Genesis of a design tile . . .

About 5-6 years ago, I sat down with graph paper, pencil, and ruler to design a new quilt block. I had three requirements: it had to have fourfold rotation; it had to extend past the confines of a 4-patch block; and, all the patches had to be identical.

First, I drew a 2x2 grid, and divided the sides into thirds with little tick marks:

Next, I drew two lines in one of the squares. Since this block would have fourfold rotation, I drew the same two lines in the remaining three squares, rotating the lines 90 degrees in each. The block now had four arms, ending at the outer edges of the block:

Next, I drew four more squares next to the truncated arms and drew my original two lines in each (remember, each patch has to be identical):

Now what??

I drew another pair of diagonal lines, leading from the original pair of lines to an adjacent side of the square (and added the same lines to my original four squares). The block was still incomplete, because the arms still ended at the outer edges of the block:

Finally, I drew four more squares next to the truncated arms and drew all the lines I'd drawn so far in each of them:

Looking at my progress so far, there was only one place left for me to draw a line. At this point, there was a line beginning or ending at each of the tick marks I had drawn originally.

All the squares were identical; all the lines connected with the lines in the adjacent squares; and, look at the shapes!! I added some more squares and drew the same lines in them.

My design tile was born (though I didn't realize it at the time) . . .

The Rockford/Hinsdale '09 Tour is over!! . . . (was it all a dream??)

My feelings of euphoria faded fast when I woke up this morning in front of the computer terminal in the office--a pile of files beside me, and a line of people with requests in front of me (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration . . . the people in front of me at least asked, "how was the vacation??" before they asked, "could you do this for me??" and handed me another file).

Did I dream it all??

Last Thursday, I repacked my rental and drove north to Willowbrook, IL, a southwestern suburb of Chicago. I had time to check into my hotel, shower and change before leaving for the Hinsdale Community House for my lecture. I got a little turned around, but managed to arrive five minutes before the guild meeting started. A woman pointed me toward the stage at the front of the crowded room (there were about 200 women there), and pointed to the digital projector. "You can just plug your laptop into here," she said.

Um, er, I don't own a laptop, and I have a carousel of slides. "Don't you have a slide projector??" I asked. "I'll go ask," she said and bustled off.

I set up my display stand with my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt on it . . . I set up my framed magazine articles . . . I laid out my business cards . . . I unpacked my "trunk show" quilts . . . all in plain view of my expectant audience.

My contact, Terri, came up to me and said, "they don't have a slide projector . . . can you punt??" I said, "I guess I'll have to, won't I??" I sat at the foot of the stage while the guild conducted their business meeting . . . my mind was working a mile a minute. When Terri introduced me, she said that through no fault of my own I'd be unable to show my slides (there were audible moans).

I took the stage, opened my slide carousel, and held up the first slide. "This is my first quilt," I said, "and here is my third," holding up another slide. There were chuckles in the audience. I replace the slides in my carousel. Slides?? Slides?? We don't need no stinkin' slides!! I talked off-the-cuff and off-the-top-of-my-head for 45 minutes about how I started sewing; how I taught my father to sew; how I started quilting; and, I told stories about some of the quilts I've made (punctuated with, "I wish you could've seen THIS quilt!!"). I answered questions as I went along (instead of saving 'em for the end). I had volunteers hold up and parade the quilts I'd brought with me. Then, I dropped the bombshell--all the quilts had been made from the same set of templates, which segued into a talk about my design system and construction techniques. Several volunteers passed out my free design tiles, but ran out (I'm gonna have to send 'em some more before their next meeting). At some point, I asked if they'd heard enough of me, and the audience burst into an emphatic NO!! LOL!!

After my talk, I sold plenty of books, templates, and muslin foundations; many also took my business card, eager to get online and see what all the fuss was about!! Many agreed it was the best slide show they'd never seen!! I was in my element!! It was a great night!!


