Creative control

This past weekend, I was privileged to go backstage at Radio City Music Hall, less than an hour before a performance of Zarkana by Cirque de Soliel. It was much like any other backstage, but Radio City is a Historic landmark, and small for a theater with that many seats.( almost 6 thousand) I was really impressed by the inventive use of the available space. The paired down costume shop didn't seem to be missing anything, but at that time, and with a department head who was really busy I didn't get to be as nosy as I wanted. I am told that they do all their own dying and even occasionally weave their own cloth in the service of the creative vision. The workmanship was fantastic even up really close, but when you have those resources and full control from start to finish you should be able to create something wonderful. The performance was inspiring too. See it if you can, the only other place they can take these riggings is another theater in Moscow that has the same stage setup. To take this anywhere else they have to re make all the riggings for the acrobats.





How does this relate to quilting? I could take many lessons from Cirque, but for today, I love the thought of having total control over your own creative output. More and more I have been using hand painted (by me) fabric, and with very few exceptions I do my own quilting. Coming in August we have a workshop on fabric painting for landscapes and backgrounds. You may find, as I did that there is nothing like using that one of a kind fabric you have created yourself to make a project As the deadlines for the DC Fair approach and many of you are finishing projects I want to encourage you to keep control of your vision and try your hand at quilting your project yourself. We have many resources and some wonderful threads to make it unique. Don't let someone else make those choices for you.

We have also added our final Strips and Strings workshop to the summer schedule. Wrapped Fabric Coil Basket, will have you making home decor and organizational items for everyone on your holiday list. See our workshops page for more details. I will post a photo as soon as Diane brings in the sample.