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Here is the PAINT collection! In stores July 2014. |
Day 2 of the PAINT party. Today, I am going to let you in on one aspect of my design process–the complete and total surrendering of control.
I am in recovery from control. I used to be super-controlling…seriously. I was a white-knuckler. I thought that the more stuff I could control, the greater the outcome would be. But life had other plans for me, thank goodness. Control is just a tool we use to treat our anxiety and existential dis-ease. When we don’t have answers to some of the big, profound questions in life, we control the outcome of all the small sh*t. And it becomes addictive. It makes us feel better and soothed. And, at the same time, it is completely exhausting because we run around like this: “I’m good enough, see? See how great I am at all this? Look at how I know what I’m doing. Look at how perfect I am…see?” We begin to perfect everything in an attempt to show the outside world how completely awesome we are. But on the inside, we are just overwhelmingly uncomfortable with how imperfect we are–how messy, human, changeable, and scared we are–how terrified we are of everything and of life itself. So we control. But we aren’t in control anyway. It is all an illusion. We use control to self-medicate. If we think we are the one in control, then that places us higher than things like: nature, science, serendipity, god, synchronicity, poetry, divinity, wonder and magic. And that sucks. Because then we aren’t open to all of that wonderful stuff.
So, YAY for a life’s work of spiritual discovery and therapy, because that controlling part of me left the building about 5 years ago. She’s gone. She pops up now and then to say hi…but I recognize her and I treat her gently…and then she leaves.
The team at Windham Fabrics–on every level of the company–is amazing. They all know how to make, design, create, produce, sell and distribute fabric. I don’t. So I just trust them. All of them…whether they are producing the catalog, selling the line, or interpreting the art. They just know. All I do is send them the art part. It becomes like a mind-meld at a certain point–for example: the woman who interprets my art, Rosemarie. She receives my raw art…and she makes it into a repeated graphic file for fabric. I don’t have much input in that process because she doesn’t need it. And I am always amazed by how she GETS IT!
And so it is with the dazzling array of my talented artist/designer/sewinista friends. I don’t tell them what samples I want or need. I ask them to Celebrate Your Inner Artist™.
I consult my tribe. The incredible women of my tribe move mountains to get their creations into me on time for the photo shoot. And then all that gorgeous stuff zooms to my studio and I am stunned each time I open every package. I see beauty and love in every box–the beauty and love of friendship, kindness & support, and of human creativity and ingenuity. People are thrilling and astonishing and magical to me. People are so talented and blindingly creative. All I do is get out of their way and offer them some fabric…they make the magic.
Today, brings us to the work of two beautiful women…two totally different quilts made with love.
The first is Julie Goldin (chickenjulie on Flickr and Instagram). She just has an innate eye for color, composition and intricate design. This year she made this stunner:
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Quilt pieced and quilted by Jules Goldin using Stacked Squares Quilt pattern designed by Erica Jackman. |
Then Sally Keller celebrated her inner artist in the most splendid, creative collage-y way with a tire swing and flowers she fussy-cut from my Lotus print and a tree!!! Amazing.
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Sally Keller, Summertime quilt, Instructions available on her blog. |
I never would have pegged you for being a control freak! I love that you’ve learned to let go, it’s leading you to beautiful places. 🙂 If you have any tips and tricks for letting go of your inner (or not-so-inner) control freak, please let me know. <3
Your new line is so beautiful!!
Love the interaction happening in Julie’s quilt!