pinwheel? :: {modern traditional} dsst challenge

***Psssst.... the liberty tana lawn giveaway will stay open until 9 p.m. EST (or whenever I get home from teaching at Crimson Tate tonight)!  So enter while you still can ;o) Ten fat quarters people, TEN!***

I couldn't help but smile to myself when I saw the title of this challenge.  Not because there's anything particularly amusing about minis, dear stella, or sew timeless.  But rather because the term "modern traditional" has drawn quite a bit of, er, commentary from the online quilting community of late.  There are those who subscribe to the notion that modernism and traditionalism can coexist, and many others who—after their own careful thought and consideration—have opted to reject the term altogether (there's likely a facebook contingency for both, too, I just use that platform so infrequently I'm not even sure how or where to direct your attention).

So against that backdrop, I submit this quilt—"pinwheel?"—as my interpretation of modern traditionalism.  What's with the name?  I designed the block so that, depending on how you look at it, the design takes on a variety of personas.  A pinwheel.  Square in square.  A pinwheel again? Or is it a medallion.  Yes, it's a medallion. ...Oh wait, is it just one big pinwheel?

To me, that's what modern traditionalism is all about.  It's taking something as time-tested and classic as the pinwheel—a block that's been around since the late 1700s—and presenting it in a way that feels like something we've never seen before.  Yet have.  All at once.

Traditional and modern.  All cozied up in a 20" square and getting friendly with one another.

...And possibly feeling a bit cramped.  ;o)