Where those tea-time conversations will lead you!
On one morning of October of 2017, over a cup of tea, my husband out of nowhere said, "You have never made a quilt from primary colors."
I looked at him in amusement because he rarely talks about colors. That one sentence made me think little hard. I almost never start a quilt with color scheme in mind. Most of the time it is the mood, some memory of the past triggers the start of a new quilt.
He was right. I had never made a quilt with primary colors. That afternoon I decided to start a quilt just to honor our conversation. I looked in my stash that was available to use. Knowing it was his thought I was honoring, I wanted to work with solids and keep it clean. I had to look really hard for few scraps of these three colors.
I found few shades of yellow to get started. Red was not a problem but I also wanted to use less red since t would be easy for reds to take over in my quilts. Blues were real issue since I don't work with that color much. I found one of his shirts he had put in a pile to discard. That made the cut. That old denim shirt was reversible.. I got to work with two shades of blue. I wasn't trying to create a masterpiece but it still needed that jazz. Something was a miss.
In came the navy blue! I was happy. It now had the contrast I like and definition.
I basted that quilt right away. I was headed to Houston for the IQA cruise to the Caribbean and needed a project to work on in my spare time.
And so it began. I thought I will hand quilt about an inch apart and turn it into a quick finish.
It was interesting to find the colors of my quilt as we boarded on the ship.
I got plenty of spare time on the cruise. Did you notice my idea of quilting lines an inch apart did not have a chance. I quickly realized that for a quilts made with just solids needed more texture to be interesting. So I went to my normal heavy stitching.
On the way back from the cruise, I couldn't help taking this shot.
During next few months, this quilt got lot of stitch love. I made sure to stitch on it the day son and daughter in law shared their good news.
It has come a long way. Slowly but steadily it is inching towards the edges.
Sometimes these stitches remind me of the sad in the Caribbean and oher times it reminds me of all the chain of events that happened in past few months.
I have overcome my fear of blues. No guarantee I will start using them more anytime soon though unless they are men's shirts.
Uneven lines and stitches remain a reminder of constant change we go through, whether it is our creativity or life in general.
Hand quilting keeps me focused through it all and I wouldn't give it up unless I absolutely have to.
Now I have two quilts with blues..
Some day when it is finished (hopefully soon), it will serve as a nice backdrop in our apartment in San Diego.
Happy Quilting!
Sujata