Quilt Designing By Code

Material Mavens 'mystery' challenge was due May 15th, and this was my response. The design creation is explained in my post on the Material Maven's blog.

"Mystery By Design"  (12" square)

Creating a coded alphabet where each letter is assigned a specific line shape, enables the quilter to 'write' a design for any word or words.  Shown below are photos of my first three art quilts using this design method.  I focused on black, white and one color.  The design for each was formed by the lines that spell out word (yellow, green, red) for that particular color in each quilt.

"Not So Mellow Yellow"  (12" square)

"Irish Jig" (12" square)

"Crosswalk" (12" square)

My intent with the three color quilts was to choose fabrics and patterns that would emphasize the theme, show texture and require stabilizing stitch work only.  With the mystery quilt, solid fabrics served best as the backdrop for texture produced by excessive free-motion machine quilting. 

What intrigues me the most with this process is how interconnecting lines, through repetition, form interesting shapes.  My curved lines create movement.  Straight lines would depict an entirely different appearance.  At some point I would like to experiment with a mixed alphabet of curves and straight lines and re-size the letters larger.