Wednesday, May 07, 2008

One More time

Here I go again; the nine-patch that will be cut up and rearranged. While no two nine-patch blocks are alike, becaues the squares on the four corners are somewhat random -- well, that's being disingenous because actually I gave a fair amount of thought to what I was doing even though I realized I didn't know how it would turn out. But all blocks have a square in the middle with a white background so the final quilt will have pairs of white background popping out. And the "cross bars" i.e., blocks 2,4, 6 and 8 have a tonal consistency, light or dark so when it is cut up I'll have a rhythm of rectangles that are either light or dark. This is a different tonal pattern than I used in previous ones of this design, kind of an experiment to see how it will finally look.
Currently I'm sleeping under the first one that I made which is blues with oranges. It was 4x5 blocks and it is a little too short. So this one will be 4x6 and then long enough counting whatever border I put on. Live and learn, right? Except, even when I lay out four sewn together blocks, I don't have a full perception of how it's going to look. But that's fine with me. Much of what I like about doing purely patchwork quilts is the surprise of the finished product. As I make the bed each morning and pause a moment to study the first one of this small series I discover new things about the rhythms of the colors. All unintentional and probably someone with art school training would find many faults. I'm trying to train my eye and sensiblity but I will never look at a quilt, or other piece of craft or even at fine art, with anything like the discernment I think I bring to the books I read. Some geniuses have been true polymaths, but I'm not a genius and there's no hope of being a polymath, even a very limited one, at my age. So I look at these creations, finished or in the process and try to approach them with a sense of play. I am certainly not going to beat myself up for not having color theory inbedded in my intellect. I'm eager to see what this one will finally look like and if, when the blocks are together I decide that some addition is needed. I wonder already what it could be.

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