Seems like it has been a slow start to this year when it comes to creating new works. I have hardly worked in the studio lately. It has been months since I finished my last quilt. Yet, the way time is passing by, something tells me I am extremely busy. I better sit down and really think about where it really goes.
Here is the last Kawandi I finished early this year. This one started out as wanting to take a break from my usual palette of colors and needing to work with texture. The choices of fabrics were random because I always want to achieve that scrappy feeling in my quilt. I do have lots of fabric in my stash and I could spend hours curating fabrics for a new quilt. Sadly, most of the time would go into pulling out fabrics and then refolding and putting them back again.
Who wants to do that?
So I pulled whatever was in front of me and got it going. Initially I thought I was going to mix solids and prints.
But once I started stitching the patches on top, creating contrast with prints alone made more sense. So I added small prints, large prints and everything in between. Some of the fabrics were really easy to stitch through and some were quite thick as I was using shirts and dresses from the goodwill store just because I like some of those prints. After all these years of quilting, I still see some fabrics show up in multiple quilts and I can't seem to get rid of them. I must really love them!
Here is the shirt from the Goodwill store. I loved that print and wanted to make sure it got perfect spot in the quilt.
How about that hot pink? That was a vintage mini dress I picked up in San Francisco Goodwill store. I love the way it pops off of all other prints.
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I am not sure If I am completely sold on a Kawandi with all prints. I spend so much time stitching on them but because of all the prints, the stitching gets lost.
The reality is, no matter what I plan before starting a Kawandi, it really doesn't follow the direction I want to give it. It has mind of its own. I just put one scrap next to the previous one. Is it mindless sewing? I don't think so. If anything, it is pretty mindful. I am engaged in making decisions, enjoy every stitch and the way it evolves.
When it comes to those last stitches in the center, game time is on! I better be able to stuff all of that quilt in my left hand so I can stitch with the right. It somehow gets done. The last stitch is taken and for the first time I really can see it in its full glory.
A fascinating process that teaching me so many lessons of life itself. Being in the moment is the biggest one of them all. This one though, I think it told me to take a break from flowers for a while.
Sujata
