Tradition

For the Celests
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Sandi McMillan; from the exhibit "In the American Tradition V" at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.


I am sort of amused at myself for saying I'm uninterested in traditional quilts when I had just said I love Hawaiian quilts - I mean, what's more "traditional" than that? But nobody has called me on it so I think maybe y'all understood what I meant. I am tired of the same old same old stuff - traditional quilts done in traditional ways. This quilt - which was on the cover of the IQF program this year - is pretty darn traditional, and yet it's gorgeous. It took me a while to realize that there is something non-traditional about it; take a second look at the placement of colors in the central lone star. I think that's what makes it so stunning, and yet it's subtle enough that it doesn't leap out at you. (Or it didn't at me, anyway. But sometimes I'm a bit unobservant.)