Voices

Since I started quilting again a few months ago, my morning routine has a new element.  I sit on the couch, coffee in hand, and browse through quilting blogs and Pinterest posts imagining future quilts.  Soon there are multiple tabs open on my browser, each containing one — or several — pictures of inspiring quilts.    Maybe I should try a whole cloth quilt and cover it with graffiti quilting… Something like Negligent Style’s Paint Drips could be a whole cloth quilt if looked at from the back.  The different thread colors seem to paint the quilt…

Or wait, maybe a strong but simple graphic design and lots of room for quilting like this quilt from Sheri Gaumnitz-Zalar…

Or Dyed by 13 Spools.

That’s what I should go for!  Either wholecloth, or a bold graphic with lots of open space.  But which?

“Wait, wait, wait.  Those are gorgeous…but look at these colors!”  The voice seems to come from behind me, but I’m too distracted by the pages opening on my browser to glance back.

That Kaffee Faussett quilt…but I could make it with bold batiks…I have a stack of those that I keep bringing out to look at, purples, reds and blues…  A quilt like that would showcase them…But the quilting would just disappear into the design…

“What about something like THIS!”

Truly Exuberant Color…But maybe the quilting would need to be minimal to not distract from the graphic and color…”Or ooOOOOoo this one here!”  The voice is enthusiastic and engaging.

Would I have enough different fabrics for that effect?  I am mesmerized by how the colors flow from one part of the quilt to the next, the play of color and value.  I forget about free motion quilting for the moment.

“Nice as those are, look at THESE.”  The voice is sharp and clear, as if neatly pressed.  It is a new voice; I don’t recognize it.  I imagine a woman in stylish dress, perfectly turned out, perfectly organized.  A flurry of tabs open before me.

by Carol Doak

Those detailed blocks, points meeting perfectly.  It seems like a dream out of reach.  I remember the Karen K. Stone book on my shelf.. I have just the brown and green batiks for an striking Indian Orange Peal.  Or maybe those blues, purples and greys…

Or A New York Beauty…or An Unusual Lone Star…Some day I need to make one of those…

“But those colors!” “The accuracy!  There’s no way to get that without paper piecing!” “Space for quilting!”  The voices are insistent, each appealing in its own way.  A myriad of future quilts fill my mind.  My stomach growls.

How did it get to be 1 pm?!  I had planned to get some quilting in this morning!

This post was a response to the Daily Prompt and an assignment for Blogging 101

Pleased to Meet You

Write a post in which the protagonists of two different books or movies meet for the first time. How do they react to each other? Do they get along?

(Thanks for a great prompt idea, Christine Goodnough!)

Pleased to Meet You