Hyperspace (Curated Quilts Mini Challenge)

With several other projects in various stages of done-ness, I wasn’t planning to enter the latest Curated Quilts mini challenge. But when I posted a photo of fabrics for an upcoming project, my quilty friend Kelly pointed out that it was a great match for the prescribed challenge color palette…and, well, after that I couldn’t resist.

Hyperspace is a science/science fiction concept that relates to extra dimensions beyond what we see in the physical world. The idea of applying this broad concept to the design of this mini quilt came after a conversation with my husband. (He always has great design ideas and quilt names!) He suggested a hypercube or tesseract, which when “unfolded” into 3-dimensional space looks like a plus — or really a cross. After some thought, I decided to simplify this concept and adhere more closely to a true plus shape by depicting a 3-dimensional plus sign in a 2-dimensional quilt.

Tl;dr = 3D plus sign! Woo!

(Also, a note: I had a really hard time getting the colors to appear true in these photos!! The top one of the finished quilt is closest to reality.)

After spending 10 or 15 minutes trying to figure out the best way to make a foundation paper pieced pattern, it occurred to me that it would work quite well as an English paper pieced design. So I went with that approach! I’ve done only enough EPP to be dangerous, so thankfully this one was pretty straightforward. I got my pieces cut and glue basted before we left for our hurricane evacuation last week, and finished it up in San Antonio.

The background fabric was custom dyed by my friend Audrey Esarey and fortunately, I had enough to spare from my other work-in-progress to use as the background and binding here. I really LOVE the contrast between the flat solids of the cube and the nebula-like swirls of the background.

I layered my background, batting, and backing WITHOUT the plus sign first, and quilted an isometric grid using Aurifil monofilament thread. The plus sign was then appliqued on top with heavy 12 wt thread to make it really stand out.

The backing is an old Cotton + Steel print that I found in my stash. Those plus signs basically meant I HAD to use it as the backing, right?

This was my third Curated Quilts challenge entry, and again I really enjoyed the process of making this little quilt. Despite making more than 100 postcards plus a few other mini quilts this year, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of getting to try out fun concepts like this on a small scale. It makes even complicated techniques feel super easy and approachable.

The details:

• Mini quilt measures 11.25″ square.
• Fabrics are Kona Blue, Blueberry, and Delft , plus hand dyed Kona PFD.
• Backing is an old Cotton + Steel print.
• Machine quilted with a walking foot using Aurifil monofilament thread in the needle and 50 wt (#2225 Salmon) in the bobbin.
• Plus sign was English paper pieced using Aurifil 80 wt thread and appliqued on top with Aurifil 12 wt (#5008 Sugar Paper) in the needle and 40 wt (#2600 Dove) in the bobbin.
• Binding is the same hand dyed Kona, hand stitched to the back.

p.s. This Curated Quilts mini challenge is open through September 8 so it’s not too late to enter!