New Thoughts

This blog entry is being typed at 9:07pm on September 9, 2010 on my word program. I felt I needed to read this in the morning before I published my thoughts. My mind will not rest---maybe the fact I'm taking medication for a sinus infection and running a temperature. I'm probably delusional.
Anyway, I was in bed trying to get comfortable when I started thinking about my AAQI quilts. I feel like it is time to try my hand at more expressive quilt with new, to me, techniques. I consider myself a self-taught quilter. No lessons---oh, I would watch my grandmother and her church quilting group quilt in the church basement. I would watch my mother do beautiful applique blocks, but I did not quilt until the 1980's. I tried my hand at making a few baby blankets, they were bad, but my friends accepted them graciously. Basically I see an idea or technique, I get books on said technique, read them and then give it a try. I taught myself to bind quilts, I've had some disasters there too, but now I bind the quilts for my church quilting group, and no one would guess I figured it out myself. I don't work from a pattern, patterns make me nervous,---I like to create my own patterns and ideas, some are better than others, as I'm sure you can tell on my blog.
But, back to my desire to create something more than patchwork---maybe art. This year I wanted to send 52 quilts to Ami Simms and AAQI, but as of this week I'm at 42. I will continue to try to complete my goal, but I want to slow down and create---have a message. Maybe I need to listen to an inter-voice, improve on my skills and step out of the box of traditional quilting blocks.

The AAQI quilt I'm featuring today is called Maze of Memories. I wanted to try painting on fabric, so I found a stamp at the tag sale, brushed paint on it, stamped corresponding fabric color, machine quilted, added some buttons and then just looked at it. Usually I have the name of the quilt before I start quilting, but this time I didn't. As I looked at the the quilt it appeared to be to be a maze within a maze, going no where. As the blue stands out from the muslin fabric, it appeared to me to be standing out against reality. Then it hit me, Alzheimer's victims are thinking in a maze of thoughts and non-
thoughts. Not knowing reality as it slips by their world.
I will continue to quilt for others, in hopes of making a small difference. But I hope to listen to my inter-voice and create miniature quilts that make a statement and satisfy my creative desires. Happy Quilting!