Traditional Modern?

I've told you about the Sampler Class I'm teaching at Heritage Fine Fabrics in Belton, MO. We're making a 36+ block sampler based on those wonderful old sampler quilts that look like the maker just threw together any orphan block she had. Similar to the quilt Deb Rowden had in The Quilt Show last week. 

So we're to the month about applique. Below is one of the blocks I originally picked out. Nice, right? Well, lately I've been into extreme modification of what I see as traditional quilting. This is the perfect example. For one, I don't want to overwhelm the ladies in my class with too much applique. I realize it's not everyone's favorite. Since I don't want them to have to make 24 leaves and 4 flower heads, what to do? I decided to streamline it. I first eliminated all the leaves. That left very boring, static stems. So, I bent them like a windblown tulip. Better, but still not quirky enough. I made the flower heads more like blobs - organic as the artists would say. And I added one to the center. Voila! That's it!

Original block from EQ.

No leaves = BORING!

Windblown stems - better, but not there yet.
(Pretend the stems are green.)

Ahhh, that's it! 

And this is the black version. I couldn't decide if I liked
the green center small or large, so I did it two different ways.
Still don't know! I like 'em both!

When I look at these blocks, I am reminded of mid-century modern art and architecture. I decided to call it Atomic Star in honor of that. Then, just for fun, I Googled "atomic art" to see what I'd get. And can you believe it? There are quilters who specialize in Atomic Modern quilting! Go figure. I thought I was inventing something!