Gestation? Incubation? Birth of an Idea

Incubation or Gestation?

I think incubation pertains mostly to eggs and viruses and gestation mostly to mammals. Which word would one use for an idea?  

Usually I have couple of ideas that I'm planning to use in a quilt hanging out in my head.  It can take weeks and months for the idea to manifest itself.

The case in point:  I have had an idea that I explored with paint and canvas off and on for more than thirty years.  Basically, calm water with still, unmanned, moored wooden boats.  This past weekend I stumbled upon the background, a piece of hand dyed shibori perfect for the calm water yet complex enough to suggest reflections.  Whilst I interviewed other hand dyes later back in my studio for the boats fabrics, I happened upon a misplaced, small technique study for reverse applique that I had played with almost ten years previously.

Apparently I'm easily distracted when I'm ambivalent about cutting gorgeous, one of a kind, hand dyed fabric.  I became completely absorbed in the "new" project.  And, surprisingly, convinced that it was the background for yet another idea that I had "incubated" and abandoned out of lack of inspiration:  crows.  Go figure.  I didn't even know that the crow idea was still inside there!

Here's the crow.  Now back to the boats.