Spaciousness

Its always fun for me to baste one of the quilts. Several years ago, I realized I could take advantage of the clubhouse and push double-long tables together rather than to struggle trying to baste on a floor at home. I've got it down to about 70-90 minutes. In the past, I might even pushed three tables together if the quilt needed extra space.

Spaciousness is something a lot of women struggle with. I read, a long time ago, that female executives will take less room at a conference table than their male peers. To look confident, the article suggested practicing taking up more space and examining how we set boundaries.

I always check front and back measurements at home, but it isn't until I lay it out at the clubhouse that I know if it will fit. This one hung over the right side a few inches. What I did was to pin baste most of it to that edge, then released the holding tape and pulled it gently to the left until the other few inches were on the top of the table. Then I finished basting with thread. The batting and backing edges were left to trim after it is machine quilted.

It seemed the lesson of this quilt has a lot to do with learning flex-boundaries and how to take a broader view and see how that flexibility affects the outcome.

Usually, this is also the time when I think about how it will be machine quilted and also the time when I give the quilt a name. It was a scrappy mystery quilt, so I had no idea how it would look. I think a diagonal grid will work best on it, and I may even wash it again before giving it, just to make sure the colors do not bleed.

With that imagery of a woman sitting at a conference table with various people, it seems to show that we are always faced with expressing our personal power wherever we go and in whatever we do. 

Same with these quilts. I can take a stance of 'power over' the project or step into a certain partnership with my projects and express who I am as 'power with' the creation. Each one of them evolves in my mind as well as becoming a quilt through every step. I am faced with choices and the need to shift gears and adapt to my materials and environment.

I learn by doing, by seeing the play of light, medium and dark, by using what I have to create the spaces and spaciousness that exists within me and for the projects.