High on a Mountain Top

When I am going through a big project phase, it is nice to take a few days off from the snuggle sized pieces and create something small. Since January — which feels like a decade ago given the happenings this year — I’ve had a wedding project in my queue for my pal and former workout buddy. This couple loves the mountains so I knew that the design of their gift must represent their affection(s). I sat down many times to work on this and tried everything to trigger a design inspiration: I sketched, I layered scraps, I drank wine and I sought out photographs for inspiration. Sure, I could have made something to get a present out near their August nuptials; instead, I procrastinated. I often wing my designs, and am very happy with the randomness, but since I had some semblance of an idea percolating here, I needed the time and space for it to develop.

Last weekend while sorting through my scrap bin, I came upon a ziploc filled with 2 1/2″ squares leftover from ages ago. Aha moment! Using this bunch of pre-cuts in a nice natural palette and a contrasting fabric, what if I made a stack of half square triangles (HST) and just see what happens? I am LOVING black fabric right now and for contrast, there is no comparison. A couple of hours later, I had a pile of half square triangles to play around with. So after all of the ruminating, my design inspo for this quilt was triggered by a pile of scraps in a baggie.

You can do so much with the humble half square triangle — the opportunities are endless. A friend told me of a great book using only the HST; I simply must check this out. For this design, I laid out and photographed many iterations of blocks, including pinwheels or a repeated block for an all over design, ultimately settling on the above. I love how the top four rows turned out and the unpredictability of this piece; it is both modern, traditional and mountainy in a unique way. I added a border of aspen fabric to up the local feel of this quilt. To finish, I hand quilted with a light blue Perle cotton, a much thicker thread than I am accustomed to, which gives the overall piece a more rustic look. The backing fabric is a very muted Kaffe Fassett feather design because birds are awesome.

When I asked my friend what kind of music she listened to, she said, “country like Sturgill Simpson and Willie Nelson”. Willie, I’ve got this, but, gulp, um Sturgill? Apparently I was the only person on the planet unaware of this musician because even my husband said ” oh yeah, Sturgill is awesome”. Doh! Anyhow, it was exciting to listen to a new-to-me artist and I know what all of the fuss is about– he IS really amazing! So as I made this piece, I took myself on a country-inspired journey, starting off with Willie (like the mighty HST, Willie can do it all), stopping by Townes Van Zandt, delving into Sturgill (the album cover for “High Top Mountain” looks like a quilt!), dipping into some Chris Stapleton and Ryan Bingham and finishing with Lucinda Williams. After all of this incredible music, I was at a loss for a quilt name and my Gee’s Bend heroes told me to name every quilt. I mean, not to stereotype, but a lot of country-esque lyrics aren’t exactly about love gone right, so I needed to find a song with an appropriate sentiment. (Another somewhat common lyrical theme is marijuana and I’m not just referring to Willie here…to be clear, this quilt name is NOT about weed.) I then remembered that Loretta Lynn sang about mountains on that Jack White produced album in the mid 2000s, so I tuned into her and here it was — my mountain song and quilt name. “But we’re high on life and rich in love” sings Loretta and yes, at 8,500 feet, both are true.

Albums listened to: Willie Nelson, “Stardust”, “Always on my Mind”, “Shotgun Willie” and a best of Willie; Townes Van Zandt “Legend: the Best of Townes Van Zandt”; Sturgill Simpson, “Hightop Mountain”, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”; Chris Stapleton “Traveller”, “From a Room – vol. 1”; Ryan Bingham, “Fear and Saturday Night”; Lucinda Williams “The Ghosts of Highway 20” and Loretta Lynn “Van Lear Rose”.