Today I started quilting the Synesthetic Alphabet quilt, but I want to step back and talk a bit more about the piecing of the quilt top. Piecing this quilt top was another great learning experience for my husband and I. I had a plan to randomly place the letter “blocks” within each gradated background block. After I made the first two (“A” and “B”), I asked for feedback from my husband. It turns out that objects that are important or that are sharply in focus hang out in the middle to lower portion of space for him. As things become unimportant or if they are hard to define, they float up in space. I tried to keep that in mind as I worked on the blocks. If my husband had previously descibed the letter as ‘shy’ or if it was difficult for him to select a precise color, I tried to move the block a bit higher in space.
Synesthetic Alphabet – Pieced Top
After the piecing was done and we stepped back from the quilt, I was pleased to see how the extra shading really made the colored letter blocks have a 3D feel. I was starting to also be a bit nervous about the fact that the letters are represented as 3D blocks and not the shape of the letter itself. My husband, however, reassured me that this is a pretty good representation of what he “sees”. The letters are 3D objects with color and a 3D effect being the most important. It takes him a lot of effort to see the shape of the letter or sometime even the exact color of the letter.
I am also really pleased with how your eye jumps around if you try to track quickly across the alphabet. Reading is very difficult for my husband because of this visualization for him, and I was happy that the placement of blocks and selection of color gradation alternation worked to create a similar effect.
Last night, we talked about how I plan to do the quilting. My husband and I quickly agreed that outlining the letter blocks with dense quilting all around will help enhance the 3D effect by allowing them to pop and puff up a bit more. He also requested “robot” as the quilting pattern. So with that in mind, I got started today.
Synesthetic Alphabet – Pin Basting
Synesthetic Alphabet – Quilting Detail (Front)
I have a little over half of the quilting to complete, but I can already see that the colored letter blocks are starting to pop and puff up. I am really happy with how my machine is working today, too, now that I am keeping the stitch length a bit shorter. Yay!
Synesthetic Alphabet – Quilting Detail (Back)
I am using a variegated black and white thread for the top and a variegated multicolored pastel thread for the back. This quilt really has been an amazing process, and I love getting to know a bit more about the inner workings of my husband’s mind as I am creating it. 🙂
Linking up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
That’s a FANTASTIC Quilt! The shading is so gorgeous!
Wonderful! What a fascinating collaboration and visually striking piece of work–the quilt is going to be absolutely stunning when it’s finished.
Wow, what great quilting! I was wondering what ‘robotic’ would look like and I think you’ve nailed it! The contrast on that quilt is really nice too!
Okay, this is really amazing!! What a very cool process! Fascinating, and beautifully executed!
How interesting! So he see’s shades, not shapes and do you find that the vowels stand out more in your quilt or are more centred in their blocks because of this? I love how people’s minds work. The quilting is coming along really well, are you doing it on a domestic machine? Actually I noticed you had a post on FMQ troubleshooting so I’ll pop there and take a look-see.
truly amazing–from start to well, finish! At least almost finished. Love it completely!
That is an impressive quilt. The quilting really show off the colors. Well done!!
I really don’t have anything to add to what has already been said. . . I’m just going to sit here and stare at it for awhile – amazing. The quilt and your description of your process and placement and how your husband thinks. Wow.
The quilting is perfect! This is coming together beautifully!
I just read the intro post to this quilt, and think it’s such a cool idea! I really like how the quilting complements the pattern as well. And it’s awesome that you guys are collaborating on this project! Can’t wait to see how it finishes!
this is a really neat quilt, and I love reading about the process!
Ir’s striking how you’ve captured another way of “seeing” and used a visual medium to communicate it to the world. Very effective!
It is looking absolutely fabulous! Love it!
The quilting is PERFECT for this quilt and this is absolutely stunning! And I’m a sucker for variegated thread 🙂
I love this so much! And I don’t even have a clue what it is…