Betwixt and Between
I am a serial quilter. In other words I work on one quilt from start to finish before I begin my next quilt. However, and it is a substantial however, the truth is my brain toggles between the quilt I am working on and ideas for what to make next. Unlike many artists, I don’t keep an art journal where I jot down or sketch my ideas for future projects. Instead I prefer to let them percolate in my brain. Whatever rises to the surface is what I work on next. No judgement as to whether this is best place to expend my energies. Just simple acceptance it will be good enough.
Breaking Self Imposed Rules
There are times I must break my own serial quilting rule. Now is one of those times. While working on Celestial Celebration my mind drifted over ways to use all the extraneous orange peel fabric scraps that remain. At first I thought I would use them to create the back. Didn’t take me long to reject that idea. Far, far to time consuming. I turned to EQ8, knowing the application would have a few orange peel blocks I could play with. Thus Celestial Harmony was born.
But wait! How could I streamline the technical aspect of making Celestial Harmony? Orange peels either need to be curved pieced, a very fussy process or appliquéd. Neither method is enjoyable for me. I know I could solve this be fusing the appliqué, but I don’t like the resulting raw edges. Could there be some appliqué method that was easier to execute than needle turn or carefully pressing over the seam allowance using starch or glue. There is always satin stitch, but that adds a design element that would be distracting. I may have found or really re-found one. I’ve ordered whisperlite interfacing to give it a go.
The Result
There being nothing for me to work on until the interfacing arrives, I figured I would start making the small 8″ x 8″ pieces to sell at the next November’s Cohasset Open Studios. Out of nowhere the image of a birdhouse in a garden came to me. I was off and running. One 8″ x 8″ finished, nine more to go.
I am linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Fridays and TGIFF.
The birdhouse is charming!
Thank you, Angela. I’m working on finding scenes that will inspire a purchase from a someone visiting my open studio, while also being fun for me to make.
Wonderful project and wonderful quilt waiting to come to fruition! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF
Thank you, Kathleen. I’ve started working on Celestial Harmony this morning. Now to find out if my plan will work.