I live in Western Oregon and here spring is alternately a wonderful riot of color, especially a particularly shocking shade of green, or it is gray-lavender skies and mud and pouring rain. My first inclination when I thought about how I was going to interpret “Spring” was to focus on the shocking green and the blooming rhododendrons and tulips, but I decided to take a more honest approach and include the gray days, the muck and the rain. I had an idea that piecing vertical rectangles might suggest rain coming down and a mix of color the pixel-like breakdown of the scenery as seen through a rain-washed window. I underestimated the time it would take to piece 1″ strips to create those half-inch rectangles, and I overestimated my ability to piece neat, squared up stripes of color! I fretted over the wavery lines I was producing, despite my best efforts to measure, stitch carefully and then attempt to iron the darn things into submission and nearly tossed it all into the wastebasket and go back to the drawing board. Time was running out and I was awash in strips of fabrics so I decided to sit and look at it for a bit before making a decision. That is when I saw how much my piece was beginning to look like the view through my car’s windshield with a driving rain pouring down it, wiggly lines, pale sun, and all. Yes, springtime in Oregon! I would persevere. I finished the piecing, quilted it with vertical lines (rain) and decided a raw, irregular edge was the way it wanted to be finished.

So, this was a learning experience. Not my best work, not my favorite piece at all. But it all counts, which is what I always tell myself when life hands you a less than satisfying outcome. I probably won’t be piecing a lot of little strips again. Besides their not behaving as I’d hoped, it was tedious and NOT FUN.  I also relearned that sometimes I accidentally create an effect that I wasn’t even thinking about–happy accidents happen. And if I look at a really small image of this piece, or stand at least 40 feet away from it, it looks great!

Here’s to less rain and more flowers and a little sunshine. Happy springtime!

Spring Rain

Terry Grant

15″ x 20″