quilting

I’ve started a new artistic outlet that doesn’t involve computers, keyboards, and entertaining readers with thrilling suspense suspended in coherent sentences and adequate grammar.

Quilting.

My mom made several quilts before she retired from sewing and recently gifted me with her stockpile of material and quilting accessories. I sewed my children clothes when they were young but haven’t dragged out my sewing machine for anything other than repairs in recent years. I didn’t think I would really get into quilting but decided to give it a go. I hate to see things go to waste and all that material just called my name. (I may have been going through a bit of writer’s block at the time and quilting gave me an excuse not to write.)

My first project just happened to be a little quilt for my second granddaughter born this past March. I decided not to purchase any special “baby” material but to use the pieces Mom had given me. So, this is the result.

Although, the art of quilting is not so different from the art of storytelling, there was a bit of a learning curve for me and Youtube videos have been very helpful and educational. I made a few mistakes but hopefully I’m the only one who really notices.

I found the similarities between writing and quilting to be quite satisfying. Much like setting up a plot, you have to decide upon your pattern. Then you sew the individual pieces together to form squares, (or in writer language: scenes into chapters). Next, you layer the colorful top with warm cotton batting and a crisp cotton backing and slowly begin to stitch it all together with needle and thread. Like individual words forming sentences and sentences forming paragraphs and paragraphs forming pages… You get the idea. Finally, you attach a border (book cover) and enjoy!

Writing is an art and quilting is an art. Right now, I’m better at writing, having put in a few more years in practice, but I think I’ll continue learning quilting as well. It’s a calming and relaxing artistic outlet, (except when I had to rip the whole side of my border off and do it over), and it also helps me quiet my mind and ponder the best way to kill off a character in my newest novel. So, there is that.

This is my second work in progress. It’s about as far along as my current writing WIP. Not sure which one will be finished first.