Squirrel


My buddy Julie posted this photo a couple of weeks ago. She said it was a great way to use up scraps.

I could see that she was speaking truthfully and from experience.

Julie's known to be a squirrel to me; that is, I'll be humming along on a particular project and have the next one germinating in my mind and then I'll look at Julie's blog and something she is doing sends me off in an entirely different direction.

Like now.

I wrote Julie to chastise her for once again getting me off track and she responded with some comments and suggestions, and mentioned that 2" finished squares would make more sense than 1" finished. I concurred.

I had a lot of scraps in the colors I fancy left over from a couple of recent projects. I got busy leader-entering as I worked on Hot Spot and these little guys came together Just Like That!

So I put them up on the wall. I had the idea that it would be nice to have the colors kind of move from one to another -- sort of like the principle of a color wash quilt but with hues rather than shades (oh, dear, I hope I have this terminology right!). And I thought that the way to do that would be to lay them out them all together without the white blocks and THEN go ahead and separate them with the white intervals (I hope you are following all of this).

So I did.

And here's where it stands at present.

It is doing exactly what I had in my mind when I began.

And I'm loving it. Just the way it is (cue Mister Rogers).

My plan had been for a 60" x 60" finish. That meant about 64 colored four-patches and about 64 white squares. I'm thinking now that inserting those white squares will take away from the blur effect I have in mind. 

Himself thinks I should scrap (see what I did there) the white squares plan completely and make 64 more colored blocks. That is daunting.

I've got a couple of other ideas.

One of the blogs I follow, Lynne's, has been very instructive. Lynne is an artist and as such she is prone to reconsidering, taking her time, evaluating, moving things around, discarding misfits, replanning, starting anew. I'm not like that. I'm a quilter. I start a project and generally finish it the way I initially planned. 

But.

I've got one chance with this project. I want to do it right. 

We'll see what happens.

Considering Consciousness Through The Eyes Of A Squirrel : 13.7: Cosmos And  Culture : NPR


 

Comments

Mary said…
I also was inspired by Julie's post to start a similar project. It's my current favorite means of indulging in mindless stitching.
Vivian said…
Every quilter is an artist at heart. I know what you mean: lately my two squirrels are Cathy over at Sane, Crazy Crumby and Katy at Katy Quilts. See it today, gotta make it (or at least add it to the "To Do" list) tomorrow!
Pat Lackman said…
What I see now is a WOWZA!! Love seeing your work and artistry.
Barbara Anne said…
Amen! There are so many glorious ideas to be found on quiltie blogs that it's difficult not to go spinning off in a different direction almost immediately and both Julie and Lynne are inspirational - as are you!
My current squirrel is a 9 Patch project I left behind in 2015 so it's at the forefront now.

Hugs!
Quiltdivajulie said…
I love what you are doing with the idea . . . and that you are going to try a different approach (ala Lynne's) to turn this into a quilted art project! Squirrels rock!
Jan Andrews said…
I like it just the way it is (see what I did there). So creative and colorful.
Millie said…
Thanks for the shout out, Nancy! Let me help with a couple of terms. HUE is the color itself - Yellow, Pink, Blue. TONE is the value of the color - its lightness or darkness. So a TONE is a VALUE of a HUE.

I love the way you have arranged your blocks, and I think your original idea of the creams separating the colored blocks will be very beautiful. I think your husband's idea would be great too, but as you say, daunting.

I LOVE pushing an idea around and seeing where it goes - and I don't care how long it takes me to get there. It requires patience and persistence, both of which I know you possess. Don't measure yourself against me or anybody else. Make YOUR quilt YOUR way, in a way that makes sense to YOU and pleases YOU. I'm sure it will be terrific! You have a great start.
Nann said…
Your design wall blocks look like the design that Julie's grandson put together this weekend. Your comment reminds me of something Amy Dacyczyn wrote in the Tightwad Gazette many years ago. It was to the effect that she was happy to share her experiences but rather than doing exactly as she did, it was more important to understand the underlying concept and then personalize it. That works in quilting, too: using someone else's pattern or design as the inspiration for something similar yet one's own.