“I think it looks like a story unfolding….once you get your hands moving, you’ll figure out a direction.”
That’s what Emily texted me back after I told her I was having a hard time getting started on making some potholders and texted her the photo of the one above. She was right. And it was good to be reminded about the importance of getting my hands moving.
I can only do so much by thinking about what to do. Sometimes it’s just a matter of working and figuring it out as you go.
I stumbled around my studio looking for inspiration finally accepting what I was feeling instead of fighting it.
That’s when I decided to start small. So I used the smallest scraps I had. They were in a baggie with the note they came with still in the bag. “Older scraps from my Grandma” it read. “I pieced a double wedding ring quilt top from these…I had Mennonite ladies in Pennsylvania quilt it.”
These scraps are really small. Some too small to sew, the biggest are about two inches and they re all different shapes.
For the first two potholders, I used them for the center of some crooked houses. (kind of like how I was feeling). So that became my starting point for the rest of the potholders.
Then I added a dancing woman to a couple of them.
After that I added fabric to the houses that seemed to work. I do like the idea that they seem to be telling a story, even if I don’t know what the story is exactly.
I only got these six designed. Like I said I had a slow start. But even just looking at them in these pictures, I think I’d like to make more.
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
~Mother Goose
That’s what I was thinking David! Although I didn’t remember all the words. Thanks!