9 blocks in length. The

dimensions are: Length70 (179.1 cms); Width 58 (147.3 cms).

The quilting alone of Blue Diamonds took about 110 hours. We wanted the quilting to highlight and

reflect the essence of the Blue Diamonds from the explosion of the small diamonds in the four corners

to the line-up of those on the three borders, and to the reflection of the spirit of the facets of a cut

diamond in each of the 63 blocks.

Evolution- A Quilt Experience - MQX 2012

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