Creative Spark – OccasionalPiece

Traveling is a blitz on the senses, a clearing of the mind, and making connections that are new or novel. I’m always making quilting connections when I travel, I suppose you are too: new patterns, repetitive designs that could be a quilt are not uncommon on our Instagram feeds or in quilt shows.

If you are new here — and welcome — I often take a small diversion from the *making* to the ideas that propel our quilts. This is one of those posts, and it centers around the creativity shown by a group of Polish parishes during the Communist years in this country. And actually, they are all over the country of Poland, not just in Kraków.

I wrote about the church in Warsaw, our first one to see, and believe me — now that I am home — I vow that if I ever go back to that lovely country my husband and I will rent a car and go see more. They are so different that the usual gothic and decorative churches that we tourists usually go to. (I do like some of these and will show a couple more in this post.) I first found out about what’s known as the Day-VII Churches during the usual pre-trip fatigue: searching for what to see in a given city, I typed in “churches in Kraków” and saw a photo of this church:

Our Lady of Częstochowa Parish, Kraków – Poland

Whoa. All those triangles, the different angles, the airiness — some architect had been incredibly creative in making this. I found out that there were about 3600 churches with similar heritage. The man who hunted down and gathered all these — Kuba Snopek — also worked with Izabela Cichońska and Karolina Popera; together they compiled a catalogue, which I ordered and read. I watched his Powerpoint presentation. I hunted and searched and read and soon realized that I was limited by my time in Poland and had to choose what we would go see. Sometimes there was information and in English, and other times there was not.

Interior, Our Lady of Częstochowa (Some video of the interior)

A lot of these churches were impacted by the changes of Vatican II. In reading about this preciously unknown subject, I learned a lot about how the desire to have the priests more in front of the congregation and to include the participants in the worship experience, changed how the architects designed the churches. Communication with the Vatican was spotty, at best, during the early years after the war, so some parishes/architects turned to the ideas found in theater construction; broad expanses became more common instead of the more traditional narrow nave and side aisles.

(looking toward the rear of church, with hexagon windows)

While we did go to these on a Sunday, we worked to not take photos during their services, with only a couple of exceptions. However, there were many photographers around that day, as it was a celebration of First Communion for a whole group of young people, and the joy and celebration was palpable and only added to the experience we had.

(zoom-in of hexies and organ)

Often when I see a new quilt design, I’m asking How did they do that? Why are the colors distributed that way? Why were those colors used? and finally, Can I replicate this?

I was already working on hexies on our train and airplane rides, so I was familiar with this element, certainly.

But what prompted the architect to insert them where they were? Was the lack of materials the reason for subdividing all those larger triangle windows? I knew that many of these churches were made from whatever was available, and sometimes the parishioners themselves were working at night by the lights of car headlights, using their own small concrete mixers to help pour the larger structural elements.

from here. This church has a nickname of the White Batman, which we did not get to see. Be sure to link over to see the construction photos, all very rudimentary, with lots of scaffolding since there were no cranes (which couldn’t be obtained at that time).

Do we arrange designs by the amount of fabric we have? All.The.Time. I found myself thinking about the nature of making, of design. Do our construction techniques vary according to the design we have in mind? Yes.

However, mostly I was in awe.

Another church, close by, was built in a giant housing project, nestled beside buildings, as were many churches. Imposing in stature, they nonetheless adapted to the area they were in.

The entry is behind that square stone wall. We arrived about 10 minutes before their services started. I had done my research, but somehow open hours were hard to find, but I knew from my own experience that Sunday was probably a good day to visit a church.

The full name of this church is Church of Our Lady Queen of Poland, Kraków, but they call it Arka Pana, and it is in the Nowa Huta section of the city. The outside is clad in small rocks, and St. John Paul II, who had been given a moon rock, donated it to the church (although I think it is not embedded in this concrete).

(upper balcony) We left just as the service started, and went outside:

I wrote this on Instagram:
Our Lady Queen of Poland Church, also known as Arka Pana, is in Kraków, Poland and is one of the Day-VII churches. They are a group of churches built from 1945 to approximately 1990 in Poland, and they are mostly modern in style, built by the Catholic parishes themselves, with different architects. This church was about 30 minutes away from the touristy center, and we walked through a huge Communist housing block to reach the church. It was well worth the effort. We snapped a few shots before Mass began, and only after seeing all the rest of the congregation snapping photos (it was First Communion Day) did we sneak a few more. We then slipped outside to admire this church, reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut in France.

Now for the more traditional inspiration, the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. It’s more modern –haha– as compared to some of the other churches in the area. I learned that:

The church, among the first tall brick-and-sandstone built in Krakow, was originally consecrated in the 13th century. Hundreds of years, later, St. Francis’ Basilica found itself in the center of a very different city. Krakow became the center of the “Young Poland” art movement between 1890 and 1918, a modernist style that became known for its art nouveau style. One of the founders of the movement, Stanisław Wyspiański, won a contest to repaint the church and turned it into what is still the most original church design in Poland today. (from here)

It’s that design by Wyspiański which engaged me:

Parts of these images remind me of the economy blocks I’m currently working on.

