In my feed reader, the blogs I visit regularly are grouped under categories. Along with the literary and personal blogs I've always read, I've got categories for Art, for Style, and for Textiles and Crafts. When I've been working too hard and doing a lot of things for other people, I've noticed that I tend to spend more time looking at these: admiring people's ingenuity and creativity, fantasizing about projects, following links to fabrics, patterns, materials. It's one of my particular forms of escapism.
Recently a friend linked to a UK quilter's site, issabellathecat, and I was immediately attracted to the bright, vibrant colors -- like Mexico! -- and no wonder, it's getting pretty grey here in Montreal! Quilting, I thought, yes, that would be just the ticket: repetitive, soothing, not too demanding on my eyes or my head. Of course, it would be fun to buy a whole bunch of new fabric, but I thought maybe I ought to pull out my quilting bin and see what was in there. I laid out a bunch of uncut fabrics that I'd collected, and considered those, and then I unfolded this partially-finished quilt top, started at least twenty-five years ago. (Like Isabella, Manon was immediately "helpful.")
It would make the most sense to just finish this nice quilt, wouldn't it? Maybe I will, and maybe I won't. I did iron it, and lay it out on the floor:
My design and color sense has changed and gotten a lot bolder since I made the first blocks, the small blue ones. The last time I worked on it, maybe ten years ago, I added the strip along one side with the larger triangles, and started to think about how to complete the top asymmetrically. There's plenty of fabric to do it, it's just a question of whether I really want to, since these colors and this type of design aren't quite what I had in mind, although I still like them a lot. Or it could quite quickly become a large crib quilt for a new baby, rather than growing enough to fit our own bed.
The green fabric was an old dress of mine from the 1970s; the bodice is still in the bag with the quilt pieces, while the skirt has been cut up. Funny, all the associations and places this quilt top brought back: the art/sewing room in my old house; the small but special fabric store in Norwich, Vermont where I used to shop; the place I bought my first rotary cutter; the wall hanging I made from a similar triangular design, using some of these same blue fabrics, after my grandfather died. I thought about how much I used to sew, and how little I do now, but it wasn't with regret, just noting the fact. Life moves along and our priorities change, as well as how we allot our time. Twenty-five years ago, I had lots of time in which I sewed and knitted and grew my own food; now I live in a city, do different things with the same basic desires; our patterns have changed. That's fine. But it's also good to check back and notice why I had the urge to do something like this. Maybe I need to slow down, work on something repetitive and calming, without a deadline, something that's just for our home, for keeping warm, for the nest that we need as winter approaches. And maybe what I need to do is to buy some bright colors and make something completely different! It's actually OK, I've learned, not to finish certain things, but just listen to them.
(later: someone seems to be claiming it, wouldn't you say?)
My Vancouver B.C. cousin does art quilts. I have one in my office. I might post a pic of it sometime. She does not value it as much as some of her other work, but I think it's her best one.
Posted by: Hattie | November 13, 2014 at 02:06 PM
Manon on the partial quilt made me laugh. Ah, cats.
I appreciate your wisdom that it's okay not to finish certain things but just to listen to them.
Posted by: Rachel Barenblat | November 13, 2014 at 03:33 PM
I'm eyeing the top part of your palm watercolour. there are resonances, don't you think, in both the forms and the colours? I love the quilt and appreciate your helper. do you think it's the warmth of the freshly ironed patchwork she's drawn to? At the Vermont Quilt Festival one of the most popular events is a parade of quilters on stage to display their former UFO's (UnFinishedObjects) to great applause. (but no pressure. none.)
Posted by: Vivian | November 13, 2014 at 07:47 PM
Art and craft blogs, and perhaps those generally dedicated to specific activities, especially visual ones, are perhaps the ones that will endure and maintain most sense of purpose. There are some I visit regularly, not necessarily about things I want to make or do myself, but the brightness and energy of them always give me a kind of transfusion of joy and motivation!
I've got a quilt I use as a throw in my workroom that my sister, who died a few years ago, made for my 18th birthday, it's full of resonances; I carried it from place to place wrapped up then finally got it out and washed and repaired it. I'm inclined to think it's better to have things out and in use, even if it risks damaging them, than keeping them stored and/or precious. Sometimes this entails finishing them roughly in a curtailed kind of way and re-purposing them; why not quickly fold your beautiful blue-green quilt over and seam it, put an old blanket in it and put it in the sun somewhere where Manon likes to sit?
It's a liberating thing when you realise there are things you don't want or need to do any more, even though you did once. I too used to sew a lot and enjoyed it, but then a while back I looked at my modest heap of material and unfinished sewing projects and realised they made me feel weighed down and guilty, but in contrast when I looked at my stash of yarn it filled me with happy anticipation and ideas, even though the prospect of fulfilment for most of them was just as remote!
Posted by: Lucy | November 14, 2014 at 04:30 AM
Why dont you use this as part of a the quilt back of your new quilt.
Posted by: pb | November 14, 2014 at 05:33 PM
Thanks for all the good ideas and your comments about your own projects. I worked on the quilt for several hours today and extended the larger blue-triangle strips; if they go all the way around and I add a border, it will be big enough, and that seems worth doing. Heading back to the cutting table now. Manon was doing that race-stop-race away thing when the quilt was on the floor, making a big mess, but now I've put it on the couch and she is all curled up in the middle and quiet. She looks quite handsome there.
Posted by: Beth | November 15, 2014 at 01:44 PM