Friday, January 27, 2017

Friday Finish: Briar Rosary

The story of this quilt began back in 2013 when Amy from Diary of a Quilter invited me to design a block for a series she was running called the Virtual Quilting Bee (the series is available here).

There were 16 designers and we each had to come up with a block, and then make it in both solids and prints.
The block I designed is called Chiral Music (named by our son, Aaron), a rather quirky name. I had texted him a picture of the block and said I felt it needed a better name than "In and Out" or "Hello-Goodbye," and he immediately texted back "chiral." I wondered if he had meant "choral" because I had never heard of the term "chiral." He said that chiral refers to a molecule that appears to be a mirror image but actually is not exactly superimposable (he knows a lot of scientific information). I liked the name a lot, and added "music" as kind of a play on words since I had originally thought he meant "choral."

I really liked the block. It is basically just a 9-patch, with a frame, and finishes at 8"x8". I had a fat quarter stack of Heather Ross's line, Briar Rose, so I made another Chiral Music block.
Then I decided to play around with it, basically turning the four sets of half-square triangles in a different direction, and came up with this block.
 At about the same time, I had a stack of Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics in beautiful blues and greens. I made a quilt to submit to Modern Patchwork for possible publication and it looked like this. I really liked the graphic element of the chain seeming to connect the blocks together, and named it Chain Link.
After all these years, I have finally completed the version done with the Briar Rose fabrics. I thought of beads on a string, and named it Briar Rosary.
The one Chiral Music block was added to the back.
I love the way the quilt turned out, and it was beautifully quilted by Darby.


Name:  Briar Rosary
Quilt Size: 40" x 40"
Block Size: 8" x 8"
Designed and Made by: Cindy Wiens
Quilted by: Darby Myers

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF, Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Have a lovely weekend.

14 comments:

05 08
SarahZ said... #

Oh I love this! I really enjoy hearing the progression, and learning "chiral"...very useful! Two very beautiful quilts!

Robby said... #

It's a great quilt, all the more so for such an interesting etymology (if that can be applied to quilts). And now I need to figure out how to fit "chiral" into a conversation today. I live with a scientist, so maybe that will be easier than it sounds.

Mad Cat Quilts said... #

Lovely quilt. I really like the original block! Can't wait to try it!

Kris said... #

What a fun mix of patterns. Makes me think of spring

Lucy | Charm About You said... #

Stunning!! Such a great story behind it and I love the blocks with those chains. Fab name too!

Anonymous said... #

What a cool block--and a really interesting layout. Love it!

Susan said... #

Lovely story! Great to hear how this quilt evolved!

Needled Mom said... #

It's beautiful, Cindy!

travelinsewl said... #

This science nerd likes the Chiral name. (Think right or left handed)

Vera said... #

Cool! So interesting to see the change in this block. Well done!

OPQuilt said... #

Great history of two inter-linked quilts. I love how different fabrics can change up a quilt's look...well done!!!

Mary Marcotte said... #

It's interesting to see what a few minor changes can do to a block and to a quilt. Your changes really add some fun to the mix! (I'd never heard or seen the word chiral before.)

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

Love how you played with the design. Small changes can have such a big impact on the overall look. Nicely done.

Anonymous said... #
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