I had a small class on Friday morning for the design workshop. We had a fun day of coming up with new patterns. I had my copier with me, so the students could make copies and color 'em in. They were eager for Saturday's construction workshop. I asked Terri if she knew how many had signed up for Saturday and she told me 14. FOURTEEN?? I didn't have near enough muslin foundations for 'em all. Friday night found me in my hotel room, stamping muslin foundations to beat the band!!


I had a pattern in mind for the students who hadn't taken the design workshop. Students bought templates and muslin foundations and cleaned out my inventory. I walked 'em through my sandpaper-back templates: how to cut 'em apart and how to use 'em to cut their fabric. Everyone fell to cutting out fabric, some quicker than others. I walked 'em through the muslin foundations: where to start and how to sew 'em. Several students who hadn't taken the design class HAD taken the free design tiles at the lecture and came prepared with their own designs. For the rest of the students, I had to bite my tongue--once they sewed enough of the squares, they started designing patterns that were not the pattern I had in mind. I gave them free reign.


I couldn't have been happier as I drove back to St. Louis . . . not because I was leaving Hinsdale behind, but because of the great people I had the pleasure to work with, and the great input, feedback, suggestions, and ideas we all shared. My only regret was not having another guild lined up for NEXT weekend, LOL!! As usual, my partner, Ed, was glad to have me back home (Rambo and Sambo could have cared less) . . .


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The Rockford Files . . . a report and a reprieve

The trip to Rockford was a rousing success!!

The drive north was mostly uneventful (emphasis on "mostly"). I was listening to "Nostradamus Ate my Hamster" by Robert Rankin (read by the author). It was an interesting listen involving time travel, a subliminally-charged movie that literally converts the world, and Adolph Hitler (who gets his head bashed in to put him out of his misery). Unfortunately, I was so intent on hearing the end that I missed my exit (and the tollway). Several locals got me back on course, and I arrived at my hotel around 9:00 p.m.

I gave two lectures on Thursday, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. There were about 100 people at the afternoon lecture, and 50 people in the evening (the cold, rainy weather may have affected the evening attendance). Like at my lecture in Flint, MI last month, I gave away free copies of my design tiles to the guild members. I sold a dozen copies of my book and donated one copy to the guild library.

There were eight people in the design workshop Friday morning. Colleen, one of my students, told me her elderly mother had been in the audience the previous evening and took my design tiles home with her. Colleen said her mother was busily playing with the design tiles that morning. She thanked me for coming up with something to keep her mother occupied!! Do you think I should target nursing homes next??

There were five people in the construction workshop Saturday morning. I gave each student one set of my sandpaper-backed templates and sixteen pre-stamped muslin foundations. They asked if I had any muslin foundations for sale, and bought about a dozen bundles of eight foundations!!

I got some great feedback, suggestions, and ideas from the two workshops. I have a lot more material to add to the book later this year. Since the patterns are basically shape-driven, I've come up with a change of the design tiles for emphasis. There's interest in more products (templates, stencils, and muslin foundations) for sale.

I returned to St. Louis early Sunday evening. My partner, Ed, was happy to see me (the cats could have cared less). We had a relaxing evening . . . end of report.

On Monday morning, I bought and prepped more muslin . . . while I was washing the muslin at the laundromat, I met the part-owner of the video production office next door. Did I ever tell you about the DVD of my lecture in Flint, MI?? The audio was terrible!! The camera had no direct-feed microphone, so there was an echo-y quality to the sound, and you could also hear every cough, scraped chair, etc. in the room. Ryan said his company could fix that. He said they had studio facilities to film other presentations as well.

If you think my quilting is "out-of-the-box," just wait till you get a load of my videos!! I'm thinking/dreaming of lectures and workshops on DVD for those who would never see me otherwise. Just think: individual classes on the design tiles, block construction, and color theory you can watch again and again!!

I'm writing (and designing) copy for "packaging" for the templates and muslin foundations. I cut an additional 450 muslin foundations to stamp, but I may leave that for something to do in my hotel room.

