An Urgent Need to Create

Stack #13

18x18" Fused Cotton and Silk

I have a million things I must do today, but the first and most pressing matter was to make a small quilt. I got up early, didn't blog, and instead went to the studio, before the rest of the world woke up.

Yesterday I tried to make a sample for a class project and it turned out icky. This left me feeling that I needed not to make samples, but to make a piece of real stuff.

Immediately I think I have forgotten how. It has been days since I made a quilt. And in the interim, I cleaned up my studio to Immaculata Status, and that is so hard to mess up by working again. Then I look at things I previously made and some sketches, and I feel better. Staying with my new education (stick with a color scheme) I unrolled some warm colors and dug out some similarly colored scraps. Scraps are essentials in the kind of stacking design I do now. It also helps to have some pre-made strip collections.

I dive in.

Ahhh.

While working I listen to National Public Radio and the first two hours of news gets repeated at seven am, which is a good time for a break. After a small bowl of cereal I got out my new library book on cd, Anne Lamott's Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith. I heard this was good. It is true. I am into it after only one disc. I decide to quilt the small piece I finished, and put off the work I must get done, for another hour or so.

The new piece has uneven edges and lots of frayed parts, but instead of doing the fringe finish of the previous three Stacks, I decided to add a 'border' and Escape Hatch the piece. This means that the fringes stay, but the final edge is smooth. This is so not a traditional border.

I did it that way for the sake of comparison. I like it. It works. The piece still looks rebellious, yet in a 'controlled by the artist' way.

There was a curve in the one area that I wanted to define and did so with the quilting. Stack #13 underscores my understanding of the phrase "Art is made primarily for the artist". I had to make this piece to satisfy a need in myself. I will continue to do so until that need evaporates.