Friday evening I went to the Alliance for the American Quilt, NYCity Metro Mod guild event. Meg Cox interviewed Victoria Findlay Wolf for a QSOS. All of the QSOS interviews are archived in the Library of Congress. The transcripts are added to the the Alliance website.
After the official interview the guests were invited to ask Victoria questions. The one that stood out to me was Jay McCarroll’s asking how Victoria get’s through periods where there is a lack of inspiration for creating quilts. For a lot of quilters, artists, painters and creative types there are sometimes periods where we are creatively dry. Victoria just quilts every day. One of the opportunities she has really connected to is her 15 minutes play blog. She and quite a few other quilters participate in 15 minutes of play. What this does, I think, is keep the creativity in focus. I love that.
I’ve had those moments where creativity in quilt making seems to be a little further out of my reach. The more I’ve thought about it the last couple of days the creativity isn’t so much out of reach as I’m not quite as willing a participant for some reason or there is some other creative interest taking my time. For example writing or helping another quilter along in their process of quilt making. Thinking about the process of quilt making or writing about it is just as creative as making a quilt. I’m actively pursing that gift of quilt making through a different avenue which will allow me to more fully enter the actual quilt making process later on.
The zentangling/doodling I do is part of the creative process that allows me to enter into the creative quilt making process in a different way. The doodling allows me to try new quilting motifs without sitting at my machine wondering if I can stitch it out. Then I don’t have to worry about fabric, thread, batting, needles & electricity either. These activities produced a couple of very interesting pieces and allowed me to see where the surface stitching designs can go. I don’t worry so much about whether the little quilts end up looking like the images I doodle as much as I learn to more fully let go and see where the stitching will take me. As a side note I also practice writing & doodling with my non-dominant hand.
I don’t know if Jay will ever see this blog however I might suggest Jay consider taking up quilt making or some other art that is related to quilting might help through those dry moments where creativity seems to elude him.
I’m heading out for an afternoon with the Mod Quilt Guild and a little bit of teaching! Yay!
Happy Quilting!
Teri
I once made of list of times when I had “aha” moments when I wasn’t quilting…OK, it was a mental list. But it made me realize that quilting doesn’t happen just when I am touching the fabric at the machine. If I only “quilted” when I was actually working on the assembly of a quilt, they wouldn’t turn out half as well as they do…and then I really would be wasting time and fabric. The linoleum design on the church floor, my neighbor’s garden, a novel I was reading, a Maine sunset, the stained glass window I’ve always loved that looked oh! so different! after a presentation by Esterita Austin (and I now have that on the “Someday-maybe” list). We’re never dry, we’re just setting up to capture the next raindrops, and the ensuing rainbow.
Adding to my thoughts from Friday, I also work on about 10 quilts at a time, so If i am bored with one, I move to the next where my creativity is sparked… Then when I have “finishes”it looks like I’ve done 10 quilts in a bout a week…
(which I don’t but it helps keep me motivated working this way) Loved seeing you today. Very helpful, interesting, and I want to get together and sew with you more often!
As I chatted with my husband on the way home I want to spend more time with this creative Modern Group! I had so much fun!