You know the ol’ saying everything is old is new again, right?
Once the word modern became the newest catch phrase for quilters, I began to study what was this new way of quilting? It is hard to clearly define. Is it the actual quilting? Is it the use of solids and open space? Is it the freedom of expression, technique and style?
 I believe it is a bit of all of these things but most importantly it is a new word to
define the energized resurgence of a  generation of quilters of any age.
Then these words, low volume, were popping up all over the place.
What is low volume?
Seems simple enough if you have studied color for quilting, right?
This is also where the what’s old is new again part comes into play.
What is the difference between the watercolor quilts of the 80’s and love volume of 2010?
 A new word defining a style and movement but most of all both of these words are a
different way to look at things from the early days of the 80’s when I learned to quilt.
Those were the days of limited color choices, small calico’s and lots of rules.
Fast forward, 30 years and the  abundance of fabric color and scale,
 the freedom of  design, the sharing of teaching and techniques
completely lifts the lid off of the rules I learned to quilt by.

 Today, I wanted to take a few minutes and tell you about the
 inspiration for the quilt we will be doing in the APQ quilt-along.

I love picking fabrics and I would like to say I am pretty good at this, thanks to my early quilt classes along with my mother’s artistic influence.
This has  been my year of looking at things differently and my surrounding influences.
I started studying my fabric buying habits and I rarely bought light large to medium scale prints for use in scrappy backgrounds. I just didn’t use them.
The low volume concept seemed to free up some of the value and scale rules
( I hate the word RULES.)
 I began my hunt for just the right quilt to play with my newly acquired medium,
light prints. I knew I wanted something more than sewing squares together
but not all designs work with this concept.
Now for another classic saying, If it were a snake it would have bit you. Everyday I walk past an office where the most beautiful faded Burgoyne Surrounded quilt hung.

Tammy Vonderschmitt’s antique quit

The aged cream backgrounds and faded colors of solids seemed to sparkle in
 the most simplistic way. I wondered how that design would look in low volume prints for the background instead of a solid.. I didn’t just wonder, I was consumed. I couldn’t sleep as I pieced each quilt block exploring different background fabrics.

My quilt is named Tone it down. I couldn’t turn all the volume off quite yet,
so there is a pop of color throughout.

There are several people doing this quilt  and sharing a multitude of color inspirations for you.
The magazine should be hitting the new stands very soon, so start playing with
your fabric choices so you can quilt along with us.

-modalissa