Red Sky at Night reconsidered

Washed and crinkly! My first Kawandi-inspired quilt.

Meanwhile zoning from joy to despair (and not quite halfway back again)....

So yeah, a new plan for Red Sky at Night. Going to morph some of the EPP blocks into a Kawandi-inspired quilt. Yup, that's what I'm gonna do.

I gotta do SOMETHING outrageous that won't land me in jail or further emotional depths. Maybe not outrageous, but unplanned, beautiful. Crafty, but not evil, just saying....

Making the art quilt pictured above, I was truly in THE ZONE OF HAPPINESS. Arranging (and often rearranging) scraps on a fourteen-inch piece of batting underlined with most of a fat quarter, I listened to lots of S artists on my computer; Steely Dan, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Supertramp. Most heartening was Stevie Wonder, especially songs from his 1974 LP Fulfillingness' First Finale. "You Haven't Done Nothin'", pointedly aimed at Richard Nixon, made me smirk. Learning what Elon is trying to do to the Treasury Department makes me shiver.

Anyway.... Even before I finished the art quilt, which doesn't have a name or purpose other than to totally put me in a Kawandi-style mode of making quilts, I wanted to incorporate some of the RSAN blocks. Because what else am I gonna do with them? I'm not going to make that quilt, despite how pretty it would be or how I have a scant amount of machine-sewn blocks prepped. Or in finding nearly a dozen pinned HSTs waiting to be stitched, which I did yesterday because I'll put them in a Kawandi quilt too. A Kawandi-inspired quilt, because my method will involve tacking down some scraps in the middle to hopefully avoid Batting Shift Syndrome. I don't need to wrestle more than is necessary, 'nuff said.

But is it enough? How much of America's current events (shit show) do I need to analyze here, in my head, within my heart.... Effing MOFO president and all who associate with him! Maybe effing MOFO is redundant, but wholly deserved in my opinion.

Okay, maybe that's outta my system for a few moments. Future Me shoots me a smirk. Yeah, I know, stay the friggin' course, blah blah blah. Red Sky at Night blah blah blah. Which is EXACTLY how I've felt about this project since.... Not since completing all but one of the EPP associated with it, but further back, when I first experimented with Half Square Triangles, etc. I spent much of August wrapping my head around basic quilting techniques that never before had I attempted, true story! My first flying geese, HSTs, churn dash block, which might end up in the center of my next Kawandi-inspired project. EPP blocks of a little over nine inches square in the corner, a few HSTs scattered around, or maybe placed strategically along the border. Then scraps; gorgeous vibrant scraps! Because that's what this whole dang planet is made of, a wide variety of humans, all with their hopes, dreams, and a few (or many) nefarious schemes, the MOFO's. Harsh? Maybe. Also truthful because what is happening in America and Russia and North Korea and China and too many other nations to list is EFF'ED UP! Let people be themselves, be free, be happy. Stop trying to force your ugly hatred on others. Stop trying to gain all the fucking (okay, I said it) money in the whole damn world and forfeit your soul. Even Hitler had a soul, he loved his dog Blondie, maybe even Eva Braun. But his soul was strangled by the thirst for power, the need to dominate, the aggression to deem worthless Jews and so many others, his soul had no room to flourish. What the hell is all that about anyway?

Deep breath taken. Rant over. Red Sky at Night blocks, yup, that's the point. The point is last fall I hand-stitched twelve pretty blocks, then left the edge papers in the perimeters because I wasn't sure how easily it would be to press flat the seams, then machine sew yellow sashes along the sides, hoping I kept the points intact. But that wasn't their purpose in my world. In my world, those blocks will be used as-is. Well, I'll remove the papers, lol. Then place them accordingly. Maybe I'll press inward the outer seams of the churn dash block, or leave it, I don't know. I don't know much, lemme tell ya, other than it's another day. A new day! A nice day, no matter what.

Stay the course, Future Me hollers. And yup, I sure will.