Thursday, July 3, 2014

heavy heart, busy hands


This is a quilt top I made well over a year ago. I made it during Hurricane Sandy. Expecting our electricity to go out at any moment, I decided I would just keep busy sewing until it did. Well, it never did (we were lucky) so I was able to get a hefty chunk of sewing done during the storm.

This kind of patchwork is a deeply satisfying sort - once I had decided on pink and brown, all the thinking it required of me was over. I find myself returning to this style of quilt-making whenever I am feeling sad or lost or frustrated. It is pleasantly distracting to sit and sort through my bins of scraps, to piece together similar lengths, to sew up chunky bits and then piece those together - it's not unlike doing a jigsaw puzzle.

I was tempted to begin another one this evening but resisted. It's a way of working that is maybe a little too easy (maybe a crutch?). I want to start something new and challenging, something that I could possibly submit to this year's QuiltCon. But I'm also currently smarting from a gigantic fight I had with a friend earlier today, and I find I can't concentrate on much challenging.

Which is also why, of course, I want so much to be sewing something mindlessly right now - I want the distraction and feel of productivity that comes with keeping your hands busy.
Sigh. 


5 comments:

  1. I had this wrote and of course Google wiped it out: So again: You need to do what will soothe your soul and your heart! You do not need to prove to anyone including yourself that you should have to do some other form of quilting art!! The quilt in your picture is absolutely beautiful and is quite hard for numerous quilters to do, including me!! So if you have found your niche then go with it, it is where you are supposed to be going and when you jump off to do something else you will know it feels rightl!! I love the quilt in the picture, just love it!!

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  2. Gosh, Melody, that is so sweet of you to say. I really appreciate it. :)

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    1. I enlarged the picture of this quilt to look at it again and it is just fantastic!!! Are you going to keep it? could you write about how you do this type of piecing ? like a tutorial? or contact Craftsy and see if you could offer this as a class online? That would be wonderful!

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    2. Hey Melody - it never occurred to me to try to write a tutorial, but now that you mention it, it sounds like it would be a good challenge/interesting experiment! Stay tuned, I'm totally going to try that :)

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    3. I will be looking forward to it!! Lily's quilt is beautiful, and you are bringing it to Iowa, that is where I live of all places. Originally, born in Colorado and spent my childhood in Utah and Wyoming, so I would be a Western Midwesterner. Glad you are writing again.

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