Tuning Forks #11 -- Bloggers Quilt Festival

For the last three years, I have been exploring the tuning fork motif.  I love to interlock them, elongate them, scrunch them up, flip them around, explode them...Ok, I admit it, I'm obsessed.

The latest finished product of my obsession is Tuning Fork #11.  I was really driven to finish this quilt -- we had visitors coming and I was so wrapped up in sewing that I was afraid it would haunt me if I didn't finish before they arrived.  It would be dreadful if I started to resent family members for taking up my valuable sewing time.  The best way for me to prevent that is to have an empty design wall during the visit.  So I planned the layout and sewed it in two weeks, and then quilted it and faced it after they left town.

Tuning Fork #11, 53" x 79"
I usually start a quilt with a basic format in mind.  My first thought was that I would make a red and gray quilt.  I love red.  And I wanted to grade the background from light at the top to dark at the bottom.  I also wanted to more or less grade the motif sizes from small to large, although a few small forks snuck into the bottom sections and several pesky large forks wound up closer to the top.  And I decided that the top left should be very low contrast, very mushy.  I wanted to run the red "texture" section, that is the section with smallest blocks,  from the top  right to the bottom center.  And I would place a few rogue red tuning forks in the gray sections.


I quilted TF #11 with medium gray thread in vertical lines.  In places the lines are less than 1/8" apart.  The largest spaces between the lines are probably 3/8".  I like the texture that closely quilted lines give a quilt, and I love to create a rhythm by varying the width of the spaces between lines.

I've linked this post to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.


See the Blogger's Quilt Festival Art Quilts here and vote for your favorite!

Comments

Sewfrench said…
This is fantastic! So cool, I love everything about it. It reminds me of something that has been floating around in my brain for a while now. Outstanding!
Stunning piece! The quilting in straight lines is so effective and I LUV your choice of colors.
best, nadia
This quilt is stunning! Thanks so much for sharing as part of the festival, I look forward to seeing more of your work :) I'll be following along :)
nicole said…
Love the movement in this quilt!
And the quilting is fantastic :)
Jaye said…
Great...have fun in Ohio...learn a lot!!!!
this is an incredible quilt.
CitricSugar said…
This is absolutely stunning!! Wow -I've bookmarked it for inspiration. I love it.
Rachaeldaisy said…
Love this!! As soon as I read tuning fork I started hearing the sounds they make so you've made a quilt that captures sound as well as being visually stunning.
Jenny Wren said…
How cool is this! Love it
!
M-R Charbonneau said…
Oh, how I love this quilt! The colours, the value placement, the quilting. Really beautiful!
Kelly said…
This is such awesomesauce! What detail to piecing and I love the concentration of color radiating out into grey! Three cheers for a job totally well done! I love this quilt and I've pinned it to my "Quilty Goodness" board on Pinterest (with proper credit, of course!). Feel free to follow me if you'd like: http://pinterest.com/lipglass/quilty-goodness/
Martine Kuciel said…
quelle œuvre magnifique!
Camilla said…
this gets my vote in this category! I also thought that the colours and narrow and wide areas of colour might represent the sound waves when a tuning fork is twanged!?
Vivian said…
I like this and it's an approach I never would have thought of. Great way to do a color study, really gives me something to think about.
straythreads said…
It just vibrates!! Beautiful
jeifner said…
I saw the thumbnail and was hoping this was a tuning forks quilt. I'm obsessed with them too. I love them! If you make them forever I'll be so happy.
Richard Healey said…
You are our LAFF winner.
Kitty said…
I really really love this quilt! The colors and flow and tuning forks!! Would you mind if I share a photo of this quilt (linked to your blog of course) in one of my blog posts? I'm pairing wine and fabric, and this time, pairing Tremolo wine with sound-themed quilts. Thank you in advance! kitty (dot) wilkin (at) gmail