Needle Gypsies: On the Road to Stitchy Inspiration

Jake’s favorite picture of the many taken was from Ellis Island and was shot with an iPhone 5S. The perspective of this shot, along with the color and the woman in the shot wearing a bright red coat brought everything together. The inspiration takeaway here is found in the colors–using one bright to focus in on the rest. The literal takeaway can be found in the building’s windows. They look like quilt blocks!

This picture was taken at the Museum of Tolerance in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the history of the Holocaust, the museum’s design enhanced the seriousness of its subject. Industrial beams, brick walls and dark neutrals all added to the somber emotional response the visitors came away with. The spark of inspiration comes from the lesson on how the pieces and details enhance the overall experience, something that can be applied to quilt design as well. The literal takeaway is found in the lines and angles. The sharp, intersecting lines can be used in our quilting and fabric placement.

While at the Kennedy Center for a play, this artwork was part of a series that lined the hallways. What you see here are layers of clear acrylic sheets fused together to make a large, three-dimensional rectangle. Between each layer of acrylic the artist used different media to build human figures. This one used flowers and paint. When looked at from the side. the image is lost. But from any other angle, there is a depth to the figure. What inspires here is the use of one object to create a completely different object through color and shape placement (the flowers into a human). The layers also inspire our work to be more dimensional. The literal takeaway is found in the size of the piece–perfect for a quilt.

Larger image of the Kennedy Center art.

The needlepoint pillows on their chairs.

One of dozens of needlepoint pillows used at the National Cathedral on chairs. Each is unique and represents a U.S. concept or moment in history. What inspires about these that each is a heartfelt rendition of an important concept. Adding words to our stitching lets our work speak about life and those things most important to us. The literal takeaway here is that while each pillow shares the same color schemes and red background, each is also made independent through its topic, much like a sampler quilt.

One of the many stained glass windows installed in the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. This one tells some of the Old Testament stories to visitors. The primary colors and the shapes used to create each picture is easily translatable into quilting. The literal takeaway is how to use our art to tell our stories.

Another window from the National Cathedral, this reminds us quilters immediately of a Dresden Plate pattern. Again the colors are what we find inspirational. The blues are so strong that they stand out in the sunlight. The literal takeaway here is that we can explore taking a foundational shape or pattern–the Dresden Plate in this case–and break it into something more complex.

One of the tunnels in Central Park teaches a lesson in perspective. With the shadows blacking out most of the images, the tunnel’s opening becomes mysterious, magical and elegant. We’re inspired by the idea of creating a focal point in our designs with the replication of light. The literal takeaway here is the shape of the tunnel’s opening. It’s not round, as most tunnels are. It’s slightly peaked, like might seen in ancient Persia.

Central Park again. The carved cut-outs in the short wall are perfectly adaptable to quilt blocks!

One of the atriums in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts gives us new ideas of what a grid should look like.

Another shot from inside the Met, this hallway teaches a great lesson on the use of white space. The art on the walls shares equal billing with the architecture. The literal takeaway is that color can often be better highlighted by the absence of color in other areas. Texture can rule the day.