How do quilts and books intersect? Besides books about quilts, obvi.
How does the making of a quilt intersect with the making of a book is the real question I want to answer.
It seems clear to me but if it's not to you, stick around and I'll explain my thinking.
Words are the fabric of the book.
Blocks are chapters.
The pieced top is the full manuscript.
Here's the deal though - not just any fabric will do. It has to be just right. And most of it works on instinct. What appeals to you. What feels right in your gut.
You find the right fabrics, the ones that flow, and you make a block. The block has to work independently but also as a part of the whole. That first block is what you add every new block onto.
The fabrics must blend into a pleasing whole with some fading into the background - you see it but you don't notice it. This fabric is what makes the brighter colors stable. It keeps them from being too loud. This fabric is the largest piece. This is your every day fabric, it's priced reasonably, it's always in style, it's been in stock since people began quilting.
The bright, the expensive fabric, the one that gets all the attention - you have to use that sparingly. Too much ruins the pattern. It's the pop you want to draw the eye around but not so much that the pattern is glossed over. The magic is in the pattern.
The pattern makes it worth the time and effort.
And see, you can use that same pattern over and over and over again and never make the same quilt twice.
Right now I'm making a quilt for my daughter in college. It's not the first one I've made. It'll be the third. Hmmm, that's kind of weird since I'm trying to finish my third book.
I have to be honest - I lost my creative mojo when I lost my sweet girl Karma and that was two years ago. I'm not sure why making murder words was so tied up with having her in my life day-to-day. I'm not sure why my grief over her death has been so deep. I just know that it happened at the same time and I had to do something about it.
So I thought, I'd get the creation magic back by making something else. Something for my daughter like I wrote WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU for her. Something she could hold and remind herself that she's loved and cherished and worth the hard work.
They're such similar processes I'm surprised no one has created a Quilt Your Way to Your First Draft seminar. Calling Jess Lourey!
I've got the fabric, the pattern planned out, and I'm working like crazy toward my deadline on April so I can give it to her for her birthday. And as I sew the pieces of fabric together I meditate on the murder words. The ones I need for the third book, the ones I don't; the ones that will make up the chapters that flow from one to the next; the chapters that become the manuscript.
If I don't get my mojo back after this quilt. I'll make another. And another. The process will carry me through.
And even if it takes ten quilts ... well, I'll have plenty to make a blanket fort to write in. :)
PS - These are called dog ears - these only apply to quilts. Do not do this to books!
Perfect metaphor! May it be a jolt of mojo. I love quilts too.
Posted by: Tina | February 18, 2020 at 05:04 AM
One of the most amazing small museums I have ever been in is the quilt museum in Paducah Ky. Besides historic quilts the displays include artistic pieces that don’t seem possible with fabric and thread.
Posted by: Susan Neace | February 18, 2020 at 06:08 AM
Great analogy, Aimee. And even when two people use the same pattern the quilts end up unique to the quilter.
You could go further, too, with the purposes for each type of quilt. Some are never meant to grace a bed.
Posted by: Karen in Ohio | February 18, 2020 at 07:11 AM
I love the analogy of quilt making to writing a book. It's the dedication to see what the outcome will look like.
Posted by: Dru Ann Love | February 22, 2020 at 02:49 AM