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Quilted Block of the Month – Brain Overload it’s a Think

kal 2 use this oneGood Saturday morning friends. This is a morning of several tales of how we, as creatives, can over think things, make some mistakes, and that we can recover.

So, this morning as I sipped coffee, and realized it’s Saturday. Saturday, you know the day I’m committed to posting the Quilted Block of the Month. I got nuthin’! Nuthin’ dang it. The quilt is sitting in front of the Sizzix taunting me. How you might ask? Well, thank you for asking the question because this deserves something of a discussion.
But first allow me to pause and share this blog that got me thinking about what to write this morning, that I do have something to share. In the first few paragraphs the author, Sarah, writes about dropping things, and how this triggers memories from days long gone, and not in a straight line order. One memory is older, one is newer, all associating with the dropping and catching, or tossing from one hand to the next of some object.

These  words evoked a ton of images in my brain. Seemingly scattered, yet all meaningful in a delightfully weird, connected way.

You see this week has been fraught with some frustration, some serious work, and some honest-to-goodness solutions. If I were braver in this moment I’d show you the creative mess I’m working in (don’t judge, it actually works for me). I’d love to be in a tidier space, however it won’t happen until we decide to repaint this room in the autumn orange I’ve been jonesing for, forever. Then everything will come out of the room. Now this has me thinking about replacing the flooring to something other than carpet because the chair I have sinks into the carpet making hard to move, even with the huge chair mat underneath it.

I’m working on a quilt that needs to be ready for Quilt Market. In and of itself this is not a problem, I can, and do make quilts. However there are some specifics about this quilt that need to be in place. I was having some trouble, and realized I was using the wrong product.

dance bang head 1975First of all, I felt like a bit of an idiot at first. Then I realized, I’d made a mistake, it’s fixable, and I can move on. Done.

I’m also working on PowerPoint presentations for Quilt Market. I realized a long time ago that I do a lot of thinking before working something out. When I was in high school I’d do term papers and other things right before they were due. Sometimes the night before. I’d partly get myself all worked up about the due date, and what I had to do, then just sit down and get it done. What happens is, all of the thinking that happens when I’m all disconcerted end up being wildly productive. With the two I need to work on one is nearly complete and the other is still wandering about my head a little bit, however will be done in short order.

Now, back to the quilt. The possibilities for quilting are endless. That said there are a couple of ideas niggling at the back of my brain. I’ve wanted to highlight the circular movement that happens as a direct result of the angles in the quilt. While looking at the photo this morning I have a clearer idea of how I want that to happen. And it’s not how the original idea or thought.

So while thinking about what to write this morning 5 different options presented themselves, that I like. As of this moment I’m not quite sure which of these will win the incredibly vehement discussion in my head. Once that happens the discussion for thread will begin. And that, as you know, is a rather complicated, and involved discussion. Stay tuned. This should get really interesting.

While I’m often confident when I get started stitching there is still a struggle inside my brain for what will happen over the surface of a quilt. You’d think after all this dang time it’d be really easy. Nope. One thing leads to another, and another, and another. Resolutions come in the midst of come really weird, self-berating things that whizz around at light speed in my thoughts, and dream.

Now that these words are finished typing I can get to the sewing machine and finish one of 8 projects, all vying for attention. At the same time.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

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