Prepare for the Comet

So I did say the other day that I wanted to make a quilt in mainly creams and as a little preparatory study I produced the 'Red Diamond' mini for the John Lewis exhibition of the LMQG. And I will make the bigger version of this but you see something caught my eye the other day and then I had a brainwave while riding my scooter home from work (most probably no the best time for inspirational brainwaves in the middle of London rush hour but there you go....) and sort of went of to the other end of the spectrum (the dark side ?)

Recently I have been seeing black, literally a lot of black quilts or just black backgrounds and I love it. The first black quilt I saw is from Denyse Schmidt's new book which by the way is fabulous and then I saw on Katy's blog a swoon block with black background and was rather taken by that too.

Denyse Schmidt quilt from 'Traditional Inspiration'

In addition the July challenge of the LMQG is to make something that is inspired by a piece of art. I love art and in particular contemporary photography and painting and with all of the above inspiration in mind it didn't take me long to think about Rothko and his series in black and red.

Rothko - Light red over black - 1957

 So I back to the brainwave. When I got home that brainwave would not let go and so I went from a whole day sitting in front of the computer back in front of the next computer and designed this quilt with EQ7 (slowly but surely I get the hang of this SO not intuitive software).

I have quite a lovely collection of gorgeous Oakshotts reds at home that have been glamoring to be made into something beautiful. I have worked with Oakshotts for over two years now and regular readers will know that they really are my favorite fabrics. I have used 'Cranberry' in this and this quilt and it firmly remains the best red that is out there (in my humble opinion).

I conversed with Michael from Oakshott and he advised me expertly on a few more reds and i added the oh so lush black and voila my stash bundle for Comet is completed.
The coloures from left to right are: Black, Ischia, Cranberry, Oxblood, COTT 74 and COTT 73 just in case you would like to know.


Here are a few alternative designs I played with:

I am going to call it 'Comet' as it sort of reminds of a comet or burning planet in the universe and I can't wait to start this and am so looking forward to the quilting !
Told you I had big plans.....