One day I was watering my potted plants & saw a small spider weaving a web. It was going around & around in a circle. Weaving it's thread much like a hand quilter following marked quilting designs on a quilt top. I was fascinated by it's precision. I had never been lucky enough to actually see one in progress. This one is a nicely designed circular pattern. How does it know how far out to go without marking anything? It doesn't have a ruler to work from. Yet it accomplishes a nice circle. Maybe the perfect circle is supposed to lure it's food into it?
It occurred to me that this spider is an artist.....
I don't particularly have a fondness for spiders because as a child I associated them with Halloween & witches. This photo below is a Halloween witch my husband made. He also enjoys getting creative & is very artistic. This witch doesn't have any cobwebs but, she's scary to look at.
Lately I've been paying attention to the purpose of some spiders in my garden. They eat the bugs that eat some of my plants. So because of this, I've accepted them & respect their territories. I just make sure that spiders are not a black widow or in some areas brown recluse.
On a different day, I stumbled upon this next garden spider's web. This web is not the traditional perfect circular web but has a modern look to it. Like some of today's modern quilts. Notice the zig-zag like stitching along the center of it's web. This one is scary looking. I saw it travel to the lower left side to catch it's food then, in a blink of an eye quickly got back to the middle of it's web. I took a few steps back. I showed my husband & my husband said, "Oh yeah", in an almost what a cool spider kind of comment. Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus. What else can I say about his comment?
This next one is from a photo I took last year. It's web is an almost a perfectly designed circle. A traditional style circle with a focal point which is the spider in the center. Similar to the way a lot of traditional quilts are made.
So why did I decide to post about spiders & their webs today. It's all about the way we look at things & how they inspire us. Translate what you see into in whatever you enjoy creating. Well, enough about spiders & their web designs.
Then there's this Spanish Cucumber Beetle(s) that has invaded my garden earlier this year(actually there were many). I think I saw it in my garden last year but didn't know any better. I thought it was like a lady bug of a different color. Beautiful colors....yes but, destructive to plants. I've pulled the plants that seem to be crawling with these. There seem to be one or two left in the garden. I hope this year is the last generation of them. This one is smart because when it flies it doesn't get caught in any spider web. Go figure?
Below is the damage this beetle does to a plant.
So what does this have to do with quilting?
When your results don't turn out like you expect them to, try a different strategy. Do some research & find what is going to work best for your project. Most importantly, don't give up. Like the beautiful quilts that you see in magazines or quilt shows, creating those beautiful quilts simply takes time. Just like it takes time to create a beautiful garden. You just have to work out the bugs.
Until next time.........