It’s not exactly the same, but a suggestion.

Yep. I collected pattern and image and ideas and great ideas to fold into quilts in the next little while.

a Wyspiański window; I loved all his wall paintings of flowers!

Our trip tag on Instagram is #poland_prague2025 if you want to see more of our trip.

And because you’ve been so patient in exploring these ideas, I worked up a small idea from the blocks in St. Mary’s Basilica. Below is an illustration of the pattern and a mock-up of colors. Link to quilt pattern is here.

Obviously, I drew color inspiration from the windows of Arka Pana and Stanisław Wyspiański!

(back of catalogue)

Also from the Basilica of St. Mary in Kraków’s main square. I love seeing depictions of the Annunciation.

If you are anything like me, there are multiple ideas in your head, lurking in the fabric you’ve purchased, or photos on your phone of projects to make. And if you are really really like me, there are some old magazines piling up — perhaps dragged home from your Guild, or pages ripped out, or maybe even a filer drawer somewhere with the label “Future Projects.” You like to browse your favorite on-line shop web-pages, you happily accept emails from your favorite designers and your Saved to Quilts tab on Instagram is ever-expanding. All of this doesn’t even begin to address the folders on Pinterest, or the patterns you’ve acquired, or the drawers stuffed with new tools, new rulers, or quilting notions.

The term flame-out has multiple meanings, but the one I’m referring to is “lose power through the extinction of the flame in the combustion chamber.” My sewing room is my combustion chamber, so to speak. I bring lots of fuel there (see first paragraph), but somehow things can flame-out. I’ve noticed a healthy amount of January blahs in Instagram, but maybe it’s just that the projects your Past Self wanted to do are not the projects your Present Self thinks are worth tackling.

Laura Entis wrote an interesting article about the getting back the “flame in the combustion chamber,” or turning that creative spark into something that can help you fly. She lists several components: 1) paying attention (done…see first paragraph), 2) write it down (see first paragraph), but it was her third idea that caught my attention: 3) put a stake in the ground. She interprets that to mean going public, and many of us do (see our Instagram accounts), but I think for quilters there is a further aspect. It might mean washing/drying/pressing the fabric and putting it with its pattern in a drawer or a box. It might even mean cutting out some of the basic units before even one stitch takes place, like we do when we have a Mystery Quilt we’re making; they always want us to prep with this step. But any way you do it, putting a stake in the ground can mean committing to sparking that project into life.

I also liked her Step 6: Map it Out. At the end of last year, I became immersed in a project that overwhelmed me. It didn’t help during this time, Mom was dying in a state far away, or that I got really sick in December, and January has me battling a painful sciatica (can hardly wait to see what February brings…not!), but the project felt overwhelming. I should have mapped it out, so I could envision the flow, the places it was going. She got that idea from Kelli Anderson:

When Anderson embarks on something new, whether it’s for a client or a self-directed project, she sets a final deadline, and then breaks down the project into stages. “I draw it out visually,” she says, sketching out each phase in proportion to how long it should take. Next, she maps the visual sketch onto an actual calendar, translating periods of time into numerical blocks. Even the best laid plans can go awry, however. “The schedule is just a suggestion,” Anderson says, one she regularly refines. “If you are indulgent and you spend too much time on one part you can oftentimes make it up later at another stage.” (from here)

So, here are some of my “stakes in the ground”:

My latest quilt is back from the quilter, who did a wonderful job; now I need to trim it and get it bound. The thing that bogged me down was writing the pattern, but I ended up selling a different version of this to a magazine, so come fall, I’ll let you know where and when. (The pattern for the above quilt will come a year after that publication.)

Chris’ quilt. I made a quilt for my grandson when he came to my son’s family (he was a boy) and within about 20 minutes he out-grew it. I’ve promised him one forever and decided a large format quilt would be fun to make. It has been.

I’ve even mapped it out, as Entis suggested, in a book that helps me break down all the steps. I’m so pathetic I’ve even listed <wait> while it’s at the quilter. I’ve made you a PDF of this format so you can map out your projects, too. Click on the DOWNLOAD button below to get your copy.

make-a-plan-sheets Download

Last, and okay-I-know-how-I’m-spending-my-February:

My house is nearing fifty years old. We’ve done some cosmetic updates to the kitchen, and bigger updates to the house, but it’s time to really get serious and update the kitchen. So we’re fridge-counters-cooktop-stove-vent-hardware-sink-etc. shopping. We feel pretty fortunate to be able to do this at this time, and keep wondering if we are too old for all of this. I was encouraged by all the comments left on my Help-Me-I’m-Remodeling post on Instagram. If you have any tips, let me know. I’m really leaning heavily towards an induction cooktop as I think it’s the way of the future. And double ovens? Yes? No? Who Cooks This Much? Leave me your ideas in the comments!