Window - A Four in Art mini quilt

Here is Window. She is a 12" mini quilt that I made for the Four in Art challenge theme urban structures. I picked this theme and then was stumped as to what structure I wanted to be inspired by. In the end, she was inspired by the windows at the City Hall building in my city.



The back of Window is more what I had first thought to make, but my vision of a skyline inspired quilt needed a bigger surface than 12" square. So I used this print instead for the back, to incorporate my favourite urban structures, which are the massive towers of the urban downtown.



As I drove and walked about the city thinking about this theme, I looked at all kinds of urban structures, towers, houses, libraries, hospitals, walkways, bridges, the subway/LRT, even the electrical and waterworks. When I wondered about what was common to all of them, I realized it was the windows.



No matter how utilitarian, our urban structures have windows. People use and operate the structures, and we like to see in and out of them. The structures might be made of concrete, brick, glass, steel, and they may stand for hundreds of years, but they are fundamentally for people.



This photo is by Marcia O'Connor from Flickr, click it to go to her photostream

Last week I was walking through City Hall (click here to view many pictures of this wonderful building, it has many beautiful structural features), which is a building I love. I especially love the windows, which are captured beautifully in the photo above that I borrowed from Flickr. When I sat down to make Window, I was inspired by those windows.

I see that my quilt reversed the slant of the windows, which is because I notice them more when I am inside the building looking out and I was working from memory not a photo when I made the quilt. This building has a pyramid and other beautiful outside structures that tend to capture more of my attention when I am outside.



Of course I quilted her heavily with a bright yellow thread. I auditioned a number of bindings but decided to return to the sunny yellow. I used yellow in the windows because to me windows are all about the light. And I added a layer of Insulbrite so that Window can function as a trivet for my table as well.

The Four in Art group is comprised of eight talented quilters. Today they will all reveal their projects inspired by the theme urban structures - I hope you will visit them all:

Amanda who blogs at What the Bobbin

Anne who blogs at Spring Leaf Studios

Nancy who blogs at Patchwork Breeze

Carla who blogs at Lollyquiltz

Elizabeth who blogs at OP Quilt

Betty on Flickr 

Rachel who blogs at The Life of Riley

Leanne who blogs at she can quilt (that's me)

Best,

Leanne