I don't normally think of myself as being an artist.
Most of the time, I am simply a Maker of Things.
I sew, I cook, I occasionally teach, I create in a set model.
But.
Sometimes a project comes along that makes me stretch.
It pulls me and bends me.
It upsets the apple cart of How I Make Things.
This project was one of those projects that makes me feel that I am an artist.
This is the Commission Quilt that I've mentioned from time to time.
It was a back-burner project.
The project I turned to between smaller projects.
The one that sat in my brain and worked at me while I was doing mundane chores.
There were lots of challenges with this project.
From an emotional angle, I was making a quilt using materials that held memories from an entire family. (Gulp)
From a technical aspect, I'd never quilted with knits before, and I needed to find a way to work with the fabrics (mostly t-shirts) so I'd get clean lines and tight corners. (Hello stabilizer!)
My friend and her husband like modern, simple lines.
They like dark or neutral colors.
They don't like fussy, or cluttered, or crowded spaces.
I knew a set pattern would feel trite, but there would need to be order and design.
And I knew that any quilt that I made for them would need to be singular.
At one point in the process, Ms T came over and saw the in-progress quilt squares. She asked about what I was working on, and commented on how dark the background fabric was. I explained who the quilt was for, and my theory about how it would all go together, and she could see our mutual friend in the idea.
I have to say that this is not a project I would have attempted for just anybody. When my friend first contacted me, I was going to say "No". But our conversations were so good, so clear. I could understand what she wanted, and I could see how to make it happen, and she understood my extended timeline. She stood back and patiently waited. There was no pushing, no anxiety, just a strong feeling of faith. When I would nervously check in, she would gently push me back and say, "No, no.. you take your time, I trust you. Call me when you're done."
So, today my friend and her husband came to get their quilt.
Oh my goodness, I was excited. And nervous.
I was so hoping they would see what I saw.
That they would see themselves in the quilt.
We went outside to open the quilt in the sunlight.
I talked with them about the back of the quilt,
about the process of making the blocks,
and then arranging them on the living room floor.
We talked about the order of the quilt, without their being a true, all over pattern.
(Big E calls this "Controlled Chaos".)
Then, they gave me the best compliment.
They said that I "got them".
They could see themselves in the quilt.
Neither of them had had any idea of how I would make the fabrics work, but they knew I could do it.
They had faith in me, as an artist.