"Hey everybody! I had been thinking all week that I was 'broken' because creativity was just NOT happening... I was in a funk. The tide finally turned after finishing a baker's dozen face masks for a friend's medical office.
Woohoo!"
The creative ideas started to flow... I started jotting down ideas and pulling fabric out for some small projects and sketched out some block ideas for my camping journal quilt...
And then I had decided that the pieced backing I had attempted for my Pieces From The Past quilt had spent long enough in "time out" so Jack (the ripper) and I sat down and had some good long talks about how sometimes you just have to try something and if it doesn't work, you try again. It doesn't mean you failed... it doesn't mean you give up... You just try again!
I quit fighting what the quilt wanted all along and set aside my own desires for a pieced backing and went with a unbleached muslin backing. I also knew that the quilt wanted some sort of traditional 1930s style quilting... but I wanted more than just cross-hatch stitching or outline stitching in each block... I wanted something fancier... As I prepped the sandwich I considered options... and then I googled vintage 1930s quilts and studied the quilting of them.
A few things I noticed... vintage sampler quilts did not have sashing strips... vintage quilts often had no borders... and the vintage utilitarian quilts had simple all over quilting designs. I liked the Baptist Fan pattern and decided on that. Except as I sat and pondered the size of the fans and the distance between the arcs of the fan I groaned... I whined... because even an inch apart they would take fooooooorevvvvvvvver!
I reasoned and rationalized that the quilt already has a modern spin to it because of the sashing strips and borders... I decided I would make jumbo fans.
It was exactly what the quilt wanted! With each arc that was stitched I felt hope grow... like that little mustard seed of faith.
In the current times of the Corona Virus and stay at home orders and the fear of "what ifs" and statistics that are delivered to us via news stations and social media we have to work extra hard to hear what the message of the mustard seed is... it is faith! It is hope!
It is okay if faith starts small... It is okay if sometimes it falters and fear steps in again... Just like the conversation that Jack and I had... get yourself up brush yourself off and try again!
I will be finishing the binding on my Pieces From The Past quilt with another bit of a modern twist... but I'll save that for another time.
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!
If you have been struggling with creativity and joy in quilting (or other hobby), have you "turned the tide"? Where do you go for inspiration?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!
That is all... carry on!
Melva
Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Pieces From The Past Sew Along
that features vintage Kansas City Star quilt blocks!
Linking with:
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
No struggle here. I still value my creative time, but I'm still going to work every day.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed your writings about mustard seed faith. Your words were true, encouraging and so compassionate. Thank for such a beautiful post!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Melva. What a lovely post! I have been struggling to find my creative mojo, so to speak. I am fortunate to be able to work from home, so I've been using that excuse for not doing much sewing. Of course, that doesn't work on the weekends! I am starting to feel like sewing and to even care about it again. The calmness is definitely faith and hope - faith that He will take care of us and knowing that will too shall eventually end. The modernized Baptist Fan pattern is just the perfect decision for your Pieces quilt. I am really looking forward to seeing it! Our embroidery block is all finished and it is gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I'll share it next week. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteI find sewing such a refuge from all of what's happening in the world today. It's my place to escape. That being said I'm finding it hard to find something I want to work on - it can't be too complicated as I need to be able to lose myself in it. I did find one project, which became two quilts and obsessed over it until the quilt tops were done. Now they are done I'm finding it hard to figure out what to do next.
ReplyDeleteI really like your modern baptist fan quilting. Such a lovely twist on a traditional quilt design that's perfect for your quilt.
I'm trying to use sewing to distract me from all the news. There's just so much one can take. We're at the end of week 3, hubby and I have come to a good routine of working from home for both of us. It's nice to have lunch together every day.
ReplyDeleteNothing has really changed for me since I already work from home and only ever make one trip a week to town for groceries. Our county officially has its first confirmed case as of Wednesday. I told DH a couple weeks ago that as soon as it hits our county I wont be going to the grocery store. Needless to say its fixin to get real for me. Creativity and inspiration can be found all around you if you just open your eyes and mind to all that nature has to offer. Often times just looking at the colors of nature sparks an idea for me. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your funk, and I'm so glad you found your mojo. Sometimes we have to go backwards in a project to go forward. Thanks for linking up to Wednesday Wait Loss
ReplyDelete