The Inspiration behind The Inspiration

Back in May I blogged here about a quilt I was working on that was made up of 1600 2-inch squares. At that time the top was finished, but hadn't been quilted. I finished the quilt, but never got around to posting pictures of it here. And meanwhile, just the other day I learned something very interesting that really enhanced -- for me -- the meaning of this quilt.

To recap: Last summer I saw this graphic that was to be used as the logo for my professional association during the 2010/2011 year:


To put it simply, I fell in love with it and became obsessed with using it as the basis for a quilt. I received permission from AALL to exhibit any quilt I would make (as long as they received credit) and they went so far as to ask me to bring it to Philadelphia last weekend for our annual meeting. Ouch. That meant I had a deadline. I worked like a dog for 6 weeks from Easter through the first week of June to finish it.

Here is the finished quilt. You can see that I tweaked the design a little by making it square and reversing the colors so it would read (left to right) hot to cold.


My quilt was displayed for 3 days in the back of the Hospitality Booth. The picture isn't perfect, so click on it to see the large version. See how nicely it blends in? I was delighted, to put it mildly. My ego was well and truly stroked as I received one compliment after another.


I have to say I got quite a kick out of seeing the graphic behind the logo displayed everywhere in the convention center. The signage, banners, ID badges, and publications were all plastered with the graphic.

AALL's graphic was designed in-house. While I was at the conference, a conversation with an AALL member from Philadelphia revealed that the designer was directly inspired by the mosaics that decorate the Market St. train station downtown. I made a point of catching my train to the airport from this station so I could snap some pictures. I was amazed to discover that many of the colors that appear in these mosaics are very similar to those that appear in the logo and, of course, my quilt. The logo designer did a fabulous job.




You've got to love a city that believes in art in public places. And see how art inspires more art?

Comments

  1. Beautiful! I love your quilts and it's inspiration! The mosiacs are amazing too thanks for sharing the pictures!

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  2. Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed the mosaics, too!

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  3. Oh, my, my, my... Phil! That is a gorgeous quilt. I wish I could see the details better in the picture. The quilt looked gorgeous on display! And I love, love the mosaics in that train station. Gorgeous, just like the city.

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  4. Thanks, Hilcia. I should have made sure that the booth picture was better, but I didn't. Oh well. And aren't those mosaics cool? I had no idea...

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  5. Phyl, my apologies for not keeping in better touch with you this summer. I am trying to do a major catch up with everyone!!

    I'm so glad I peeked back into July posts, because this one is SO AWESOME!!! WOW!! Just. .. wow. I'm so proud of you and of course, as always, utterly impressed and in awe of your craftsmanship and creativity! SO AWESOME!! :D

    Congrats to you. :D

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  6. Hey you world traveler, you! No worries, I'm glad whenever you can stop by. And thank you for the lovely words about this quilt. I have to admit, I'm very proud of it :-)

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