Yesterday I was filled with urgency to make something. I felt it in my hands, my heart. Make something. And as I was putting clean sheets on the beds vacated by family members returned to their homes, I realized I had been thinking for weeks about the sky, the water, and how they were so pivotal to my sense of self this summer. Or any summer. Or winter. I looked at a stack of blue fabric, some I’d dyed, some acquired over time, and I realized I could sew my thinking into a quilt.
I cut long strips of indigo-dyed cotton and some Japanese cotton. 6 inches wide. I cut lengths of unbleached cotton and realized it would be too, well, plain on its own so I found some deep red linen, scraps from a Maiwa barrel where you could fill a bag for a few dollars with offcut. I was able to cut some 6 inch pieces of varying lengths, and I punctuated unbleached cotton strips with these.
So now I have everything cut into strips, pieced into long sentences of blue and white, punctuated with varying marks of red, and today, if I have time, I’ll cobble together a quilt top, the strips arranged horizontally, lengths of sky and water and the miracle of being alive within them.
Staying tuned for episode 2!
Ah, me too! Stopped sewing because I want to make sure I have things worked out. (Measure twice, cut once!)
Theresa, this might be incredibly cheeky (bordering on rude), but I wonder if you might please allow me to borrow your “Redux”? I finished the Sunday Stills challenge yesterday and today a magnificent Green Darner landed on our wall. I’d like to make a post using “Redux” but if it is encroaching, I promise I won’t. Thank you. pp
Of course you should use it!
Thank you! When I learned “how” to blog, my instructor told us never to copy another blogger’s style or key words/phrases. I’m very grateful and I won’t do it again, promise! xx
Oh, I think these things are part of the common hoard — language, technique, there for all of us to use and change and adapt. (Nothing new under the sun.)
Oh Theresa, I absolutely know the feeling of needing to make something, it’s almost primal, I think. Getting totally immersed in a project is so satisfying. Looks like a good start and sure to be beautiful!
June, I made some little design adjustments and began the piecing. A kind of bliss.
I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Just trying to find the best arrangement of the strips! I’ve laid it out on top of my bed and I keep going away and coming back to see what works best.