In the Midst of Winter, We Dream of the Sun...

Sometimes life can get us down. When it does, we have at least two choices: to wallow in our discontent... or to get up and just get on with it, hoping to find a bit of joy where we can. Surprisingly, option two — although initially requiring more energy to kickstart — also offers a lot more kickback on our investment.

The last two weeks have been difficult ones for our family as we continue to struggle through a time of crisis; but in the midst of the anxiety and the sadness, we have tried to instil joy in the small moments where it can shine:  a sunbeam through the icy window, a smile of trust and mutual support, those brief bursts of inspiration when creativity takes hold and pushes all the other worries aside for a while.

Along that theme, part of my self care during this stressful time has been to revive a long-ignored interest in fabric design, and to create a few cheerful and colourful patterns inspired by tropical islands and sun-soaked shores. I have even created a new shop on Spoonflower (castle_of_miranda) to share those images, and have ordered some sample swatches for myself.

It's late and I'm tired; it's still winter outside, but I think I can find summer in my heart again.

Silver and Gold

Part of the ongoing challenge for designers and makers over the course of our careers is to keep our interests and passions fresh and alive. One way to do that is to expand our design skills into new areas, using new materials and processes. I have been enjoying a wealth of learning opportunities over the past year or two, thanks to the Craftsy learning platform. 

Over the holidays, I made a few pairs of earrings, including these two identical pairs: one in gold and one in silver. Looking forward to sharing more photos soon!

NOTE: An extended version of this post can be found on LinkedIn.

Life Journeys

Our lives are in constant flow along winding pathways. At different times, we all travel through gardens and ghettos, under rainbows and through ruins. If we are lucky, we have good friends and close family members to share the wonder and the struggles, to help us over the rocks and across the streams, to sing and play music and laugh with us as we go.

I spent the past weekend at a quilt retreat, in the company of friends, old and new. All around me, artists created tangible reminders of life's milestones: quilts for weddings, birthdays, new and eagerly expected babies. There were quilts to celebrate friendship and those built with fragments of work begun by friends who have passed on; there were quilts designed to honour different times in history and different cultures around the world, designs inspired by other artists and by our own life experiences. There were projects made to be put to daily use, and those made to be admired. There were quilts made to stimulate the eyes of those who appreciate beauty and those deliberately made "not too pretty" in order to be more effective in stimulating minds that have begun to wander. There were innovative quilts engineered by individuals exploring new methods, and those created in community using traditional techniques. And as always, I came home inspired and full of new ideas.

My weekend was mostly spent machine quilting an Underground Railroad quilt begun in a long-ago class taught by a friend, modified and continued in response to a guild challenge for a "soldier quilt" (or bedrunner) to mark the anniversary of the war of 1812; obviously, I missed that deadline! (more about project background here).

My challenge this weekend was to decide on an appropriate design for the quilting. I had already decided that this quilt should reflect an endless cycle of journeying through life, so decided on a winding and repetitive variation of the infinity symbol with echo quilting for the "pathways" of the quilt, and simple straight lines in alternating directions for the rest of the quilt. The overall pattern reminds me of crossroads and of the flow of time... and like real life, the final result is definitely not perfect.... so I think it works on all kinds of levels! :)

Not-So-Despicable Minions

I haven't made many quilts recently... but I have had some fun making some other things over the past months. I've been using a round knitting loom to make lots and lots of hats... including these ones I improvised for my husband and grandsons. 

Building / Growing

I had a dream about a quilt the other night (yes, quilts are on my mind 24 hours a day!) The pattern was simple and very attractive to me; but even in my dream, my brain was sifting and analyzing to figure it out, to define a deeper meaning, a logical reason why it should be this way and no other (sad but true...this is the way my brain works—problem-solving and pattern seeking even while I'm sleeping—no wonder I'm tired when I wake up!)

When I tumbled out of bed, I went straight to my computer and worked through some tangible responses to my initial vision (depicted above) to define the elements that had meaning for me, extracting the two interpretations shown below.

The arrangement of evenly spaced horizontal rectangles piled one upon the other, creates a solid brick wall. This image speaks to me of stability: warmth and shelter that will endure and withstand the storms and vagaries of time; it represents the things we understand very well and know how to make for ourselves.

But my original vision was in brighter, softer shades which spoke to me of nature, alive and growing... so I altered the shapes in this second version to be vertical, varied and verdant (how's that for alliteration?) This image is all about the mystery of life that sprouts without our help and renews itself despite our misguided or unintentional efforts to suppress it; it speaks of freshness, individuality, and the breeze of inspiration blowing through us.

In the end, I like all three designs... but what sense did my analytical mind make of my dream? It told me that all things are made of basic building blocks, but how we choose to arrange them in our imagination has the power to determine what we perceive. 

Dancing with the Muse

[And no... I didn't mean "music"... in case you were wondering.]

Last night, I got home late (I went to see "Abraham in Motion" at Place des Arts as part of the Danse Danse series...it was excellent, by the way). I wasn't quite ready to sleep so I pulled out my computer for a few minutes to organize and clean up some quilt designs I had started years ago (for example, the Hollyhocks and Lilies design above.) I pulled a few elements out of the design and began rearranging them into repeating patterns and playing with colour placement. Before I knew it, it was 2:30 in the morning and I had created preliminary versions of four different fabric patterns, some in at least ten different colour ways. I'm not sure how final they are, but I have some new ideas flowing now...

