Words

I love quotes and collect them. When I finished the last Rules quilt, I didn't want to do another quilt with letters for a while.  So I made the Four Seasons quilt. I wasn't really thinking about another letter quilt. In fact, I was kinda lost without a project until I decided to make the Red Sticks.

Serendipity stepped in. After I wrote the post about Picking Up the Pencil, I picked up a book by Twyla Tharp called "The Creative Habit." 

I'd had the book for years, but this time when I opened it up, the title of chapter 5 really spoke to me. It is:

Before You Can Think out of the Box, You Have to Start with a Box.

It really hit home, and instantly I knew it would be my next letter quilt. I started making notes about it in my little sketchbook, and even drew a rough layout. I didn't immediately start buying fabric or figuring out how I would go about making the quilt though. I didn't have enough information. The idea needed to gestate, to percolate, to grow, to develop.

I had some basic ideas of color though. I knew I wanted the "magic box" to resemble a magician's top hat, I knew I wanted it to be black, I knew the opening had to be a bright white and that white had to be used sparingly in the quilt - that elements coming out of the hat could be bright, but everything else would have to be a bit duller.  Should the background be dark? I didn't know.

After a couple of weeks, I ordered some creamy batiks and (gulp!) an "Ultimate Pastel Batik Packet" of 25 pastel batiks (for $70USD).

After wrestling a bit more with ideas, I finally realized that I would not have any answers until I started sewing, so I made the magic box.

I was thrilled when readers "got it" right away by seeing it both as a stylized box and a magician's hat, which was precisely what I was going for.

Last night I made some words.  These haven't been trimmed down to size at all. They will be a lot thinner. (Think Make It Work)

 This is one of those quilts where I sorta have an idea of what I'm doing, but the idea isn't complete, finished, carved in stone.  I sorta know what "Before you can think" will look like, and I am pretty sure I know what the background fabric will be, but that could change. I have some ideas to do for the stuff that comes out of the box, and how I might do some of that stuff, but I'm not quite sure.  I know what the "starting" box will look like, and I've chosen fabrics for it.  That leaves a lot unplanned. I don't know where it will go, I don't know how it will turn out, and I may scrap everything I've done if I get a better idea.

None of which bothers me one bit.

Stay tuned!