Flow Chart of a Creative Project

One Sunday in church my brain drifted a bit onto the

plain walls.  "What we need here," I thought, "is some color

and warmth."  Before I knew it I heard myself volunteering 

to provide such in the form of a banner.  And furthermore, I suggested,

why didn't we get cloth scraps from church members from

which to build that banner...?

Oh dear...what sounded like a wonderfully creative challenge took on new meaning as I finally had to admit to myself: Cindy, you have no idea what you are about to do, no idea.  I'm a painter, not a fiber artist, heck, my sewing machine is 40 plus years old....

My enthusiasm begin to wane as the scraps came in.  Not my colors...

As an Austin Kleon fan I remembered a page he had in his "Steal Like an Artist" book:

this is a flow chart of a creative project

naturally I started at "this is the best idea EVER"

Shoot, I was already between "this is harder than I thought" and "this is gonna take some work."

My original idea was to make something beautiful from a lot of random parts, the metaphor being that together we are better, the theme being "We are one in the spirit." But little did I suspect that making all the random parts come together would be such a challenge...rather like some committees I have chaired.  So I had to lower my standard from "beautiful" to "interesting."  (Also like some groups I have worked with!)

auditioning letter styles

Precision is not my strong suit (same deficit as patience) and thus I was as wonky a sew-er as I was a cutter.  And while a couple of folk graciously offered their help I was unable to even articulate what we, or I, needed to do next.  So I bumbled along on the floor of my spare bedroom.

I've now bypassed "this sucks and is boring" and am headed smack towards "dark night of the soul."  We are leaving town and I want to depart knowing the worst is over - so I visit a quilt store looking for advice on bringing my ancient machine up to current standards as well as some "glue" or "fusing" to forge ahead.

oh boy, can I make it work?  With the numerous fabrics all different weights and weaves I've had to "strengthen" some which is a very mind numbing process.  I sorta like where this is headed and if I can get this inner border on I think I can return to it with a little optimism.

Meanwhile, all the scraps that did not make the initial design are begging to be included, they need a role and I am hoping to give them one.  I fully expect another dip in Kleon's flowchart as I approach the phase where I actually have to make three huge pieces come together with machine quilting that is functional as well as adds to the design.  And since this will be a first for me, I may lose my religion before I get to the "will be good to finish because I'll learn something" phase.  But I am determined to make it all the way to "it's done, it sucks (maybe not) and not as bad as I thought."  Hopefully I can pull off "interesting" if not "beautiful."

Stay tuned...more to come!

Plodding Along,

Cindy