A compendium of creative crap, quilt-wise, I’ve been doing…

QUILT ONE

I remade the Science Quilt into a  wee size (about 38″ x 38″). Well, almost. Even though all instincts were telling me to stop! on Saturday, after a long and hot day, I hurriedly sewed the binding and royally screwed it up. I’m a little in over my head, trying to figure out how to fix it, and feel sick every time I pick it up to do so. Fortunately my sister Annie called and counseled me to leave it the fuck alone until I can rally and approach it with calm. And so it goes. Since I have not rallied nor am I calm, I folded it up and set it on top of the folded full-size Science Quilt (which follows the #7 Rule of Cuteness — A thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute.)

The reason for remaking the Science Quilt (which I’m in the early stages of being sick of thinking about) is that I’m going to enter it into a quilt competition, which has a maximum entry measurement of one meter square.

The competition is “SAQA Frontiers:  Art meets Science.” So, you see. I kind of have to enter it — it’s destiny, right? I make a Science Quilt and a Science Quilt show happens? I have Tanya to thank for turning me on to this competition, and to SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates), of which I am now a proud member.

If it gets selected, it will be shown at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England next year. I am trying hard not to get my hopes up. These art quilter people don’t mess around and the work is often beyond impeccable. And I am not impeccable. Witness, for example, the stunning work of the above-mentioned Tanya Brown, oh my. That’s varsity-level awesomeness.

So whatever happens, happens.

QUILT TWO

There’s a chance I’ll be entering another quilt into the same exhibit — a quilt depicting the night sky, in embroidery. I just don’t know if I have it in me to make all those multitudes of French knots. So many knots! So far, I have the chart, some dark blue fabric, and six weeks. What I lack is impetus.

QUILT THREE

There’s a local “Recycled & Repurposed” Show that is currently calling for entries. I’m going to attempt to make a “quilt” out of pieces of junk mail. It’s actually coming together well, and is so much less labor-intensive than something made of cloth. The timing is good — I’ve been wanting to make a statement about the INSANE amount of junk mail that I receive as a resident of this town. Seriously, it is shocking; the circulars jam my mailbox, two 12-page glossy crap ad packets daily. And there’s no way to take myself off the distribution list. It’s sickening. The paper that I used for the paper quilt is from less than a week’s worth of mail. Bah! So I’m making lemonade, as it were.

QUILTS QUILTS QUILTS

I enjoyed a very short period of bliss, having caught up with all the babies — that is, I crafted (or bought) something for all the infants that I know. But then a friend announced her pregnancy of twins. Sigh.

And my top-secret List of Quilts I’m Planning for Friends and Family is moving at a glacial pace. I cringe to think of the wedding gifts that are way past the one-year anniversary grace period.

But hey, there’s a crafty group of friends here that expressed interest in making our so-far intermittent Crafternoons (see pictures here) a regular thing. That would be great, not only to complete current projects but also to continue to ride the crest of this creativity explosion that my brain is doing right now.

I know that explosions don’t have crests you can ride. I know that.

I feel like a real artist for the first time in my life. Holy shit.