Clear (before You Quilt) / Sorting Buttons
CLEAR to make space for new creative possibilities
Clearing is an essential phase of establishing a nourishing creative quilting practice. Clearing can include things like getting centered, picking up after you've finished a project, decluttering or sorting. In this instance a small act of clearing, sorting buttons, led me to a significant breakthrough that cleared away or at least loosened a major creative block. External activities such as clearing, can and do have internal equivalents. The key thing is to engage in clearing activities with curiosity. It has to feel like something essential, that serves you in some way, and not like a chore.
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What are some clearing activities you can engage in with curiosity, the next time you are in your studio?
Notice how the external activity of clearing impacts you internally.
Sorting Buttons
Moving into a new studio, comes with a lot of chaos. I have some of the main areas of my space set up so I can start working - the work wall, a makeshift table (want to get this better), sewing machine and ironing station are functional. My storage is still in disarray, and there are all sorts of little things here and there that can use some sorting. Including an old bag of buttons that I brought with me from my last studio.
I didn't feel ready to start making anything, and so I decided to sit down and sort the buttons, just because I was curious and it seemed mindless, and something fun to do. By the time I finished sorting buttons, I had a breakthrough idea for quilting my Quarter Square Curves workshop sample!
Lately I have been dissatisfied with my old ways of finishing with so much hand-quilting. I've been blocked on how to finish recent quilts, and have a stack of basted tops from 2020-2023 waiting to be quilted.
While sorting buttons, I remembered, a long time ago I used to add glass beads and other decorative finishes, and then I came up with an idea to use the buttons as conjunction points for a loosely quilted, irregular grid of diamonds and angles.
Constellation, 2023, Modern improv quilt, quarter square curve variation; made from quilting scraps, men’s shirts, bed sheet; hand quilted with cotton thread and found buttons; 48 x 48 inches.
BREAKTHROUGH! I LIKE IT! What activities, or non-activities do you engage in to clear your inner and outer space for new creative possibilities?
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