Call it what you want, but you cannot deny its complete awesomeness. The magnetosphere has been quiltified by none other than my dear mom, Yuko.
Okay, a little back story. My mom makes amazing quilts. She has been making quilts for a long time and has gotten really good at it. Hand-stitched, machine-stitched, doesn’t matter. She can knock it out of the park (hmmm, baseball metaphor to describe quilting… doubt that has been done before).
Last Christmas, we got to talking. She wanted me to design her a quilt pattern and I though, “Processing seems to be perfect for every aspect of my life, why not quilts too!”. I tossed about a few ideas but nothing seemed quite right. Then she saw one of my older magnetosphere images on flickr and said, “oooh, thats pretty. I can make a quilt out of that.”
Here is the original Flickr photo.
She was on to something. I whipped up a version of the program that made the original image and spit out a few screengrabs with different compositions. Mom choose one and started quilting. This was back in January. Right away, we ran into a little snag. She wasn’t able to find any fabric wider than 4′ to make the backing. She asked me what I wanted her to do instead, and that is when I rocked her world with 5 simple words.
How about one inch squares?
I love my mom and when she showed me the final backing, several hundred bright red one inch squares, I knew she loved me back. She probably despised me as she was sewing, but the end result was quite lovely! Textured but not distracting. And hey, it harkens back to pixels in a way, so the thematic sensibilities were enhanced.
Above, you can see the original image on the left and the final quilt on the right. Dare I say it, I think hers looks even better than mine. Processing may be powerful, but it aint got nothin on a tiny Japanese woman armed with needles and thread. Seriously though, check out the detail! Mom, you rule!
Thanks to dear dad for taking the photos for me. He even took the time to photoshop out the reflection in the mirror on the first photo. My whole family is addicted to details! Fantastic!
Rock out Yuko! Quite exceptional.
Damn. And I thought I had the coolest mom ever. Maybe I can convince her to take up VVVV-inspired cross-stitching again.
It’s a thing of beauty.
Your family rocks!
yeah man, thats great.
big up to your mom.
rock on
You said that the Quilt is bigger than 4′, but what is its “real” size ?
This question to know how many one inch squares there is….
man… did you challenged your mon ?!
Bravo Yuko !
Nice! Kudos to your Mom, Robert.
I saw an excellent quilting show when I was in Texas – some of them are up here:
http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/quilts/
It was surprisingly inspiring, in terms of colour and composition.
absolutely beautiful!!! Is it for sale?
[...] all manner of distractions » Blog Archive » Magnetoquilt! Quiltosphere! – Original Link. [...]
yes… that is a thing of beauty. an amazing piece of art.
Wow! Your mom is Awesome! big props.
that quilt is outstanding in so many ways. Over the past few years I’ve really gotten away from pixel-pushing (in my spare time, that is) and more into physical arts & crafts and this is such a very beautiful intersection of the two. I once did a stained glass window based on a bit of AS, but it was *nothing* so nice as this.
My husband forwarded this to me and I’m glad he did. You and your Mom did an excellent job – absolutely fantastic. Seeing quilts like this make me itch to get back to the craft.
I AM a quilter and that is gorgeous! Congratulations on a great collaboration! You Mom DOES love you to sew all those 1″ squares! My son sent this to me…he could be hinting! Great work!
I wanted to write to tell you that my son saw this and e-mailed me, from Chicago,to show me your work. It is spectacular!!! I make quilts and it sure made my day. I know all the work that went into this and all those 1 inch squares. Whew!
Any time you want to post any of your mom’s quilts on the net, I sure would love to see them.
Great job.
Amazing, your mom rocks.
the best i’ve ever seen
Im sure my mom is thrilled to read these responses. Thanks for all the kind words. As for sale, well, that is totally up to her. This particular one is mine and I would never part with it. But future commissions are a possibility.
Wow- I love this! Computers finally bringing families together! what a goregeous quilt. Nice work by both of you.. The label should be called Flight404 & Sons….
So great.
kudos to your mom! and dad too… i thought that there was something odd about that mirror in the picture…
[...] Today’s Processing-related tidbits: first up, in case you missed it on MAKE and Robert’s flight404 blog last week, Robert Hodgin’s mom has translated his algorithmic Processing sketches into real-world quilts. I think we shouldn’t stop here and let Yuko have all the fun. I’d love to see more Processing-based quilts and crafts soon. (Craft Magazine is just waiting for some serious geeking.) Ideas in comments? (Now, my last attempt at quilting didn’t go so well, but that was some years ago … maybe this will roll better.) [...]
uau! Está mesmo muito giro!
[...] all manner of distractions » Blog Archive » Magnetoquilt! Quiltosphere! – Link. [...]
[...] Cette superbe courtepointe est le résultat d’une collaboration mère-fils. Inspirée par les images créées par son fils avec Processing (un langage de programmation et un environnement open source pour programmer des images, des animations et du son), une maman a créé une des plus belles courtepointes que j’aie vue. On ne le distingue pas vraiment sur la photo, mais le fond rouge est constitué de petits carrés d’un pouce, rappelant les pixels. Vous pouvez lire l’article complet où le fils présente fièrement l’oeuvre de sa mère ici. Via craftzine. [...]
wow
that quilt looks fanatastic
you have beautiful energy xx
[...] Robert at All Manner of Distractions used his processing skills to come up with a cool quilt design for his mother. His mother was able to sew a quilt based on the design. I whipped up a version of the program that made the original image and spit out a few screengrabs with different compositions. Mom choose one and started quilting. This was back in January. Right away, we ran into a little snag. She wasn’t able to find any fabric wider than 4′ to make the backing. She asked me what I wanted her to do instead, and that is when I rocked her world with 5 simple words. How about one inch squares? I love my mom and when she showed me the final backing, several hundred bright red one inch squares, I knew she loved me back. She probably despised me as she was sewing, but the end result was quite lovely! Textured but not distracting. And hey, it harkens back to pixels in a way, so the thematic sensibilities were enhanced. The quilt of the magnetosphere image looks amazing. Very impressive quilting. (via Make) Permalink | Our News Feeds [...]