Pentatonic

Date: 
2 May 2010 to 10 November 2015
Pentatonic is finished.Pentatonic is finished.
 by domesticat.
Photoset: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/domesticat/sets/72157623606678245

Blog entries referencing this quilt: 
Intro to Penmanship (Blogger's Quilt Festival 2010)
A powerless time
Pentatonic progress
Pick-up time
Closet thoughts
Ends and means
Recipient: 
Jacob
Pattern: 
Penrose tiling (P3)
Level of completion: 
Completed and given away

A Penrose tiling is an aperiodic tiling consisting of only two tiles and containing five-fold symmetry. The wikipedia entry for Penrose tilings has good images and information about it, plus a couple of photos that help you see how the pattern might look when colored in.

I am aware of the existence of a few small Penrose quilts, but from examining the photos it looks like they contain at most three iterations of the tiling. Not surprising -- it's hard to find images to work from that have more than three iterations. I had to install Inkscape and use the instructions on this page to render out seven iterations of the pattern, but it's in readiness for when I decide to tackle the pattern.

I have purchased most of the fabric needed to make this quilt, but am not yet ready to start on it. I have a couple of small quilts to finish up before I tackle this one.

Update, November 2015

See http://domesticat.net/2015/11/ends-and-means for how the story of this quilt unfolded, and ended.

all tags: 
mathematics
quilt
penrose
tiling
aperiodic

Comments

On , SassyBlonde said...

I <3 this one. *sigh* I hope to even consider making something this cool, you know, in all my spare time someday. ;)

On , Alan Schoen said...

Amy:

Your work is beyond breathtaking (and so are you!).

I left my phone number on your answering machine, and I hope I hear from you soon.

Alan

On , domesticat said...

An update - I got started on this one during the week we were without power after the tornadoes. I've cut a lot of the fabric I'll need, and I sewed my test pattern last night. The entry: http://domesticat.net/2011/05/powerless-time

After nearly a week of no power, and much fabric cut, I wanted to test out my new pattern pieces. Pentatonic has sat on the back burner for quite some time, and I think I'm about ready to tackle it. The quilt: domesticat.net/quilts/pentatonic and the blog post about the tornadoes, and reaching the point of being ready to sew this test: domesticat.net/2011/05/powerless-time If you are unfamiliar with the pattern, it is part of a Penrose tiling -- and yes, it has fivefold symmetry, instead of the 4-, 6-, or 8-fold symmetry most quilt patterns have. For the two shapes needed to make a Penrose tiling, I had acrylic templates custom laser-cut for me through ponoko.comPerhaps, perhaps, a center star.

['Perhaps, perhaps, a center star.']