Jumping Jazz Quilts Continue

I’m still stitching away on the jazz quilts, where quilting is partially completed on Jazz 102. Learning any kind of music, art, cooking, or even games like chess, is a process. Quilts, and really all textiles, aren’t just a process of making something beautiful or unique, but it’s about mastering skills that get you to the point where you can actually MAKE what you want to MAKE. Much like a painter learning to mix paints, you have to master your tools.

Scissors largely gave way to rotary cutters – genius!

Hand-stitching is still an art, but it largely gave way to sewing machines – yea!

Quilting on a hoop or rack largely gave way to machine quilting on very, very large machines called mid-arm and long-arms – spectacular!

Why correlate jazz music and quilting? I very often like to listen to music rather than watch TV while I’m making design decisions. TV is distracting. It takes my mind off the art, and the decisions I must make between light/dark, form, line, and 100 other factors. Music inspires me.

While piecing this 2nd Jazz quilt, I listened mostly to Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain, which is simply transcendent. The trumpet, oboe, and castanets are luxurious. Next, Al Di Meola and his greatest hits album – takes me to places I’ve never travelled and makes me feel at home. Both geniuses in diverse ways. Finally, another one of my favorites Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays together on any of their albums. This music gets into your soul.

Yes, in case you were going to ask, each quilt is a 9-Patch. 9 blocks, or 3 rows and 3 columns. Each block is a finished size of 7.5” W x 10.5” H. Not large, just little gems!

Be inspired today, and maybe listen to something you’ve never heard before.

Beth