Dynamic Design

 A family friend, the Amazing Amber, who can make art from anything, asked me for some design advice for a wall quilt.  Of course I love to talk about design.   Just as a general thing, talking ideas will probably yield inspiration.  When people see my quilts, they ask me is, “How do you get those ideas?”

Whatever you are working on, be it a dance, a song or a computer program, the design process is much the same.  But I’m about quilts, so here’s what I think works for me.

My interest in quilts is a constant preoccupation.  In the back of my mind, I’m always collecting bits and images to use in a quilt.  They stick to me like lint.  Often, it’s a simple thing, like the perfect gold streak in a salmon sky.  Or I may brood on an idea for a long time, like the joy of a small school with kids playing in the yard. The list of people, places, and things I can steal for my quilt is endless.

Then, one day, these bits begin to join hands.  Maybe I can make something wonderful out of all of them. I may start looking in my mind stash for other things I can use, like colors or effects.  I audition these ideas on my design wall, or lay them out on my bed, and I’m up and running.  

So the bits are there waiting to become a quilt.  It may help you to have a little time, quiet and space.  Dolly Parton said that she has to escape to an isolated cabin in the hills to write new songs.  Hopefully, the quilt will begin to talk to you.  You’ll start to see how these elements go together.  Genius will strike. Or not, in which case you start again or put it aside until the creative wave sweeps along again.  I find a small glass of wine helps, but if that doesn't produce a genius idea, you don't mind.