When our creative muse beckons, we sometimes need to drop what we're doing and get out on the dance floor... even if we're not dressed for the ball.

For what it's worth, I think that we're also more likely to get invited to dance if we make space for those kinds of opportunities in our calendars and plan to show up...even if we're just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for someone to ask.

Either way, if we're willing to follow our muse's lead, we're bound to learn a few new steps along the way.

Living in a Bubble

I love our little Boler trailer. It's 13 feet long and just over 6 feet wide, and seems to have almost everything you'd need to live comfortably for quite a while (not that we've ever tested that theory out for more than a week or so). Actually, there's no bathroom or shower... and we don't hook up the water tank... and we ripped out the stove and the icebox since we have separate camping stove and coolers...and no heat source...but you get the idea. :)

The colourful version above is a fanciful representation (ours is plain white) inspired by a gift of fabric featuring funky colourful trailers from my friend Heather.

Our Boler (made in Canada c.1975) is lightweight and mobile; we could take it almost anywhere and pull it with almost any vehicle... in fact, my husband has been known to fascinate other families camping in the vicinity by dragging it around by hand when the orientation doesn't quite suit him.

We think it wants to be an Airstream when it grows up.

In the meantime, the Boler's retro curves and tiny size make it an object of interest whether it is parked in our driveway, on the back lot at the cottage or travelling along the open road. We play a new version of the punch-buggy game when we see its brothers and sisters bumping along behind their owners.

We attended a camping weekend with other Boler owners (called Bolerama) quite a few years ago; it was fascinating to see how people had customized their trailers to suit their own personalities and interests, with everything from microwaves to solar panels.

We could retreat into our little bubble as if it were a turtle's shell, a place to escape from the world (and sometimes we do)... but I have also come to think of our little egg as a gathering place, a drawing card that allows us to invite others in and take us out of ourselves to meet and greet and share our stories.

Setting Priorities

A new quilt design inspired by the story below...

I don't know where the story originated, but this is a paraphrase of how I heard it:

A professor stood before his class with a large glass container and an assortment of materials before him. He carefully placed a number of large rocks in the container until they reached the top and then held it up for his students to observe.

"Is this container full?" he asked.

"Of course!" replied one of the students.

"Hmmm... interesting" he replied.

He then proceeded to add a number of small pebbles which tumbled down into the spaces between the big rocks.

"Now is the container full?" he asked again.

"Yes?" replied another student, more hesitantly this time.

"Really?" said the professor. "Let's see..."

The professor scooped a few shovelfuls of sand from a bucket on his desk and dumped them over the pebbles and rocks. As they trickled down into the smaller spaces, the professor asked,

"How about now?"

This time no-one would answer, so the professor simply took his glass of water and slowly poured it into the container.

"Life is like this," he said. "If we fill the container with small things, the big things will never fit... we need to add the big things first and the small things will always find a way to fit in around them."

So endeth the lesson...

Leave None Behind

Life is a balancing act; there are always more things to do than time to do them. I struggle with this every moment of every day: I want to wake up bright-eyed in the morning, bake fresh bread, exercise, eat a proper breakfast, write this blog, work a fulfilling day as a graphic designer, make a hearty supper, finish projects, do laundry, knit, sew and paint, clean my house, go to the cottage, the museum, the theatre, the library, do my grocery shopping, renovate the house, maintain the garden, go for walks and bike rides, relax and meditate, listen to and make music, make and keep appointments with my hairdresser, my dentist, my doctor, spend time with family and friends, answer emails, send birthday and Christmas cards, play with the cat and get ten hours of sleep per night... sigh... you know what I'm talking about.

How do we decide what is important in any given moment? How do we keep from getting discouraged or from getting buried under the expectations we place on ourselves?

My strategies have become two-fold. I try to follow the principles of putting the big rocks in the container first (if you don't know that story, I'll share that one in another post).

My second strategy, for the last several years now, is based on a board game given to us by a friend. The game is called "Ingenious" and I like it for several reasons:

I sometimes win (which is a pleasant change from many other board games).

I get to play with patterns and fields of colour (as a quilter and designer, this appeals to me).

I like the surprising philosophy it requires to win.

The game requires you to keep all the colours moving forward. You don't win by reaching the end line first with one of your pegs; you win by not leaving any behind.

The Magic of Storytelling

I call this one Birch Grove; it reminds me of the quiet strength I learned from my mother and grandmother and includes fabric cut from one of my late grandmother's dresses, leftover scraps of my mom's wedding dress fabric and fabrics from one of my graduation dresses and my wedding dress.

A quilt always tells a story, whether the quiltmaker is intentional about it or not. The story can be about the nature of the relationship between the maker and the recipient; it can be about the history of the quiltmaker and lessons learned from mentors past and present; it can be a message about justice or the lack thereof; it can be a reaction to an experience, whether positive or negative. In my opinion, part of the magic of quilting is that when we share our gift of storytelling, our stories can literally warm, encompass and shelter the loved ones in our inner circle, as well as those we have never met... those who need to know they are part of the story, too.