Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Stuff I liked at FNF 1

I'm sorry that my hometown quilt show, "Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie" closed last week so my posts don't have a chance of luring you to see it.  Because of travel and illness I wasn't able to see the show until late in its run but still wanted to share some more of the quilts that I liked.

Martha Hall, Double Talk

Anybody who likes pieced quilts has already had the fleeting thought, upon seeing the Quick Response codes, "that looks kind of like a quilt!"  You can't look at these intricate compositions of squares and rectangles without thinking of how easy it would be to translate them into quilts. 

And many people have already translated those fleeting thoughts into quilts.  Some have done a much better job of it than others, and I award my personal prize to Martha Hall as the best QR quilt I've ever seen.  It will be hard for anybody else to top this one.

First, because she's translated the black and white code into a lovely color palette.  Second, because she has cleverly incorporated a bunch of smaller QR arrays into her larger composition which you can't see till you get up close.  (I love details that are revealed at close viewing.)

Third, because her quilting complements the design well, evoking circuits and connections.

Fourth, because there's a secret -- if you use your fancyfone to read each of the little QRs, they give you a bunch of "QR" phrases.

And finally, though I know it's gauche to admit it, I give extra points to quilts that are technically correct.  (Guess that makes me #14, a Qualified Rube.)  This one lies perfectly flat on the wall, and the complex piecing never loses its straight lines and square corners, which is a lot harder than it looks.

Martha, thanks for making a quilt that gave me a great deal of pleasure to look at!

1 comment:

  1. Your welcome, Kathleen!
    And thank you for your kind words about my quilt. Yes, I do read your blog, but had not seen this post yet. A friend sent me the link and I was stunned! I'm delighted that you liked my QR quilt. Thanks for the technical points too. Although not everyone agrees, I am personally a stickler for quality technique, so I do strive for that in my own work.
    I hadn't realized that the gallery provided a 'translation'.

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