A Mathematical Mug Rug

Did you ever get an idea in your head that just drove you crazy until you could get it out of your system? Yeah. Well, this is one of those!


This little mug rug is made of squares (okay, wonky almost squares) based on a mathematical numbering sequence. I've had the idea for making a sample up like this to see what it would look like for awhile, and I have been working on in here-and-there for the past two weeks. Needles to say, the teeny piecing gave me a big appreciation for the importance of cutting and sewing precisely - mostly because I didn't, and the "squares" were a bit of a mess.


This is based on the Fibonacci numbering sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.) as represented by square tiles. When represented as tiles with the sides equal in length to successive Fibonacci numbers, you get a picture much like my mathematical mug rug (errr, only maybe a bit straighter). That little red square in the middle is the first number, followed by the turquoise square to the right of it, both representing 1's - then on to the white square of 2 units, the blue square of 3 units, the green square of 5 units - and on up until the big purple square of 21 units. The interesting thing to me is that the farther out you continue with the tiles representing Fibonacci numbers, the closer you get to a "golden rectangle" that Pythagoras discovered with the Golden Ratio. Which I'm also a little obsessed about...



Like I said, I really learned that little bitty piecing really relies on precise cutting and sewing, and if I am ever to do teeny piecing again I will definitely take my time and concentrate on being precise. I do like it, however, and am thinking about making something similar again soon. But, now that I've got THAT out of my system, I can go back to stitching up some last minute gifts!

Comments

Emily said…
Awesome math + quilting! :) And bonus points for citing Donald Duck In Mathmagicland. We talked our Calculus teacher into letting us watch that before every holiday! :)
Ebony said…
If it makes you feel any better, lots of folks who do tiny piecing use foundations. :) I love the mug rug!!!
I knew about the Fiboncci series but had never heard of the Golden Ratio. Thanks for the cartoon video.
JustPam said…
I didn't realize those were tiny little pieces at first. Wow! If I were to make this, the purple would be one piece, the yellow one piece, etc. I made a mini quilt one time and I don't think I have another on my bucket list!
Sarah said…
Amazing!!! I am so math challenged this sort of makes my head spin, in a good way. Also love mathemagic land.
SewOm said…
Cool! Love it! Looks like some of the crochet granny square blankets around. (I don't know if they are based on Fibonacci numbers.) I love sewing, crochet and math, so I find your mug rug totally inspiring.
We named a dog Fibonacci. Fibber was so awesome. Your tiny pieces are also really cool. I hope to see this in person!
I love this. I've heard of it before and wondered if I could use in in quilting. I really like what you've done.

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