I had been rushing around to get ready to leave Wednesday, but late Tuesday I learned that my hotel in Willowbrook is booked for Thursday, not Wednesday . . . a reprieve!! Now, I have additional time to make the sandpaper-backed tempates, bundle muslin foundations, redesign the design tiles for the workshop, etc., etc., etc. . . .

I'm a little busy at the moment . . . later, sweet taters!!

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I'm almost ready for Rockford, IL (but, are they ready for me??)

In case you're wondering, all that's left to do on my "to do" list is write and copy the handouts for the two workshops and glue card stock templates to sandpaper for the construction workshop. Yeah, I got it all done, YAYY!!

This morning, I scanned all my printing to make PDF files of everything, and emailed it to FedEx/Kinko's for copying (including the book). I got design tiles (for "freebies"), templates (for the construction workshop), and enlarged tiles (for demonstration purposes) printed on card stock.

As for the book, I got a glossy card stock for the cover (the front cover IS color, after all), and a heavier paper for the interior pages (so you can't see through it). It cost a bit more, but I'm very pleased with the finished product. Yes, it's worth every bit of $20 . . . you'll be able to get YOUR copy middle of October, once I get these next two weeks outta the way.

I'm setting up a staging area in a corner of the apartment so I have everything I'm gonna take with me. They'll think I'm moving in to stay at the hotel . . . sewing machine, cutting mat, rotary cutter, acrylic rulers, fabric (I'll assume there's an iron and ironing board in the room), quilts, books, muslin foundations, etc. Well, it IS an Extended Stay America hotel, after all), LOL!!

I don't know about internet access (I have no laptop) . . . maybe there's a "business" area where I may be able to post about the trip. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until my return next week.

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"He's making a list, he's checking it twice . . ."

Don't worry, the only one "naughty" around here is me (in a nice way) . . .

It's the "Countdown to Rockford," my lecture/workshop gig this week, and there's so much to do, I've made a list (and added to it) to make sure I don't forget anything.

1. Rent car. I did this Friday . . . it'll be cheaper to rent the car for two weeks instead of renting two cars for two different weekends (I go to the western suburbs of Chicago the following week).

2. Complete foundation squares. Yesterday, I stamped and heat-set (ironed) six hundred 8" muslin foundation squares . . . it sure beat the hell outta stencilling 'em all (which is what I used to do). I like the new stamping ink I got. It's thicker, so while the ink does bleed through the starched muslin, it doesn't wick outwards, making thicker lines. Also, the ink gives off very little smell; the ink I had before gave off a harsh chemical smell that permeated the apartment (even with windows open and fans blowing).

What's left to do??

3. Buy rubber stamp cleaner and a fabric marking pen at ArtMart. There are some muslin squares where the ink didn't bleed through enough to be seen on the back (I want these squares to be reversible) . . . I intend to draw in the missing lines where need be.

4. Finish book. I need to design front and back covers; insert running feet and folios (page numbers); insert Table of Contents. Then, I'll run off a copy to scan in the office tomorrow and turn into a PDF file. I'll email the files to FedEx/Kinko's for copying/binding. I'm optimistic--I'll print 75 copies for my first printing.

5. Assemble design workshop materials. The other day, I had an idea: I'll enlarge the design tiles to 8", then copy 'em. I have a cheap bulletin board that will fit on my easel. I'll stick a pin through the center of the tiles and attach 'em to the bulletin board. Then I can rotate 'em for the entire class to see!!
I need to create a handout for the students. I'm pulling the tables of possible blocks from the book. FedEx/Kinko's can copy the handouts and design tiles (on card stock and regular copy paper).

