Ah, yes. That is the thing about inspiration. And creativity. And good intentions. Sometimes things just don’t play out the way you expect.

I had such hopes for today. But, all it took was a sinus headache and a poor night’s sleep and my plans needed to change.

I did salvage something of the free time I had and tackled some mending. I organized a few things. I sorted. All bits of quiet work. And when my headache was under control, I road my flywheel like a maniac. Or, like someone who feels they are working toward making up for lost time.

While I was sorting, I came upon 2 unfinished quilts. One is a bright fabric baby quilt that is about 85% machine quilted that I had abandoned for one reason or another. The other is a pieced top that I made following a pattern of Margaret Rolfe's from one of her Go Wild With Quilts books. I had set the top aside because I felt it needed a border to finish it, yet I was unsure of what border treatment best suited it. As I opened it up today, I realized it is indeed finished and needs no further additions. So I chose a backing, found a piece of cotton batting and have started basting it.

I pondered this development in my way of thinking off and on the rest of the day. When I was studying Signwriting at George Brown College, the instructors often pointed out that the borders and lines and swirls that students were so eager to add were merely window dressing and that the substance and strength of the sign should be in the lettering of the message. And I saw today that it is the same with quilts. There is no reason to add more to the design just to make it a less awkward size or to wrap the quilt in a unifying border when the design is already strong enough to stand on its own.

And so I baste.