Never
Try Anything New

Never
Do Something Different

Never
Take A Chance

It's easy to follow these 3 simple rules and do the same old thing over and over and over and over. I must confess; I'm as guilty of this as anyone.

But once in a while something happens and instead of thinking inside my usual box I find myself thinking inside a different box.

My wife's sewing machine is in for servicing and she is cleaning and reorganizing her sewing room. I was helping sort through the fabrics in the stash when I came across an old batik labeled Carwi No 1077.

I thought it was interesting and began to wonder what kind of quilt design I could create using it.

I never do that. I always create my designs first and look for fabric after. But now I had reversed the order and was starting with fabric and looking for a quilt design.

I remembered an African batik picture I had bought from Pippa Moore and wondered if I could combine the two.

Instead of going to my computer to work out a design, as I always do, I sat down with the two batiks and started  exploring the possibilities. I cut pieces from the Carwi batik to play with before I even had a complete design worked out in my head. Even worse I began sewing without a complete battle plan.

I had decided, what the heck, I'll make it work somehow. And it did.

Now, this is not the most elaborate quilt design I've ever come up with. It's pretty simple. But it is a small step in a new direction.  "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu) So who knows where this will take me.


 





 
This is the second quilt I've made using one of Pippa Moores African batiks. 
To see the first one go to my 7 May 2011 post.