Els Mommers – Squares
Back to Square One
I really wanted this quilt to be colourful and chose to use my own hand-dyed fabrics for it. I fused them, started cutting squares and overlapped them in a nice colour scheme. After very lightly fusing the seams, I did cut away all the overlapping pieces at the back so the quilt stayed very thin and flat. I then fused the whole piece together.
My idea was to play with all kind of thin lines to make squares on top. That was when the struggle started. Whatever I did I was not satisfied. I have been trying thin, thick, black, white, red, green and yellow lines in all kind of variations, but I couldn’t make up my mind. Nothing was really appealing to me.
When the deadline came closer, the English saying “back to square one” kept coming up in my mind and that is what I did. I really went back to my very first design that consisted of two simple linear black squares and fused them on top.
The large square is quilted in small chess-pattern squares, in the opposite direction to the background to get some more tension in the whole piece. The small square, on the other hand, is quilted in bubbles. For this quilting monofilament yarn is used, to not distract the attention from the coloured background. The background is quilted in the ditch of the squares with different colours polyester thread. The piece is finished with a very small black binding to visually connect it with the black lines of the squares.
The whole “struggle” can be seen on my blog: http://kunamola.blogspot.com
Details:
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
Els, it was your blog post that lead me to explore all the work in this theme. I enjoyed reading about your process and the various auditions you made before you decided to ‘go back to square one’. I really like this piece!
The black squares give it so much movement and perspective. I love it…
Els, square one is a good one to go back to, but I also liked square five, ha, ha. You could make a series of 10 of this design. I love your colored background and also the checkerboard quilting.
Going back to square one was a good idea ! I had a look on your blog and saw different possibilities, this one is the one I prefer !
And I really like your colour combination, it is you !
A wonderful combination of colors and you’ve found the right touch to insert the squares.Well done.
As Chantal said this is you with these vibrant colours. I love the two black squares that you have added, a lovely touch.
I am so glad you went back to the black squares it create great contrast and movement. Stunning
A really nice quilt Els , with all the coloured squares and the the accent in black. Love the way you quilted it.
Beautiful colours. I like the offset quilted chequerboard too. Lovely.
The design is the perfect vehicle to display your hand-dyed fabrics. The vivid colours you selected are effective together, and you effectively morphed each colour into the next colour section without any harsh lines or breaks….a very difficult thing to do. Your sense of colour really came out in this piece. The very narrow binding was the perfect choice to offset the thin black squares.
The colours in your piece are glorious, and your design certainly shows the care you have taken in choosing it. The black really does work against the rainbow background, and the way you have quilted it gives the right level of texture and interest. Well done
Very different interpretation. Modern and beautifully done!
A rainbow of color with a splash of black adds interest and dimension and the binding brings it all together. Love it Els!