Balance of Highs & Lows
As in everything, our experiences can swing like our moods. Some days are exciting and productive and others not so much. If a person is lucky or really works at it, they have balance in their days. Some great philosopher probably has a theory for it. I think I just simply live it out.
This morning, I cut & pieced Mystery Block #3 in both the 6" and 12" sizes. My friend Carol dropped off a bag of scraps either from her own stash or from the guild give-away table. I pulled out the smaller pieces first to use on this 6" block; cut what I needed and tossed the end tiny bits. They really were bits to start with, and while I know some quilters save those bits too, I do not. The white daisy on black is in every block so what I am making has it as a tie-in fabric. When I saw how this turned out, I realized that I had stopped looking at the actual pattern when I put it together and had come up with a very different block, which is still nice.
My 12" block is done too, & made to specs. Its not that either is 'wrong' because the entire quilt is going to be quite scrappy. AND the 6" blocks are meant to be the back of the quilt & will in no way be coordinated with the front blocks.
This quilt is all about my appreciation for the intensity of black fabrics. Black is interpreted in various cultures and in various religions. In many ways, it is almost the metaphor for the extreme swing between highs and lows.
They say the color black is the absorption of all other colors and is the absence of light. Too many of us have assigned black to the dark side, to what hides and is negative. It can be almost a racial profiling.
Black also protects us, and implies independence, transition, and a strong will (see Goth-dressing). It can be sexy in how we dress, can emit the look of power and authority.
I also know that if it is combined with white only, it is actually argumentative, which is why I chose to make this quilt with colors too. I think the colors brighten the energies of a strict black and white look.
Its almost 10 am here in southern Cali on a Sunday. I have three of the Dream Pillows to close, and one more mug rug to make, all of which go with me on the trip back to the midwest on Wednesday. Then there is some more weed-pulling in the gardens too. Its a day balanced by many things I love.
