I’ve had the urge to start a new fabric painting for a while. But it always seemed like I had something else to do, something else that needed to be done.
Normally I would have spent the day backing and tacking my quilt that I finished designing yesterday, but I’m waiting for a new roll of batting to come in the mail.
Today was the first time in a long time, that I didn’t have a bunch of things lined up to do.
So after lunch, I went for a walk in the woods, wandering off the path for the first time since the beginning of the summer when I came back from the woods covered in ticks. It’s been cool for the past few days and the gnats and mosquitos have disappeared, so I figured the ticks were gone too.
I visited a favorite tree then Fate and I walked aimlessly, coming too soon back to the path again. But I let the woods lead me and walked the familiar path letting my mind wander instead.
I was trying to switch gears, getting my head into a place where I might be able to begin a new fabric painting.
I had a vague idea for another fabric painting, something that’s been rattling around inside of me for a couple of months. But when I thought about it, it felt tiresome, like I had thought it to death and had no enthusiasm left for it.
So I let it go and instead looked through my collection of old quilts to see what caught my attention, what felt right without any ideas of what it might become.
At first, I rejected the red and white lattice quilt, that I could only see as a pie crust for being too symmetrical and busy.
But the more I let go of the fuzzy image I originally had for the fabric painting, the more I was drawn to the repetitive pattern. And I began to see potential in the red diamond shapes that were worn to just an outline.
So I cut a rectangle out of the larger quilt that felt the right size. Then I picked up a worn-out scrap from another old quilt that was laying on my floor with the quilts I had rejected.
I placed it on top of the rectangle and knew I had begun a new fabric painting.
I imagine the next step will be to sew the frayed quilt scrap onto the rectangle. Or do something practical like make a sleeve on the top of the old quilt to hang it from. But other than that, I have no idea where this is going.
And that feels really good.
It feels just like what I need right now. To trust that whatever is inside of me, that is meaningful and needs to, will manifest in this piece. And to let the unknown lead me to the next step.