6. Assemble construction workshop materials. I need to print templates on card stock, then glue 'em to the backs of sheets of sandpaper. I have no idea how many students in either workshop, so I'll prepare for twenty-five, just in case.
I'm supplying each student a template to cut out, and sixteen foundation muslin squares, enough to make four 4-patch blocks. They can either make a 2 ft. sq. wall hanging or a 4 ft. long table runner. If I have time, I'll write the handout as I go; I'd like to make a sample to show.


Um, er, if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do . . .

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From design tile to block to pattern . . .

I trust you've been playing with your set of design tiles . . . If you don't have a set of design tiles, I suggest you leave your name and email addy here, and I'll send you a set.

Have you been keeping a block log?? With thousands of 4-patch blocks and millions of 9-patch blocks, just how good is your memory anyway?? . . . Merely use the numbers in the upper left (or right) corners, separated by hyphens.

You're gonna have to have your tiles handy, because I'm gonna describe some things in this post, and I want you to SEE for yourself, rather than me just showing you . . .

4-Patch Blocks and Patterns

Lay out four tiles of your choosing . . . as an example, I'm using 1-1-1-2:

Now, lay out three more identical 4-patch blocks:

Do you see the emerging pattern?? Now, move the left column to the right side of the pattern:

Now, instead of four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-1-2, I have four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-2-1. The pattern remains the same, only "shifted" to the left. Now, move the top row to the bottom of the pattern:

Now, instead of four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-2-1, I have four 4-patch blocks of 2-1-1-1. Again, the pattern remains the same, only "shifted" upwards. I could continue moving columns and rows of tiles, "shifting" the pattern as I do.

So, although 1-1-1-2, 1-1-2-1, 1-2-1-1, and 2-1-1-1 describe four distinct 4-patch blocks, the pattern remains the same for all of them. This should be the same for the four 4-patch blocks you're working with.

9-Patch Blocks and Patterns

When I was studying the symmetries I found in other books, I could easily reduce them to a 4-patch block. Repeating the 4-patch block generated the pattern. The same does not hold true for 9-patch blocks.

Using the four 2-1-1-1 blocks above, I can form four different 9-patch blocks. These blocks generate four different patterns. Group your tiles as shown below . . . if you have enough copies of tiles, lay out three identical 9-patch blocks:

By their very nature, 9-patch blocks are "odd." Though they connect with each other, they do not "shift" the pattern repeat as they do with 4-patch blocks. There are a few arrangements that are more or less symmetrical. One arrangement alternates two tiles, checkerboard fashion; one arrangement uses one tile to form a cross in the center of the block, with a different tile in the four corners; and, one arrangement uses diagonal groupings of three tiles.

As always, thank you for reading this post. Please feel free to leave a question or comment, and follow this blog.

The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd . . .

Last evening was the opening reception for my quilt show in Ste. Genevieve . . . WOW!! What an experience!!

I'd had a terrible morning (my rental car got a flat before I even left town, and I had to have AAA change the flat before I could return the car and get another; one of my cats required an emergency trip to the vet because he got his collar caught in his teeth; and, I had to buy new business card holders and hardware for the curtain rods I hang my quilts on because I couldn't find what's here in the apartment (somewhere)).

I got to the gallery only four hours before the reception was to open, and went right to work, hanging framed magazine articles and quilts. I was gonna check into a cheap motel for the night, but Sam, one of the co-owners, shuddered and suggested the B&B a block away. It was a great B&B: I had a shower and changed clothes (I didn't dare have a nap for fear of sleeping away the evening). I stopped into a storefront restaurant for dinner . . . the two women at the next table said, "hey, aren't you the guy in the picture across the street??" (The gallery owners had a poster of me in several shop windows.) Imagine that . . . me, the celebrity!!

It was a great reception!! The owners had set up a live feed of the reception on their Twitter cam, LOL!! (had I known THAT, I woulda given you fair warning . . .) During the evening, over 100 people came through the gallery; I handed out nearly an entire box of business cards (250 of 'em); I shmoozed a lot of folks (quilters and non-quilters alike); I did a lot of talking, LOL!! I told a lot of people about the design tiles and my take on symmetry (I just happened to have a set on hand for people to play with). I could get used to this!!

