As soon as Elizabeth Olwen’s Wildwood collection arrived in my favourite local shop, I ordered myself a stack of fat quarters. I picked it up and had it in my work area for a few weeks before it dawned on me that the “Khaki Forest” pattern had all the same colours in it as an (at the time) unfinished quilt that I was making my parents for Christmas. I had found my binding!
And this is what I love so much about quilting (one of the things, anyway). The fabrics for the quilt itself had come together in such a random way, evolving from the colours I had originally envisioned to a completely different set, as I found prints and patterns that reminded me specifically of the recipients. The end result was far more exciting than what it would have been had I stuck to my initial plan, and I think this is true of a lot of creative work. It’s good to have a plan, but you can definitely kill the spark in things (I’ve done it) if you’re too ruthless about the execution. This is something I hope I’ll be able to remind myself of over the coming year as I tackle a mountain of projects: that it’s good to leave a little bit to chance, to keep some space open around an idea to let even bigger and better ideas come to the surface.
