The Right Brain Quilter

I am a quilt maker. Not a great quilt maker, but a dedicated one. Making quilts allows me to indulge my true passion in life: buying fabric. I love fabric. All fabric. All colors and textures and designs. So I make quilts. Over the last couple years I've gained enough experience to put together a passable quilt. But each one I make leaves me just a little bit less satisfied.

I race through each project until I get it finally quilted, bound, labeled and -- often -- out the door. Or folded and put away. I can follow many patterns. Although I usually have to change something. I have learned to avoid the kinds of quilts that frustrate me and that I will not take the time to do properly. I will never make a quilt of stunning precision or one with breathtaking needle work. Ever. So I'm moving on to something else.

That "something" is a book I inherited from a friend -- "Color and
Composition" by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker. It's an
incredible book that talks about waking up your right brain. Not that
my left brain is truly awake, but that's another book.

The book is filled with exercises and the authors say at the outset that if
you don't intend to do the exercises, just put the book down as it
won't do you any good. Now,I never do the exercises in the quilting books I buy. I look at the pretty pictures, pull out an idea or borrow an inspiration, then I put the book back on the shelf. This time I'm going to do it differently. This time I'm going to put all my pending projects in a little box and I'm going to do nothing but the exercises in this book until I've done them all. I want to be better. I want to be more creative. I really want to find MY way and stop copying others. And I want to be able to make what I see in my head.

So I'm going to take some time out to learn. Maybe it won't do a
darned thing to help me. But I don't think it can hurt. The tablecloth
can wait. My sister's wall hanging can wait. My friend's grandson's crib quilt can wait. I'm going to just learn for a while. Should have done that at the start instead of jumping into the middle of this thing. Well.... no time like the present.

I am going to be very careful not to violate copyright. I will try to describe roughly what I'm doing and will post the photo of the finished "product". I would be so excited if others bought this book and worked through the exercises at the same time. What a hoot! We could post links to each others' work and share the experience.

So the journey has begun. If you're laughing or pondering the "art" on the page, it's my illustration of the two sides of my brain. As you can see, it's going to be a long road. I think it will be run. Come on back and watch me wind my way through the learning process. I'll try to have some interesting bits and bobs about brains along the way. And I promise, that illustration at the top of the blog will change.

It's going to take me a couple of days to get started. But by later this week I should have something to post. Cya then.