Irena Swanson
Some of Irena Swanson's mathematics-related quilts
This is commemorating the special program in Commutative Algebra
at MSRI, 2002/03.
Depicted are David Eisenbud (upper right),
Lucho Avramov, Bernd Sturmfels, Karen Smith, Craig Huneke.
Apparently this quilt is now lost. Sigh.
If you see it,
please return to MSRI or to me.
"Mandelbrot set" was the winner in the Fractals category
of the quilt block design contest sponsored by IEEE Spectrum,
published December 1998.
This is my Ph.D. committee, 1992:
Craig Huneke, Luchezar Avramov, William Heinzer;
Ian Aberbach is not photographed, but he is on the quilt.
![[photo]](geometricprogression.jpg)
![[photo]](arithmeticprogression.jpg)
Geometric and arithmetic progression quilts.
![[photo]](blackandwhite.jpg)
![[photo]](blackandwhiteleftover.jpg)
Not yet quilted.
On the right is one of two leftover quilts.
This one is not rectangular (been there, done that -- let's be different).
![[photo]](semireg.jpg)
All the possible semiregular tesselations of the plane
that are not regular:
all shapes are regular n-gons,
more than one shape is used,
and the configuration at each vertex is the same.
(The configurations are, in order:
top row: 4.6.12; 3,4,6,4; 3.3.4.3.4;
middle row: 3.6.3.6; 4.8.8; 3.3.3.4.4;
bottom row: 3.12.12; 3.3.3.3.6.)
An article on mathematics and quilting
(first three sections only),
in particular,
on piecing semiregular tessellations.
Semiregular tessellations are explained at a high-school level,
some results are proved,
some mathematical activities are proposed for learners of less
and more advanced levels,
and then quick and new piecing methods are developed for making quilts.
This is now a chapter in the book
Crafting by
Concepts (link to Taylor and Francis Group),
edited by sarah-marie belcastro
and Carolyn Yackel
and published by A K Peters in 2011.
In my chapter I present some new methods of making quilts accurately
and fast,
but with the (lovely) advantage of creating "waste" that can be turned into lovely leftover quilts.
Below find the photos of the resulting semiregular tessellations quilts,
and the leftover quilts.
4.4.4.4: the easiest one to make.
3.3.3.3.3.3: two minis, a medium, and a larger quilt.
3.3.3.3.3.3: steps, playing with offsets
3.3.3.3.6, 3.6.3.6, 3.3.3.3.4, 3.3.4.3.4
4.8.8, 3.12.12, 6.6.6
Leftover quilts.