Friday, February 3, 2012

abstract mini inspired by Yoshiko Jinzenji

Hello, happy Friday!!!

As promised, I'm back with part 2 of yesterday's post. I've had this book by Yoshiko Jinzenji Quilting Line + Color for quite a while now and have really admired her wonderfully modern quilts, but that was it. Just admiring, not knowing hot to produce anything even remotely similar to those minimalist and very sophisticated quilts.

Then, a few nights ago, I was desperately looking for some inspiration. I wanted to make a mini quilt, prompted by the Modern Mini Challenge launched by Ellison Lane Quilts, and I wanted to try something new.

I pulled Yoshiko's book out of my bookshelf and decided to give it a try - she uses a lot of white, and her quilts have tons of negative space. I did not really have fabrics like the ones she used, so I decided to improvise. I found out that if you cut large scale fabric into much smaller pieces you can end up with some pretty cool abstract looking patterns. Here is what I came up with.


I just used scraps of fabric from some of my previous projects. I limited my color palette to lime green, yellow, white, and some touches black. Yoshiko recommends using more shades of white to bring depth and dimension to the finished quilt. That's just what I did, I used Kona white for some of the squares as well as the sashing and the border. I also used some Kona ivory and a slightly different shade of white in my patterned fabrics.

I cut my fabric into 2.5" squares and decided to go with a very skinny, 1/4" sashing in between the squares. That did turn out pretty tricky, as I had to be very precise with my seams, but I think it was well worth it at the end.

I decided to go with straight line quilting 1/4" apart to give this mini an extra touch of  movement and texture. I added A Kona white binding  and that's it, it was all done. It definitely was not as quick of a project as I thought at first. I did, however, enjoy it very much and I'm sure I'll be making something similar, just bigger, soon. Of course, I will not be quilting a large quilt sewing straight lines every 1/4". That would border on insane, right? Maybe every 1/8"???? Just kidding!!


How about you, have you been trying any new techniques or designs lately?

Svetlana
 

17 comments:

  1. Looks so fresh and fantastic. Am using the straight line quilting on a big quilt at the moment...taking a lot of time but is worth it at the end.

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  2. Love it!!! The colors are so fresh and clean and I love all of the white! The quilting is awesome too, that was a lot of work! :)
    I'd love to do something new but I have so many WIP's right now that I have to finish first.

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  3. I absolutely love this! I'm a big fan of Jinjenzi too and have been wondering how to make something inspired by her work. Yours is just perfect!

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  4. Love it. Your color choices are perfect.

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  5. Love your quilt and the colors and fabrics you used. I've seen that book and always wanted to make something like she does. You have done it! It's beautiful. I love straight line quilting too. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  6. wow! the quilting is spectacular too!

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  7. Maravilloso trabajo!!!
    Me agradan mucho los colores empleados y el acolchado en línea recta.
    Gracias por la inspiración!!

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  8. Oh this is fab, you should totally enter it!

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  9. Wonderful quilt, mad quilting. Is the book a good one?

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  10. Very cool! That 1/4" quilting gives a great effect, doesn't it?

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  11. Absolutely love this. I too have had Yoshiko's book for some time but I am not yet brave enough to go where you have gone. I think now I may try something. Thanks so much.

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  12. I totally love this! It is wonderful and you have inspired me to read my copy of the book again.

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  13. This is exactly the style I love! Forms, colors, so simple and fresh .. just stunning!

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  14. this is so effective. I love the tiny sashing!

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