The Golden Rectangle

Please bear with me through this little lesson in mathematics. It is quilt-related, I promise.

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From Wikipedia: "A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, 1-to-phi, that is, or approximately 1:1.618. A distinctive feature of this shape is that when a square section is removed, the remainder is another golden rectangle; that is, with the same proportions as the first. Square removal can be repeated infinitely, in which case corresponding corners of the squares form an infinite sequence of points on the golden spiral, the unique logarithmic spiral with this property."

It can be seen in nature: The Nautilus Shell

In art: The Mona Lisa

In ancient architecture: The Parthenon

The Golden Spiral and Golden Rectangle are also found in galaxies, sunflowers, pineapples and in the human body. Pretty amazing.

And now it is found in our computer/sewing room:

"Cory's Golden Rectangle"

Size: 36" x 24"

Pattern: The Golden Rectangle

Completed: October 2008

Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Cory Bennett

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: Cory is a mathematics teacher and loves math (he reads books about math for fun.)Back before I even finished my first quilt he told me he would like a golden rectangle quilt. I never forgot that and this past October I finally got around to making one for him. I used batkis - his favorite type of fabric - and did a very tight quilting in each square. Then I quilted the golden spiral (which I had to have him chalk out for me) in a gold thread. It doesn't show up quite as much as I wanted and due to the tight quilting the quilt doesn't hang very flat, but he loves it and I enjoyed doing something very different.

Here you can see the individual squares, the quilting, and a bit of the Golden Spiral.

Here you can see how the two smaller squares paired with the larger square make a Golden Rectangle.

A close-up of the quilting in the largest square.

For Hannah

"Pretty in Pink "
Size: not sure
Pattern: original design
Completed: September 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Hannah Hirose
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: I made this sweet little cuddle blanket for my friend Mary's daughter Hannah. It was her first birthday and I had some of this fabric leftover from the "Caitlynn" name I had recently completed. I put a satin binding on it and will never do that again! The binding turned out okay, but it was a serious pain to work with. Perhaps my new machine would handle it better, but I think it will be awhile before I even attempt it again.

Secret Garden

"A Secret Garden for Sofia"

Size: 26" x 26" (I think)

Pattern: original design (used "Puss in the Corner" block from Marsha McCloskey's Block Party)
Completed: September 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Sofia Herman

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: I picked up this kit at a wonderful shop in Canmore, Alberta in Canada when we were there for a Family Christmas in 2004. But after I got it home, I realized they had replaced one of the fabrics and I just could never get myself to make the project because I didn't think it looked right with the replacement fabric. So this bag of beautiful Moda fabric sat, and sat, and sat in my closet for years. Then when I decided I wanted to make a sweet little quilt for Leif's little friend Sofia, I knew I had just the right fabric for it. I scrapped the pattern (and the replacement fabric I couldn't get over) and started from scratch- with a little help from a book of block patterns.

I wasn't able to finish it before Sofia and her family moved to CA, but I sent it off to her a couple of months later. It is the perfect size for a little cuddle quilt, for a doll quilt or for the wall.

Here are a few close-ups so you can see the sweet fabric:

Caitlynn

"Caitlynn"

Size: 8" x 41"

Pattern: original design

Completed: August 2008
Made in: Hawaii

Given to: Caitlynn

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: This past summer my mommies group (honolulumommies.com) was holding a silent autction to raise money for a local charity. They were soliciting donations for the auction and I volunteered to donate a custom wall hanging of a child's name. The winner was Molly and she wanted one for her daughter Caitlynn. So, just knowing that Caitlynn's room was done in shabby chic and with a few ideas from Molly I went fabric shopping. I found these prints from Moda (one of my favorites) and thought they worked really well together. I finished it in about a week, including design time - should have only taken a few hours, but with a toddler everything takes 5 times longer!

Here are a couple of close-ups to hopefully see the fabric better. Sorry they are a bit blurry.

Noel

"Aloha Noel"
Size: 10" x 23" (I think)
Pattern: Original Design
Completed: December 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Mary Bennett
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301


"Noel"
Size: 8" x 21"
Pattern: Original design
Completed: December 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Ric and Lori Packard, Mike and Billie Bennett, Mike and Stacy Bennett, Irene Thor, Jake and Maggie Liljenquist and one for us
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: This past Christmas I decided to make quilt gifts again. Since I had done Leif's name (and a couple others) I thought I could do a Christmas word for our parents and siblings. Since I would be making 7 of them I needed a Christmas word that wasn't too long or too complicated. I settled on "Noel" and went fabric shopping. The top one was for Cory's mom, Mary, and we wanted to do something a little less traditional for her. She loves all things tropical so when I found the red and green print with turtles and palm trees I knew it was perfect. For the rest I just chose a simple subduded green and red with a tree-ish patttern. It was a lot of work to finish them all, but once I got going with an assembly line strategy it went fairly quickly. This was the first time I had made more than one of anything, and some definitely turned out better than others.

For Kennon

"Kennon's Quilt"
Size: 45" x 57" (I think)
Pattern: "Kid in a Candy Store" by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle
Completed: August 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Kennon Liljenquist
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: This pattern was featured in American Patchwork and Quilting's April 2006 issue. It was shown with beautiful bright pinks, greens, oranges, yellows, blues and purples. I flagged the page and always planned to come back to it. I have made a quilt for each of my nieces and nephews and as soon as my sister Maggie found out she was having a boy I went fabric shopping. I had kept this pattern in the back of my head and when Maggie said she wanted just simple blues and greens I thought it would work. I was desperate to get it finished after working on it for over a year, so I did very simple rectangles for the quilting. I was pleased with the end result and Kennon got it before his 1st birthday! (Barely.)