Cobbles and Pebbles
As I mentioned, that Broken Wheel block looks a lot like a flower or an exploding firework. You can’t swing a cat through Pinterest without hitting those kinds of quilt designs. Interestingly, when I first began playing with layouts in EQ8, that block looked less to me like a flower and more like cobblestones. (I tend to do my layouts in black and white and colorize after.) I went with the cobblestone idea and laid the blocks out in a straight setting, one right next to the other.
That was a good start, but the design lacked some visual interest. Also, making the same block over and over could get tedious. I switched it up a bit and did a positive/negative layout. I really liked that one. The block didn’t change, but the color placement did. That layout also suggested it would work well with scraps.
I sewed up a dozen or so 12” blocks and hung them on the design wall. “Oooo,” I thought, “this design is chugging right along, but it needs something else. I know! I’ll make a 6” version of the same block and use it as a border.”
I abandoned that idea after making a few 6” blocks. By my calculations, I would have needed sixty-some 6” blocks for the border I had in mind, and I just couldn’t do it. I looked at the 6” blocks I had made, though, and wondered if I could incorporate them (and a few more of their friends) into the body of the quilt. I sewed sets of four into 12” blocks and dropped them randomly into the design.
The result of all of that is one I am calling Cobbles and Pebbles.
(The picture is awful; I had to stand on the bed to get the whole layout in the frame.)
The large blocks remind me of cobblestones and the smaller ones of pebbles. The layout is scrappy browns, whites, and creams. I typically prefer jewel tones over neutrals, but there is a dearth of good masculine quilts out there and the browns and creams seemed to fit with the theme. This is already a sizeable quilt at 84” x 96” (I told you it wanted to be big). I may still add a border; I haven’t decided yet.
Despite having to make those tiny blocks, this quilt top went together quickly—less than two weeks from start to finish. Of course, there were days when I did nothing but sew.
I was discussing this one with the husband last night. I told him that my goal was four published quilt designs in 2021. I’ve already got two in process and it’s only January. ”Maybe you need to raise the bar,” he said. Perhaps, but I think I am going to stick with my original goal. Gardening season is only a couple of months away, and my sewing time will get cut in half or more. If I end up with six designs instead of four, I’ll consider that a bonus.
I joked that I could get a lot more done if I had staff—either people to cook and clean or people to sew up my designs—but I don’t, so I am just going to have to figure out how to balance everything. And to be honest, it is exhausting to be this focused on a design no matter how much I enjoyed making it. I am going to take a break for a few days. The top still needs to be quilted and the pattern written up, but that can wait until later in the week.
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We were preparing for the church service yesterday morning when our minister walked in with an armload of books. “Someone just knocked on the door and handed me two boxes of these!” he said. (FedEx delivers on Sunday out here.)
It is our new Mennonite hymnal. The original ship date was supposed to be back in the fall, but like many other things, its release was delayed due to the pandemic. I ordered a large print version for using when I play but it wasn’t part of yesterday’s shipment, so I brought one of the regular hymnals home for the week to look at and play through.
Creating a new hymnal is a process fraught with a myriad of considerations. Some denominations navigate that process well—the Cooperative Baptist hymnal is wonderful and the ELCA hymnal a very close second—and some denominations don’t. (The Missouri Synod Lutheran hymnal from 1982 springs to mind.) The Voices Together hymnal committee had to consider that Mennonites all over the world will be using this hymnal. To that end, it contains songs from many different musical traditions. Our congregation tends to be musically curious and willing to try lots of different kinds of songs as we have a lot of strong musicians, both vocal and instrumental. We don’t stick to singing just the traditional Western four-part hymns. From that standpoint, this hymnal is rich with opportunity.
My one criticism—and I know this is going to annoy people, but it’s my blog and my opinion—is that this hymnal went a bit overboard on “wokeness.” There is a tendency these days to throw out anything traditional as being bad. I am aware that hymns and songs change over the years to incorporate updated wording. Some of the wording changes in this hymnal make sense. Some of them look as though they’ve been done to reflect current cultural fads, and I am not sure that’s sufficient reason. I am, however, trying bear in mind what Ralph Vaughan Williams went through in producing The English Hymnal in the early 20th century. New is not always bad, just as old is not always good.
[Get off my lawn, LOL.]
My friend Elaine and I are in charge of music for Lent and Easter. We will start that planning soon. No doubt we will be spending a lot of time exploring this hymnal and seeing what new songs we can begin to incorporate into our services.
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Last fall, I discovered the Piping Up! organ recitals from Temple Square. Each concert is half an hour in length and features one of the Tabernacle organists. The program is hosted by Luke Howard, a music professor at Brigham Young University. He provides context and background information for each piece, which run the gamut of musical styles and periods. I enjoy the music, but I’ve also learned a lot in the process of listening to each concert.