Sewing With Nancy

My assumption is that my Nancy's Corner guest never thought he'd be quilting when he was an architect in Dallas nor did he think that his dining room wall would become a design wall for quilt blocks when he was working with websites full-time. Yet, as life paths changed so did my guest, Bruce Seeds. Hi, Bruce. You marry color, detail, artistry in quilts and you used your architect abilities your web design abilities, now into fabric. Yes, the precision required to really make this type of quilt come off right is very appealing to me. And yet, the fact that I don't plan it ahead and I have to make it up as I go, is a challenge. But also, it provides a lot of the delight. As history has it, in about 2008 you found your career in flux. Yes, well, sure everyone remembers the downturn of 2008. Sure. I had some time on my hands as the website business was waning a little bit. So, I saw this book, "One Block Wonders" from Maxine Rosenthal. I had never seen quilts like the ones I saw in this book. I said, well, I have a 30-year-old sewing machine I'm going to try it. And I did. Your first time quilting? Yes, I had made one small log cabin quilt about this big a while back. That's the only thing I made. You start out with one print fabric. Yes, this process starts with one large piece of a print fabric in this case, an oriental print. Let's show it to our viewers. Sure, I incorporate a piece of the original fabric into the back of each of my quilts. So this one is a lot of it. Blossoms and water and there's even a little Asian temple in there. I divided it into stacks of six identical triangles and then I arranged those radially into hexagons to create something like a kaleidoscope. Then I used those as units to compose on the wall and compose the overall quilt. Putting the six triangles together and designing. The design really starts when you start cutting. But it really starts when you start composing each hexagon because each set of six triangles could be oriented one of three ways. Of course. I play with those until I get the one that I like and then I move on. You can see this is a beautiful quilt but wait till you see them in their full size. This quilt, you just finished. Yes, I call it "Geologic" because it reminded me of a geologic fissure perhaps geodes, amethyst. I wanted a long, strong fissure going diagonally through the quilt. I even broke through the border and headed off to the edge of the quilt. Violating that border is always a good thing. It's a lot of fun. It creates instant three-dimensionality. When I saw that, I thought, I know you're an architect because it really does have earth and a lot of symmetry in it, plus great design. Thank you. You've taken another look, and worked with a much brighter fabric in oranges. Yes, this one started out as a print of poppies oranges and pinks, divided up and put together. I found the orange sort of wanting to go into a swirling pattern. I created a giant swirl. I solicit feedback from my fans on Facebook. I had a friend who suggested it looked like a dragon. I set the eyes and said, "Dragon it is." So that quilt's name is Dragon. Aptly named. It's really fun. Thanks. I know you've made several quilts using this concept. You never tire of it. No, and the reason I don't is because when I start I do not know what it's going to be. Coming from architecture and web design I'm trained, and used to conceiving, planning and then executing the plan. Whereas with this, I can't preconceive it. I do not know what it's going to be until it's done. I simply start executing. The creativity and the design comes through the process. That keeps me interested and engaged. I just keep going. We share being Type A personalities. Absolutely. I never like to do the same thing over and over again. I don't either. So this gives you that creativity. Each one is different. You could not create two identical quilts using this process, if you wanted to. You'd have to try really hard. Bruce, great job, very inspiring. Keep in mind that you can start quilting at any time. For more information on Bruce Seeds' quilts,

simply go to

NancyZieman.com and click on "Nancy's Corner." There, you'll find information on Bruce. Also at NancyZieman.com you'll see additional episodes online. You'll find my blog, and a lot more. Thanks for joining us, Bruce. Thank you, Nancy. And thank you for being with us on Sewing with Nancy during our second program of "Sewing A to Z." Thanks for joining me. Bye for now.