Getting there. Or not? I like flickr. It aids memory. Refreshes the heart and mind of the cycles that go ’round and ’round. Some evolving. Some degenerating. Reminders of the seasonal. But, this morning’s search reminded me that a version of this quilt (below), photographed in April of last year, was titled “One Year Into It” – which makes the piece above, “Two Years and A Month Into It”.
So now two things come to mind.
A question – How do I keep my thoughts from turning in on themselves and stewing in a negative pot? (i.e. “oh god, can’t I finish anything?!!! will I ever quilt at a satisfactory pace while working full-time? does that make me wrong to do X or Y?”).
And a NOTE TO SELF – perhaps it is time to employ a trick. Like the one I used to make a quilt in honor of the women of Gee’s Bend. THAT trick was – quilt must be made ONLY with scraps on floor or worktable and had to be designed in a single session.
For this, what? A deadline? No – it has to have something more than that. Any ideas?
Work from the bottom up? Letting the blue seep up and in (the rising waters associated with global warming) Let the blue be the filler when two irregular patches are coming together? Let the OFF-ness of the blue – its unintentionality, its potentially non-pleasing placement – stand for the idea that the consequences of global warming are unpleasing, don’t fit, and create mismatches of a truly awful nature.
Not to get too serious about it all, of course – because being too serious is a great way to stay stuck.
I’ll be no help on a deadline, but i just have to say MY GAWDZ i love your fabric choices—SO exuberant! I can see this one as a “warning”, but rather as a celebration of what we as the world DO have.
thank you arlee — i like the idea of celebration as opposed to careening into disaster!
yeah not too serious.
nothing about quilting was meant to be so freakin serious.
saying that
you don’t know the importance of the piece you’re struggling with until it’s finished. i don’t think years is a long time for a quilt and i think it’s ok
to let something sit until it’s ready
and if it’s already stressing you out it may not be a good thing to work on anyway.
now with that out of the way
try to find a quiet place. i do my best when i make myself go somewhere with no distractions…..computer, tv, kids, and just give myself an hour of solid time.
usually it’s my mom’s house when she’s at work
and boy what i can get done when i give myself no other alternative.
and i also like some good music while i sit and sew.
for me it’s all about relaxing these days.
i hope you get it all figured out because that quilt is too darn fine to sit unfinished.
i adore you use of fabrics and colors.
love you! love this! hang in there…..by needle and thread…..
SERENA – thanks for the ideas… the stress part of quilting is a thought-aberration… of the two years and a month on this quilt, MOST of the time it was sitting downstairs, patiently waiting for me to work on it. That thought process is easy to dispense with. What’s hard is frustration I feel during the section of the design process where I substitute, swap, chop, rearrange, over and over again without any real sense of moving forward, or of improvement. THEN I start to wonder WTF I’m doing.
It happens almost every time, so maybe acceptance is the key. I will try music. And the kind of quiet you describe, I can avail myself of these days, so that, too.
Thanks again.
maybe it’s more about an ongoing process than trying to have a finished product? It’s so gorgeous already that if it never went a step forward, it’s already a joy.