Quilting and thinking

This week has bee half term for the regular classes at Patchwork Corner. I was thinking this meant I had a week off. Well it was a nice theory, but actually I found I had booked four talks in seven days, not exactly a holiday. Still it does mean I get to meet a lot of quilters, read and drive. Just as well I enjoy driving. The driving has given me my first new insight. I listen to music on my mobile phone, it behaves much like any other MP3 player. Usually though I have stuck with listen to whole albums, it seems to me that is how the artist intended me to hear it, so that's what I do. However changing album while driving isn't easy and listening to one album on repeat for three hours at a time isn't much fun either, so I decided to listen to the tracks on random for a change. I was so surprised which tracks I really enjoyed. Some albums I haven't played for months made me smile as soon as I heard the first couple of notes. Equally some I would have said I loved were a bit lacking when heard with the rest. It got me thinking about how I really tick, which then leads on to the quilting again.

I have managed to work on two of my quilts in between the talks. One I wanted to post yesterday is lurking in the car somewhere with the talk quilts, so I will dig it out tomorrow at the last of the four talks. The other I will keep for the Festival of quilts but it's that one that got me thinking. It's another human form, and I am loving doing it. Working on the humans is so different to anything else I do. I feel more connected to my work, more absorbed by it. Perhaps that doesn't seem odd to other people, but I find it very strange. If it were animals I would understand. Animals I can connect to, I love spending time with them, but humans I find very hard work. I would much rather be with my cats than with people, so why do the humans in quilts grab me more than the cats? I wonder if it is partly that I need to work at them more? The car quilt I stitched directly before the figure, was engrossing in a different way. I didn't need to think much, I knew exactly what was where and how it should feel. It was lovely to work on, but didn't have the extra something the humans have. I don't understand why some subjects should have this sort of effect, and I wonder, does this happen to other artists? Is this a factor in how people find their style and subject matter?

Just to reassure those who can't get to the Festival of Quilts in August, I will be posting a tour of my gallery there once it is up. I just want to have some work to surprise those who can make it to the show. Of course I will post some in progress pictures too.