This quilt is my entry for Project Modern: Challenge 4: find your own voice. It was inspired by a large metal silo at a farm that is about ten miles from my house. I’m sure I’ve seen that silo hundreds of times before, but one day a couple of months ago I saw something new in it as we drove by.
Luckily my husband was at the wheel, so I grabbed my sketchbook and drew out a quick plan. There was just something about the linear repetition of the grooves of steel and the grid that each tier of metal makes that caught my eye. This quilt is my interpretation of it.
For this project I used three solid colors of woven cotton: cream, pale blue, and a warm gray.
I really liked how the colors worked together, and the combination reminded me of how the silo looks at dusk, when the entire structure seems to glow in the setting sun.
The large and small pieced rectangles are made up of bands of cream and blue, and the thin gray strips represent the grid work.
I used cream for the binding so that it would not interfere with the design of the quilt top.
While the design of front of the quilt is very regular and structured, the back was designed entirely improvisationally.
I used some leftover sections of the blocks from the front and added some scraps and bits of fabrics, and I pieced them all together with more cream fabric.
The quilt measures 64” x 67”. It is heavily quilted with horizontal straight lines to repeat the design of the front, as well as the grooves of metal on the silo.
I feel like this quilt is truly a reflection of my voice as a modern quilter. I’m often inspired by everyday places and things that most of us wouldn't even notice, and I’m always excited by the challenge to translate that inspiration into my work.
I feel like this quilt is truly a reflection of my voice as a modern quilter. I’m often inspired by everyday places and things that most of us wouldn't even notice, and I’m always excited by the challenge to translate that inspiration into my work.
