25 September 2018

AHIQ: another month of maps

Like Ann, I am finding map-related stuff all over the place, though mostly for me the ideas are coming through snippets of things I read, or in conversations. (What follows is a bit of a brain dump).

  • My sister went to Detroit this summer (as a tourist, and they loved it) and told me of areas where grass has reclaimed areas of pavement and even road
  • Early maps mostly had East at the top (so Robin is following an old tradition) rather than North  
  • The cardinal points of the compass are assigned colours in many cultures
  • Some cultures describe direction in terms of "towards the sea" or "towards the mountains" rather than North, South, East, West.  Similarly, "upstream/downstream", "landward/seaward", even "upcoast/downcoast"

All these bits and pieces set my mind buzzing, but for now I am reminding myself to focus and keep going with what I have started, making these blocks that, it seems, can be read as city blocks or country fields, depending on your outlook.  I rather like that.
You may spot that I am still playing around with options for my roads.  I'll post more about that over on the blog, but it's proving to be difficult to get this right.  Maybe I haven't found the right fabric yet; maybe I need to rethink my approach.

Finally, a quick reminder: it is exciting that there is such a diverse and interesting range of mapping projects going on in response to the current challenge, but if you are not playing along this time, you are still welcome to post whatever you are up to.  

5 comments:

Ann said...

I love the idea of nature reclaiming towns. We certainly see lots of that in the mountains and small towns on the pains. Are similar things happening in England? Movement from rural to major metropolitan areas creates abandoned hamlets.
Love the descriptors besides cardinal points. Definitely an idea worth pursuing.
Thanks for reminding everyone that any improv/utility work is welcome here. They don't have to follow the prompts. Way too many interesting, worthwhile ideas to limit it artificially.

Robin said...

Who knew I wasn't just making a mistake with my directions - ha! I heard a story where a man asked directions from a local person. He was told to go 4 farsees. The man was puzzled and asked him again getting the same answer. Finally the local person explained that you look ahead on your path and find a point that is as "far as you can see". You walk forward till you get to that point and you have walked one farsee.

audrey said...

Your quilting reminds me of what it looks like looking down from a plane. It's really coming together well.

Kaja said...

In answer to your question, Ann, it's very different here; this is a small country, very full of people, and the ones who can afford to have made the opposite move, from urban to rural. So villages, especially pretty ones, are occupied by the wealthy. Inner cities, on the other hand, are rundown.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I love reading these posts and comments/responses as we are an international groupand what might be true near my house is often very different elsewhere and I like being reminded of that fact. Your colors are wonderful -- keep going!