for every season--time to start a quilt

How quickly it happens.  Already I can feel the seasons starting to turn. We just had a front go through--alas no rain--but crisp clear air--a precursor for autumn. Invigorating. The days are getting noticeably shorter. The light more angled. Peaches and tomatoes ripen.

I must get ready for the Long's Park Show Labor Day week-end. Suddenly I have used up much of my bright blue and red fabric. Now is time for the softer tans and browns. But what to make?

A customer mentions the quilt autumn dawn. This one I made for a vacation home up in the Adirondacks. I love the piece but hadn't thought of it for a while.

Great colors.  I think I will do it as one of my 45x45 inch squares. I like how that size works--they are easy to show in my normal 10x10 foot booth and they can also be shown in groups like they did at the Landmark Show.

I look at the quilts I have--autumn afternoon will be at Long's Park. Flip it and it is almost the colors of autumn dawn.

I don't think I need another piece just like this. There are also the colors of first mountain.

A piece that needs a specific home but I love those soft browns of the plains and I know I am not alone. Not sure if I need/want those soft greys. I will have to think about that.


I wonder if I am wrong to make a quilt because I know it is colors that customers may want. Yesterday I had a client come through hunting for a quilt for her house. Now she is a person who has lots of art including many quilts. One of those customers we all dream about--knowledgeable, thoughtful, understanding.  She wondered if I thought she was wrong to want her quilts to match her decor. As she put it, she wouldn't buy a pastel to match her colors. Nor if she bought a Picasso would she want it to match. But she liked her quilts to coordinate with the colors of the room.


How do you answer that? I gave a generic answer--you know the basic--it depends on the house and the quilt. She asked again. I mentioned that most pastels are smaller than one of my quilts and my colors can be intense. Maybe that was the reason. I suggested that she could make the quilt fit the room by her accent pieces just as she might with a Picasso. I did like this conversation. After all, she was acknowledging that quilts are or should be art and yet she treats them differently. Is this right?


And now I find myself making a quilt to match my display. I wonder if this is the right thing to do--though I also know these are colors I want to work in. I need a break from blues and reds. I need to shop for new fabrics. More of that later--for now, I start the quilt. What do you think? Do you make quilts because you know it may sell? How do you reconcile the two?