The Purple Windmill

These are a few snaps from my day at The Olive Tree Market on Saturday. The market is a monthly affair filled with the city's finest artisans, and is such a great way to spend a sunny Winter day. Strolling around the different stalls I felt honoured to be invited to be part of it.

I didn't sell much and it made me glad for my new deal I made with myself before I signed up. If I was going to start selling at a monthly art market, I needed to make what I loved and just turn up with what I had. Boy, did that pay off! It meant I didn't spend the week before abandoning my kids or my home, and then on the day, I could just enjoy the sun and the time out of the house and the interactions with different people. It seemed like the most valuable reason to be there was to connect locally again. New friends dropped in who had been following my blog and knew my story this year and wanted to meet me and see my quilts in person. I really enjoyed that. 

(By the way, that beautiful, hand printed work next to my stall is by Billie the Kid. I want her to print panels or FQs so I can buy, ahem, someone can buy them for me, to quilt with. If you agree, head over and let her know!)

Anyway, the main reason for this post is to actually show you this new quilt. I wrote about how I made the block here. I've found it so interesting to follow my last quilt, which disappointed me, with this one, just purple and grey, and simple and regular, yet I love it. I mentioned in my last post that I started with scraps, as I am now in the habit of doing, but along the way, I changed tact and started pulling out my favourite pinky purples from Denyse Schmidt and Anna Maria Horner. There was something about this change that gave me the feeling I get from a really nice red wine. (It is a red wine kind of quilt, don't you think?)

So the windmills are made out of some prints I love, and other ones I was just trying to use up, and then there's that floral Garden Party print with the olive green and red flowers, that I've never really liked, but I loved what it did here. A slightly different shade and the right amount of clash, which as a whole print doesn't really do it for me, but cut up in something like this, perfect! How does she do it?

It's tempting for me now, in light of my recent musings about creativity and satisfaction, to say, "Yes, what I really love is blocks," or "I just need to avoid primary colours," or "I just need to pay attention to those feelings of doubt when they come." But sometimes pushing through them pays off, and sometimes experimenting without keeping tight reins on the project does too. And if there's anything I really need to take from this, it's that art is a bit of a game. Sometimes you win and other times, you don't. But certainty is not the thing to aim for here. I'm aiming for beauty, self expression, integrity and humility. And these are qualities that are uncertain, intangible, but I hope, slowly, they are starting to show through in my work.