Pieced and parts..

Yesterday I emerged from my sewing room. My Heart asks me, "so what have you been up to?"

I say, "I just made 48 half square triangles for my quilt top."

He looks impressed.

I'm thinking 48 HSTs (half square triangle) does sound more impressive than the 8 pieced blocks they will make. And 8 pieced blocks is definitely not that impressive when the top requires 90 to be made! Lol. It's really just a fun little numbers game I play in my head :)...

Actually, almost half of the blocks are pieced now and on the design board. My sewing room has a warm light and I can't seem to get a good representation using my phone camera. But I am so pleased with the way the scrappy is coming together. I am still considering replacing the light green squares..

So as I'm looking at it last night. I am tickled at my niece's comment in FB that she likes it because it's "messy" looking. LOL, tickled because that's exactly what I wanted! The addition of scrappies is Audacious! (Definition #3: recklessly bold in defiance to convention..) It reminds me of the free-spirit gypsy dancers with all their colors and pride and unapologetic love for life. And I think, "I'll title it The Audacious Gypsy". (Also, keeping in mind who might receive this when it's finished IF I can part with it. I really should keep some of my quilts for myself! 😋)

But did you know, where most of us think gypsy = happy free-spirit, it's a term that has been tainted by use as a racial slur or used as indication that an individual uses shifty business practices? Wikipedia's definition of gypsy.

A few years ago, I read a fashion article written by a Romani gypsy. I remember the flavor of the article was filled with indignation that Americans have trivialized "Gypsies" to a costume of tambourines, peasant shirts, big colorful skirts, and more often than not, barefoot.
(Edit: lol, my Heart said, " ya, it was a big thing when I was little. When us kids misbehaved, it was either "we must have bought you from the gypsies" or it was "I'm gonna sell you to the gypsies." !!! )
Aww.. I was heart-broken! I love my definition of gypsy = free-spirt, happy, rhythmic, lively, and untethered... Part of my soul is all of these things! What other single word can capture all these attributes of MY beloved carefree-inner-wild-child-self so well? But, alas, I haven't been able to find such a word...

I must have pushed all these thoughts to the back of my brain. Today, when I mentioned my idea for naming the quilt, my daughter timidly tells me, "but mom. Gypsy is a slur. It's kind of an insult." She and I discussed it for a few minutes. OhMyWord, how did this 14 year old child become so aware of so many things?!?

And so, the part of me that is PC conscience and the mom part that wants her to learn that her voice can make a difference no matter what her age... These parts are renaming my quilt...
And you know what??... "Audaciously Scrappy" seems even more appropriate for this piecework 😊.