Buried Treasure and The Creative Process
Once in a while, it pays to clean and organize…A few weeks ago, I found this Mariner’s Compass block buried in a box of unfinished quilt pieces…
I drafted it the old-fashioned way…with rulers and a compass–onto freezer paper. Freezer paper has an adhesive side that can be ironed onto fabric…
For some reason, this project got interrupted and forgotten…only to be found again now…like pieces of gold from a shipwreck…
Now it is hanging on my sewing room wall where I can see it daily and let design choices “incubate” while I work on other projects…
I typically have a few projects in the “incubator” while working on other quilts. Then one day, all the ideas will “gel” in my wee little brain, and I will lock myself up in my sewing room for several hours and plunge into the project…
It’s an odd creative process, but that’s typically how it works for me…What about you? Do you have a “typical creative process“? Do you work a project from beginning to end or do you stop along the way to work on other things? I am fascinated by “the creative process”…
You might also like: The Black Swan
My creative process has developed from reading and enjoying the many talented quilters on the web. I’ve started two quilt tops for my grandchildren, and I’m not going to start another quilting project until I finish these.:)
Wow!! What a gorgeous find. 😀 That’s a really great compass block, Lori. I’m a “Percolator,” too. Almost always, my mind mulls and considers and thinks – both in the foreground and the background – until I suddenly realize I have a coherent concept to work with. It’s quite rare for me to successfully just start in and develop as I go along, although I frequently tweak the concept that emerged, especially when encountering difficulties rendering my idea. I’m the same way with my scholastic writing – which makes me a real absent-minded professor-type when I’ve got a paper due!!
Patience!!! Very nice. Mtetar
Sounds like what I have to do when working on a sermon. I need to stew for a bit before it falls into place.
beautiful! Love the idea of graph paper in a notebook all in 1 place. Mine seem to scatter!
Generally I start a project, & if all is going relatively smooth, I see it thru. But, there have been a couple of times, when there were projects like block if the monnth, where I got behind with this one ckub, & none if them wanted to give me any suggestions ir help, so I just stuck it back. Although at the time my feelings said to trash it. So I kept project & dumped club… They never made me feel like I was a part of them anyway. Glad I kept kit!! Will try & restart it this year!!