break up Patchwork
When you feel a bit down, do you turn to patchwork for comfort? I totally do. After we lost the bid for that graceful 1930’s house, I was dealing with a lot of negative emotions, so I decided to start something new. Luckily I had a bit of inspiration just waiting for me to pounce.
I photographed this basket weave last December, when we were in Germany. It was installed to hide radiators in house we visited. I see hexagons and equilateral triangles, which can be sewn together without y-seams. It’s one of my favorite kinds of patchwork - unusual shapes with a fuss-free machine sewn construction.
I also had a hexagon ruler on hand, which came with a copy of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. Convenient.
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Sew, what are you waiting for??
But what about a color scheme? Surprisingly I didn’t feel like scrap quilting or using bright, fun colors. Instead, I was drawn to reserved gray and navy, imagining a whole quilt of handsome silver stars.
My Dutch friend’s response? “That’s dark.” ( It’s true that the Dutch tend to be direct.) Followed by, “Is that autumn à la the 30’s?” Hmm, probably.
Apparently I can only carry simple repetition so far (like 1 hour, tops). The blue triangle fabrics are pulled from scraps, where I have so many solid navy fabrics taking up real estate in my blue section. A variety of blues? Ok, I like it.
And then, a variety of grays, because isn’t that more interesting? One can organize the grays by value and create a glowing effect. That’s nice!
All last week my Starry Night was growing, and I was feeling more and more balanced and less pained over the house that got away. So, what do you know, color came back! A blush of hope. A bit of blue sky.
I’m planning to work the triangles toward dusty sky blue and the silver stars toward peach, hoping it will still feel elegant and more “handsome” than girly.
We shall see. It’s very much a work in progress and a welcome spot of therapy each day.
