The Dream

I want to share the delights and the process of designing a quilt.

I don't want to talk about the technical ways to design because there are many different technical ways to design a quilt.

Rather, I want to talk about the spiritual and philosophical aspects of design.

It's a funny thing to write about something that seems so organic to me.  It's sort of like explaining how I breath or eat.




I've never thought about making the process formulaic, but I feel the need to try.

As I think of it, this is how I'd write it down.

DREAM ---> TRANSLATION ---> REALITY

So, that's the formula.  Pretty groovy, huh?  I just thought that up.

There can be no product without construction, and there can be no construction without an idea.

Now, I'll try to discuss each of these three phases.

The Dream

It all begins with an idea, or one might choose to call it a dream.  Something that is purely ethereal and magical.  Something that no one else can see.  Something that, oftentimes, I'm not sure can actually be built.

But I do not concern myself with construction at this stage.  This is only about dreaming, not doing.  I don't move to the physical before I finish dreaming.  I allow all possibilities to exist in my mind as I dream.  Here, in my mind, there are no limitations.

Also, I don't think about how long building my dream may take, nor do I think of how difficult it may be.  For now, I only dream.

Sometimes the dream is born only in my head as I close my eyes and contemplate a pattern.  Sometimes it leaps from a page of graph paper as I doodle.  Sometimes I see a pattern on a sign, or a cloud, or a commercial, and it sparks something in me.  I may dream on paper or in my head, but it's all part of the dreamworld to me.

Also, I like to think about the people that I know and/or love.  They provide enormous amounts of inspiration.  What do they love?  What touches their hearts?  How can I interact with what I know about them to dream a meaningful design?

And design includes materials as well.  The root of one of my favorite quilts was a bolt of linen fabric that I saw in my LQS last year.  Yes, I was inspired by a plain bolt of linen fabric.  It had no design on it.  Just a plain taupe sort of color.  Why did this strike my fancy?  Because I've always been attracted to linen.

Here's why... 

I'll digress to explain my love for linen, not because it's interesting, but because I want to show you that inspiration may come from anywhere.

One of my best friends was my maternal grandmother.  I lived with her while I was in college and she and I got very close.  Each morning, and many evenings, we'd sit at the little table in her kitchen and talk about whatever was on our minds.  During our talks, she told me many stories from long ago.  She told me of family who had long since passed and of her childhood in rural America in the 1920's.

One of the things that always stuck with me was the fact that her father, my great-grandfather, always wore linen pants.  Why this should stick with me, I do not know, but it did.  From then until now, when I see linen, I am reminded of a legacy.

So, when I saw that bolt of linen fabric in the LQS, I was transported to a little table in my grandmother's kitchen and to the memory of a man I'd never met.

For me, it was a rich moment.  I didn't know where the moment would lead, but I knew that, someday, that moment would be paired with another moment and that the result would be beautiful and meaningful.

That simple bolt of fabric led to the creation of a quilt for my Aunt Libby.  I encourage you to check out my post about that quilt: Libby's Leaves.

Oddly enough, this is the first time I have shared the meaning that linen has in my life.  I didn't even tell Aunt Libby.  No one but you knows why the whole thing blossomed in my head that afternoon.

Your thoughts and memories are where inspirations begin.  Do not deny the power of your dreams as you go about your routine.  Our minds are all active.  We all have memories.  We all create something from nothing.  Who hasn't looked at the clouds and sought to find a familiar image?  This power to create and to synthesize is God-given and it is in us all.

Do yourself a favor and dare to dream.

The Translation

Translation is just building.  But think about this just a bit.  Many of us spend our time translating a dream that was born in someone else's head.  No building can take place without some sort of inspiration, even if you're building a purely improvisational quilt.

But, for me, the real kick that I get out of quilting is dreaming something up and then bringing the dream into reality.

I love spending time thinking about how to make that dream come alive and then using my hands to fashion the dream into reality.

To hold a dream in my hands, to see the dream physically in three dimensions, and to share my vision with others is a delight quite like no other.

Not for the accolades, no, but for the joy that I can share as another is able to see what, heretofore, only I could see in my minds eye.

What techniques do I know that can be used to translate the dream to reality?  What techniques do I need to learn?  What techniques do I need to invent?  These are the questions that go through my mind as I contemplate the translation.

Years ago, I came across a description of language that I had not thought of before.  The premise was that language is used to transfer an idea from one mind to another.  Broken down, it goes like this: 1) an idea is formed in my mind,  2) I then give physicality to the idea with my body as I convert it into sound, 3) you hear the sound, and 4) your mind converts the sound back into an idea.

That's a marvelous way to think of the physical intermediaries that translate an idea to the physical and then back to an idea.

Of course, there are many other ways to communicate.  You are reading right now.  This is a way to send an idea between two minds.

Over the years I've learned how to do lots of things.  Examples include carpentry, woodworking, welding, and crochet.  All of these disciplines have ample opportunity to design and transfer ideas from my mind to the mind of another.

All art forms can be reduced to this concept.  So, you see, the quilt is simply a medium to transfer an idea from my mind to yours as you view the quilt.

Glorious to think of it like this, is it not?

And this is precisely why I love to design my own quilts.  It's not just about geometry and cleverness, rather it is all about communicating with anyone who will pause to look at or touch one of my creations.  They are all creations which first came to life in my mind and are then translated to a physical form with which you may now interact.

The Reality

Now, the object is present in the physical world.  It is no longer an ethereal dream dancing about in my head.  It has color and shape.  It has a certain feel.  It is a thing, not an idea.

I sleep under every quilt that I make for at least one night.  I find comfort in being surrounded by an object that was created in my mind and formed by my hands.

I really can't speak for anyone else, nor have I talked about this with anyone else.  These are my own ideas about how this all works for me.  But, honestly, I just can't understand why anyone would forgo the experience of dreaming, translating, and enjoying the reality of their own creation.

If you know the joy of which I speak, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

If you've been too intimidated to create your own, I beg of you: take the plunge.  I simply can't imagine that you'll be disappointed.

Get the idea?

TheCurmudgeon