Travel Quilt #4

So what is Travel Quilt #4?  How did it happen?  Why did it stall?
Seeing as I've chosen this to be my bring along project for the foreseeable future, I thought I'd give a little backstory.  Also, I got a new laptop and finally have wi-fi in the new house, so woohoo, time to blog.

I had about 2 stars left to piece on Travel Quilt #3 when I had a phone call with my London publishers setting the basis and rough synopsis for what would become Quilting on the Go.  They wanted 10 projects but none that had been shown publicly before.  10 projects, English paper pieced, by hand.. in under 12 months. (timeline changed during, I think it was more like 15 months in the end).  I knew I wanted a big star quilt in there and with their original guidelines, I couldn't use Travel Quilt #3.  I had tons of ideas, so I decided to make a Trip Around the World variation with 2" diamonds.  The color scheme came from my favorite scarf at the time (which sits in front of me now in a partially unpacked box of Japanese keepsakes..).  I cut, basted, stitched.. but this would be one of the last projects to photograph so it wasn't my main focus.  I worked on all the photography samples for the tiny sewing kit and hexagon pillow, which would get photographed first, and pieced diamonds in my favorite fabrics in between the rest of the book work.  A few months into the project, the creative director emailed asking for progress pics and color schemes of the 10 projects so they could do planning at their end. Unlike Get Started Quilting, with Quilting on the Go, I had full control of color scheme and fabric choice, and man, I was having fun.  But when I sent over the plans and progress pics, the team loved all but Travel Quilt #4.  Here's what they had to go off of:

See, a quilter has creative vision.  I mean, all artists do, right?  So I knew this tiny cluster of diamonds wasn't representative of the full quilt I was making, and I guess I didn't clearly articulate that in these early planning emails.  What they saw was a bunch of muddled pumpkin-y orange and beige, which really seemed out of line with the other project color palettes.  So they scrapped it.  We were getting pressed for time and decided to include TQ#3 instead.  A good choice, in hindsight.  It's an awesome quilt and really representative of my style of intuitive scrap quilting.  I feel I was able to capture my process and meaning in how that quilt was eventually described and taught in the book.  But, TQ#4 sat in a pile, and eventually in a bag. I knew it would get done some day, and that brings us to now.

There are no deadlines.  I don't even have a bed in mind for this to end up on.  It would have looked great on my old couch, but that couch didn't make it into this new home.. so I will stitch, as I do. Progress pics may not look too exciting (especially all the #quiltinginpublic ones on instagram) because this involves a lot of blocks that are exactly the same.  I almost wonder if I'll even be able to keep motivated for the outer rings, but I've got you all to encourage me, right?  ("You all" assuming more than a handful of friends even read my lil neglected blog these days, feel free to comment to let me know you're here, ok?)  I also encourage any and everyone to join me in this diamond madness and play along with the #60degreediamondQAL for as much as you can.  As before, it's super relaxed with just about no rules.. English paper piecing and 60 degree diamonds.  That's it.

So, that's my story.  And it will grow from here.  5 years ago I couldn't have told you my life would look like this (sitting on a completed TQ#2 with a CAT in my cozy divorcee apartment), and I have no idea where I'll be when this project reaches completion.  I hope I'm still blogging though.  We'll see.