After the reception, I went to small party at some friends of the gallery owners . . . I got in after midnight. I was up by 7:30 a.m., showered, and ready for a new day (and, a great breakfast at 9:00 a.m.)!! I entertained my table with the design squares after we'd eaten . . .

Yesterday was busy . . . Today, I'm anxious

Five items of note happened yesterday: I burned the palm of my hand with some soup at lunchtime (it's better today) . . .

I mailed tax papers and promotional pictures to the Flint Public Library for next month's lecture . . .

I mailed signed contracts for a lecture/workshop in Santa Rosa next year (March) . . .

I visited an old friend in the hospital (I love that old man; I don't know what to do for him; there's nothing I can do for him; it hurts me to see him like this) . . .

I had most of a box of quilts photographed (all the quilts use the same set of templates; many are for the show this week; I'll have all of 'em added to the website next week).


I anxious for only two things today: I expect delivery of my new business cards from VistaPrint and computer memory chips from Greg in the mail . . . woo hoo!!

The Shape(s) of things to come . . .

Think of the individual shapes in the tile . . . the tile is comprised of five distinct shapes (the two corner shapes are identical).

When these shapes touch the shapes in other tiles, they form a new shape. These new shapes occur where corners meet and where sides touch.

These shapes may be open or closed. The shapes in the example above are open because they do not end at the sides of the block; they leave "openings" at every side. It may take more tiles to close the shapes.


This shape crosses six tiles before it closes.

Some shapes never close. I call them "stripes."


There are unique shapes for each unique arrangement of tiles . . . what shapes are in YOUR blocks??



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To a new symmetry . . .

I've said it before, but it bears repeating . . .

I've read three books about symmetry and two-dimensional patterns: one written by a mathemetician; the other two written by quilters.

All three books described the four operations of symmetry: translation, rotation, reflection, and glide reflection. All three books generated patterns using a method developed by crystallographers (even though crystallographers are not necessarily quilters, and vice versa). All three books overlooked two simple observations: all the patterns generated could be simplified to two pairs of squares beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other; and, in all but one instance, the squares were right side up or upside down, but never sideways.

I have previously described the operations of symmetry, but I will not generate any patterns with a method I now view as flawed. I propose a new symmetry which does not rely on any operations other than "pick a pair." I have presented the two tiles below to nearly 300 people. You've had a week or so to play with them.

Will you join me on a guided journey with these tiles??


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New Logo for NGQ!!

I've been discussing this with my designer . . . originally, I wanted the Mardi Gras Man motif as part of my website logo, but considering he only shows up in one quilt, he wasn't a good choice.

A week or so ago, I suggested using my tile, which will be showing up more and more in my quilts. And, with all the people who now have sets of the design tile, it's better recognized. (Can you say, "Branding"??)

This morning, Patrick emailed me to say the new logo has been implemented!! What do you think of it??


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For the recovering design tile addict . . .

The other day, Greg, from Flat Out Quilting, jokingly referred to a support group for tile addicts.

I'm pleased to announce the formation of a new Yahoo! group, NGQTileAddicts . . . Greg and I are the co-Moderators of the group . . . (I promise not to delete the group OR this blog entry, LOL!!)

If you're interested, give it a look . . . we'd appreciate any input or feedback you may have.

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Mardi Gras Men, continued . . .

Below is the 1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M-2-2M-1M block. It contains portions of four different men.
Below are colored blocks . . . for the sake of balance, the top row shown is actually the bottom third of a block (2-2M-1M) . . . then, there's a row of complete blocks . . . and, the bottom two rows show are actually the top two-thirds of a block (1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M).

In this drawing, you can see where two or more shapes are the same color. During construction, I taped my templates together and cut these shapes in one piece. This eliminated extra sewing (and fabric). Then again, I was only using one fabric per color. If I were using say, five or six different fabrics of each color, I would have cut the shapes as individual pieces and mixed them up, so I wouldn't get the same fabrics touching each other.

