At least that’s what Google Translate said it meant, when I typed in…
…which is the newest song for the newest dance craze, introduced to me by my daughter on Instagram as well as other celebrities (make sure you turn on the sound):
And this led me to a whole rabbit hole of watching lots of people dance in 7 second spurts (mostly young ones, hence the title of this post makes sense), the thieves being whoever stole all those years from me when I was busy raising children, schlepping groceries and making an occasional quilt.
Which led me to an article in the New York Times that found a correlative link between creativity and exercise:
“If you often exercise, there’s a good chance you also tend to be more creative, according to an interesting new study of the links between physical activity and imagination. It finds that active people come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively sedentary.”
There is no hard and fast connection, but maybe all these dancers are on to something. And yes, I downloaded the song to listen to while on my walks, but you can forget me trying to do that dance.
My burst of enthusiasm for the Triple Sunflower took several hits this week, as I tried to figure out where this quilt is leading me. Here’s the progression in two montages, Progression Forward and then, Progression Backward:
Too blah, too pastel, and as my husband pointed out, the flowers and stems in the center were bolder than the borders. The quilt was headed to a pastoral landscape, but I was thinking more Paul Gauguin or Wolf Kahn, with more saturated color. And I noticed the slight curve on the right border and worried it was going to amplify onwards, outward through all the rest of the construction. It was at this point that I emailed The Medallion Quilt Queen, Melanie of Catbird Quilt Studio, who knows everything about medallion quilts. She talked me down off the proverbial ledge, and got me re-oriented towards making progress:
Yes, progress meant I ripped off all the previous borders and then, in between watching young people dance on Instagram, doing all the laundry and shuffling nearly every fabric in my stash from the ironing board to the design wall and back again, I finally added the medium-dark blue border. I am also auditioning some brighter fabrics for the next one. Which I will probably change again.
The happy dance this week was having Kelley, my quilter, stop by and show me some new samples she’d stitched out, and we auditioned them for my Wealth of Days quilt. Can’t wait to see it finished.
I’ll give social media the last word:
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
‘Tis good the exercise-creativity link isn’t hard and fast or I would be doomed.
Oooh, have you chosen between the stitched out designs for your Wealth of Days quilt? I’m glad you found help and were talked off the ledge; the small dark blue border really sets off the center nicely now.
Your sunny flower quilt is just so bold and beautiful. I giggled at the social media meme. And, so interesting about the exercise/creativity connection. That’s even more motivation to keep walking.
I love where this is going Elizabeth! I agree Yvonne 👆🏼, the blue border really sets off the floral centre. And yes, you must be positive that things will get better. And we have to know the unhappy times to truly appreciate the happy ones! I love the wavy lines of the quilting sample! It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me which one you chose.
Another Sunday morning with your insightful post!!!! The blue border is the game changer (and that it’s skinnier is perfect) and I suspect that will kick start you. With our weather improving I’m anxious to get out and about more (at least in my neighborhood), but honestly, I don’t stay still much in the house (the dog will tell you because he follows me EVERYWHERE). Recently I even figured out how to best stand and sew and it really is a nice change. Thanks, BTW, for sharing your visit with Kelly (@wolfgirlquilts) – that she brought you quilted-out samples helped me over the edge and I’m sending her my “circle in a square” quilt! Keep on moving and drinking water – and growing the sunny flower medallion!
Your meme makes me giggle, thank you!
Those rabbit holes can be consuming! 🤣. I’ve not seen those dance videos. That’s better than the ice buckets over heads from a few years back. The darker border looks much nicer on the flowers. Good eye on Dave’s part. So which quilting design did you choose, or is it a secret? I know my choice.
Well! Melanie is indeed the medallion queen. And I love the 12 minute extended break from social media. I’m thankful not to be on Instagram et al. I can’t even keep up with my blog reading and email!
So much better! The more vibrant blue is much more exciting, in the good way. And I love the drawing you sent me. I am stuck on a couple of quilts with no clear direction. I should send you photos and get tips.
Thanks for the shout-out!
I spent some time looking at medallion posts by Melanie, as I’m planning one in the near future. She had some good hints. Loved the last post about an extended break from social media–haha–alas, too true…
I think all your medallion versions look good! I guess I’m not as critical of what I make as you are of what you make. Maybe I need to be more critical though! How great to have some new designs for quilting. I like to see what longarm designs are available, as inspiration for my own quilting. Those social media memes are good, especially the last one. I always look forward to receiving my weekly screen time information, anticipating that viewing time is declining. I sure try!