what a difference a row makes

Recently I have been working on a quilt based on prairie sky for a lovely woman who lives near my studio. Now, I don't know if you remember this quilt. It celebrates the broad expanse of the sky just at the moment of dawn. Lots of lovely blues with just the anticipation of color in the sky. Don't you love it?

Of course for this quilt, the customer needs it to be vertical. And she prefers yellows and oranges to  pinks and purples. OK--that is doable. That is what makes it a challenge. Even fun to work on, right?

So I start sewing. The quilt almost seems to take over. I love when that happens. And then I stop. Is the quilt too busy? Are the colors too light and bright? Is there just the hint of dawn? Yes, one of the challenges is that I have less horizontal space to use for this quilt.

Will the vertical space--the darker blues that I will place at the top anchor and define the dawn? I am not sure. And I put the quilt in the ponder mode. Certainly you must know that method. Where I stand and look at the quilt as I work on other projects, hoping that a fresh take will let me see what needs to happen. What if??? Let me try this. It is not that I am ignoring the quilt. Just that I am thinking about it. Almost letting the quilt and I come to some sort of understanding of the direction it must go.

Finally I start sewing again. After all, the customer has reminded me--ever so sweetly--that she does have an empty space on her wall. Will this be the answer? A few darker blue blocks. Let's see. Maybe this row will start to define the sky. What do you think? Then there will be two more rows of blues--ever darker and more night like.

Do you ever work like that? Do you ever have a quilt that has to just sit there for a while as you reach some conclusion? Is this part of the process?