I think I was making a bunch of HSTs (Half Square Triangles), using up some of my grunge stash and preparing for my Generative HST quilt.  I made a ton extra, then set to trying to figure out what to do with them.  I played with a few different layout ideas, but kept coming back to the idea of waves.  I didn’t have enough HSTs in any given color to go all the way across the quilt, so I mixed up colors and created waves of various lengths.

I always knew when I quilted it I wanted to carry the waves through the background with bright colors that matched the HSTs.  As I tried out different ideas for the quilting, my husband and I – both electrical engineers! – came up with the idea of contrasting particles and waves, from the question in physics of whether light is actually made up of particles or waves.

This is the result – I’m calling it Particle or Wave?

I did swirl chains in half of the rows for the ‘wave’ part, then circle pops for the ‘particles’:

Some detail of the top:

and the bottom:

I matched the thread pretty closely to the grunge colors, and I did a gradation in colors from light at the top to darker at the bottom.  I really like the lighter thread color at the top better than the darker colors at the bottom.  I think the lighter thread is more subtle, and the darker colors on the bottom kind of look like sharpie drawings.  But, the thread matches the fabric colors and does make a statement, so I appreciate the experiment.

I did the grey background with a watery looking all over design that I hope kind of looks like air for the waves to travel through.

Here is the back:

Particle or Wave Details:

• Finished 52″x64″
• Warm and Natural Batting
• Several colors of Glide or Isacord on the top, , and Bottom Line #623 (light grey) in the bobbin
• 301,578 total quilting stitches