Here's a question for you: What is the minimum number of colors you can use for this pattern (for the men)?? What is the maximum number of colors you can use??

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Mardi Gras Men, a work-in-progress (after the fact)

Yesterday, Paula was surprised to learn that my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt was made from the set of design squares I gave away last weekend.

This brief post (the first in a series), will let you in on which arrangement of tiles I used.

Ready??

1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M-2-2M-1M . . .

I came upon this arrangement quite by accident. I shuffle my own set of tiles, much like playing cards, giving one half (or the other) a quarter turn before interleaving them together. Then, I deal 'em out, face up, one at a time.

I use Electric Quilt to make a block of the tiles, lay out a pattern of repeated blocks, and to play with coloring in the shapes.

More to come . . .


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Now that I've got 'em, what do I do with 'em??

Design tiles, right??

The original idea was to devise a low-tech method for generating infinite patchwork blocks from a single tile. I had a tile with lines drawn through it, and a mirror-image of the same tile. I numbered the rotations, 1 through 4, and 1M through 4M, for the mirror-image tiles.

I started arranging groups of four tiles.

All four tiles can be identical . . .

Three tiles can be identical, and one tile can be different (easily accomplished by rotating one of the tiles) . . .

The four tiles can be two pairs of identical tiles (the two tiles in the pair can be identical to each other, the two pairs can be different from each other) . . . These two pairs can be beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other.

The four tiles can be one pair of identical tiles and one pair of different tiles. Again, these two pairs can be beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other.

The four tiles can be four randomly-selected tiles (my favorite) . . .

There are 4096 possible 4-patch combinations.

The same concepts work for 9-patch, 16-patch, 25-patch (and beyond) blocks . . . yes, an infinite number of patchwork blocks.

W.O.W.!! (What an Outstanding Weekend!!)

I send a big "Thank You!!" to all of you who took advantage of my giveaway this weekend . . . you're the greatest!!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, back up a day or so to Sunday . . . early Sunday morning, I offered a set of my design tiles/squares to anyone who signed up for my mailing list.

Well, there were already people who had signed up a month ago, who had no idea of what was coming . . .

I had recently gone through my Yahoo! address book, making sure I had all the email addys entered from every person I emailed, going back, say 5-6 years. My address book contained over 1500 email addys!!

I composed an email that said, "Check out my new website . . . join the mailing list for a free gift." I started sending out emails 25 names at a time . . . I learned that Yahoo limits the number of emails per hour (100), and limits the number of emails per day (500). Sending my message to everyone in my address book was gonna take three days!!

While waiting for the hour to roll around, I entered data from the contact forms into the address book for my website. It was a slow, laborious process of "copy and paste" (I was taking no chances of making any typos). After every 10-15 email addys, I would email the lot my "free gift."

Names and email addys started coming in faster than I was sending 'em out . . . uh oh . . . there was a definite time gap involved. Sorry, no automated system here; just little old me, "copying and pasting" as fast as I could!!

I got my fair share of "undeliverable mail" messages . . . I assumed these were from addys in my address book, until I looked closely. Hey, wait a minute!! I just entered that addy!! You guessed it: some of the people signing up for my free gift had mis-typed their own email addy. Considering their email addy was wrong, it wasn't like I could contact 'em to say, "Sorry, but you've made a typo in your addy . . . would you mind correcting it for me??" I'm afraid I'll have to wait for 'em to send another comment like, "WTF?? Where's my free gift??" (then, I'll compare the second addy to the original.)

I belong to several groups: I could tell when a group got busy from the increase in submissions, LOL!!

I reconnected with some people who wondered where I'd gone . . . I got a lot more people who told me they were sharing the link with others.

All in all, it's been a good experience . . . once the hubbub dies down, I can get back to work on my writing . . .