I cannot be the only one who is just utterly exhausted by the constant stream of chatter, news and opinions these days. As someone who for several decades listened to NPR upon waking and devoured the NY Times every Sunday, I am now at the ripe age of 42 extricating myself from all of the noise. I am seeking a precarious (precious?) balance of being an informed citizen without being sucked down the drain feeling helpless and hopeless. Along with constant multi-tasking all day long, I have to wonder if the constant barrage of instant information is going to cause some serious cognitive impairment as we age. Thankfully, I’ve got quilting, a never ending roster of books, a new backyard archery hobby and so much music to keep my mind occupied. Yet, it is just so damn easy to get sucked in and I felt myself slipping back into habits I eschewed.
In my post “Wouldn’t it be nice?” I mentioned a recent quilt challenge with friends where we created 2 identical blocks, kept one and swapped one then compared how the blocks were finished. This is my original block that I created and finished. The reason that I chose this design is because it is the very first block I ever made for my very first quilt, the sweet pea quilt. I wanted to make something that meant a lot to me in my personal quilting evolution and see how someone else interpreted it. A quick deviation here about the sweet pea quilt: I had wanted to quilt for a long time and had the opportunity to learn while living in small town eastern Oregon. I picked the pea fabric because at the time I was an elementary teaching assistant and I called my kids sweet peas. Most of them were legitimately sweet, but the reason for the endearment was that these kiddos had struggles unimaginable to most of us. My goal, besides teaching them reading and math, was to give them love and attention when they were with me because not only were many of them nutritionally hungry, they also were starving for positive attention. If I could show them kindness and safety for 6 hours a day, then I was doing all right. Thus the significance of the pea fabric.
I had an idea of taking this original block and somehow showing my quilting evolution; however, I became incredibly indecisive on how I would demonstrate this in a strategic way. I had the block hanging on a wall in my studio for a couple of months where I swear it would occasionally taunt my indecision. Finally I realized that I didn’t need to think so hard and just get to cutting and piecing. My mind was a ramblin’ and it needn’t be.
I love making wonky log cabins over and over. So I began with cutting the original block up and piecing log cabins inside it and around it. As I started to create the piece, a Gee’s Bend style started to emerge. Ah, my heroes, the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. And I had to add some yellow in this quilt because as Maryann and China told me, “Honey, put some yellow in it” so I honor their wisdom by adding a bit of yellow in to almost everything.
In looking through our musical assortment, I spotted some Carolina Chocolate Drops albums that I hadn’t listened to for a while. If my piece was going to revere both my quilting past and present, then who better than the Carolina Chocolate Drops to accompany me on the journey. The Carolina Chocolate Drops are an African-American string-band from North Carolina that play traditional black string-band and old-time music. They are not only incredible musicians but also scholars of traditional southern music. Rhiannon Giddens is a phenomenal claw-hammer banjo player/singer and her solo albums are absolutely top notch. The Carolina Chocolate Drops remind me that the past is part of the present and that we should uphold and revere the traditional. And they are so fun to see live, too!
I named this “Dona got a ramblin’ mind” because a) it is a great song/album and b) I needed some time to just settle my own wanderin’ mind. As mentioned, I was starting to feel that twitchy pre-burn out feeling from internalizing too much bad news so I knew that I needed to right myself. This small piece and the Carolina Chocolate Drops did just that. I was able to just work, listen, stitch and focus solely on that in front of me. My gut told me to hand quilt this piece so I spent a couple of weekday mornings with a mug of coffee doing just that. It was glorious; now I feel less rambled and scrambled. Thank you little quilt and Carolina Chocolate Drops!
Albums listened to: Carolina Chocolate Drops “Dona got a ramblin’ mind”, “Genuine Negro Jig” and “Heritage.”
Quiltunes 