Pondering possibilities

Lest you think all of my ideas are good ones, here is the story of the gold quilt. It's not a bad quilt, but it's not a great quilt either. It's one for which the jury will remain out for awhile yet.

I started this quilt a couple of years ago after making what I consider to be a great quilt in red and gold. If two colors make a good quilt, I reasoned, a monochrome quilt also holds some interesting possibilities. Looking at my supply on hand, which was heavy in gold-tones since I usually substitute gold tones for whites because I love the softening effect it has on other colors, I decided to make a solid gold quilt. I chose a design that depends on strongly defined seam lines, rather than a focal point like a star. And, I started cutting and cutting and piecing triangles. After piecing 3" right triangles for what seemed a reasonable time, I actually put them together to make some 12" blocks. Yuck. This was one bland block. Not in the mood to be bogged down in blandness, I put all the pieces in a shoe box and moved on to something else. That is the advantage of having multiple projects at hand; there is always something else to work on if one becomes overwhelming -- or disappointing.

Last week, on the way to Racine, the gold quilt moved forward in my mind through some unknown force of the quilting universe. What if it is quilted in metallic thread with all things gold that could come to mind? Free motion quilting in one continuous line of script would be very creative, not be mention lovely: silverthreadsandgoldenneedlesonstreetspavedofgold, etc. By Wednesday, that script was turning into a poem inspired by the poem on a pot I did for a poetry class once upon a time. And the very early hours of every day found me sewing pieces together with that creative fever of a sparkling new idea.

This morning, I started putting it together. It will be a 72" square of gold diamonds, intended to hang on the wall behind the spinning wheel. This shows 1/9th of the quilt -- a 24" square. The idea of the lines, rather than the color, creating the design, is evident. Still, the overwhelming tone of the quilt is not as exciting as it was in my mind. It is, politely put, boring. It is also not an appropriate slate for the golden poem running through my brain -- that requires something more linear than this design. Those notes will stay in my inspiration book for the right opportunity. No, this quilt isn't bad. It's just not great yet. And so, while I will finish piecing this 72-inch square today and maybe even tape it to the wall behind the spinning wheel to see how it looks, even though I know full well it won't provide the contrast necessary to show off the spokes of the wheel, it is already apparent that it may end up back in a box to be mulled and considered and imagined with different quilting designs or possible borders (would a red-piped deep gold binding bring it out of bland and into brilliant?). It may even visit a quilt shop or two to be auditioned against possible border fabrics. Or it may just be a plainish quilt draped over the back of chair ready to be pulled over whoever needs a bit of warmth. The neutral color palette would be a nice light summer look on a red chair and since most of our nap quilts are pretty wintery looking, that's not a bad possibility. It might even be a good one. I'll think about it.