Intertwined

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.”
― Maya Angelou

This celtic interlacing to me represents how we are all intertwined, how we aid and assist each other in the great wheel of our lives.  Even those who gently weave in and out only occasionally are a deep part of who we are and who we will become.

This piece is 48 x48 inches.  It is hand appliqued and hand quilted.  The four large pieces in the central part are hand dyed as well as the small squares surrounding the outside.  Piece completed January 2020.

Detail of quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peacock tails

Dream tonight of peacock tails, diamond fields and spouter whales.  Ills are many, blessings few, but dreams tonight will shelter you.

Herman Melville

The quilt is about 54″x54″.  The background is stonehenge ombre.  The peacock tails are a beautiful digital print.  The peacocks are highlighted on the quilt with metallic thread to make them pop.  The piece is hand appliqued and hand quilted.

 

 

Kaleidoscope of Life

“Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place in the contents. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. Nothing ever happens twice alike. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects. The most tranquil house, with the most serene inhabitants, living upon the utmost regularity of system, is yet exemplifying infinite diversities.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

I lost a good friend recently and also finished a new quilt.  My friend reminds me of how tentative and precious life is and how we all must be aware of those around us and not let time pass without acknowledging and affirming them.

The quilt reminds me of the kaleidoscopes that surround us daily.

The quilt is approximately 52 inches (almost square).  The central portion is hand appliqued and highlighted with embroidered outlining in contrasting colors.  It is also hand quilted.

 

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

A legacy of the Age of Enlightenment, the motto “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” first appeared during the French Revolution.

This quilt was inspired by many ideas that have been swirling in my head during the last couple of years.  The applique in the center is formed by joining several fleurs di lis and surrounded by the French words.  The Fleurs di lis are hand appliqued and the letters are machine appliqued.  One of the inspirations was seeing the many buildings that have the French motto emblazoned on the front when traveling through France.

In the last few years I have been doing some family genealogy.  Through the process, I have traced one line of my family back to the Loire Valley in France.  They were wine growers and did water transport on the Loire River.  They were French Huguenots.  In the mid 1600’s, Louis Quatorze, the Sun King, rescinded the Edict of Nantes, which had given French protestants citizenship.  At that time,  my family left France and settled in America along the James River, where they continued to ply their family trade.  I added the outside border of the quilt to symbolize the reason that my family ended up coming to America.

 

The quilt is 54″x54″.  It is hand quilted and has both hand and machine applique.

 

 

 

 

A View of Infinity

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

This piece started with a beautiful hand dyed fabric made by a friend of mine.  At first glimpse, you might think that it’s a midnight blue – then the diversity of colors and shades becomes gradually apparent.  As with so many pieces that I come by,  I just can’t bring myself to cut them up into little pieces, but need to find a way to be able to see and enjoy the entirety of the piece.

The applique overlaying the hand dyed piece is once again, a variation on the Celtic Waldalgesheim pattern dated between 500-350 BC.  It is reversed appliqued.  As the design came to life, as I was working on it, it also reminded me of the ancient Welsh story of Arianrhod – Goddess of the Silver Wheel.  It was said that Arionrhod was able to shape shift into a large owl, and through the great eyes, was able to see into the darkness of human subconsciousness and the soul.  This owl is winking suspiciously!

The piece is 28 x 42 inches.  It is hand appliqued and hand quilted.

The last two photos are to get a closer look at the depth in the underneath fabric.

Tears for Jean

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay

I lost my only sister several years ago.  The hole is your heart just doesn’t go away.  She went through several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation over 5 years.  Some of those times I went to sit with her during those treatments.  Being a quilter, I had to have something for my fingers to do during those periods of time.  I cut out a lot of blocks and sat and did hand piecing waiting for that drip to be complete.  Over the years of her treatment, that is the only time I worked on them.  Since she has passed away, the project has been buried deep in the quilting room.  I’ve brought it out a few time and just couldn’t bring myself to finish what I had started.  Last month, I finally pulled it out and put it together.

I couldn’t bring myself to put any more of the blocks together.  Then it struck me that making the pieces fall away from the central design was the process that I watched with my sister.  I watched the pieces of her fall away gradually during the years of her treatment. To me this piece represents the process that I watched play out in front of me.

It is hand pieced and hand quilted.  42″x approximately 5?”

“If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?”
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

Dreaming of Quilts

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”
― Vincent Van Gogh

I love this quote!  I just have to replace painting with quilting!

The design on the central portion of this quilt is a variant on a military helmet found in Italy and dated to approximately 325 BC.  The side designs were just a take off of the central design.  I found the teal fabric on a trip one summer in Grand Island Nebraska.  It has been looking at me for awhile.  I couldn’t bear to cut it up into little pieces so decided to used it in bigger swatches.

The quilt is 48by58inches.  It is hand appliqued and hand quilted.  It was completed in 2016.

Water Wheels

“The waterwheel accepts water and turns and gives it away, weeping.”― Jalaluddin Rumi

I like to collect fabric while traveling.  The salmon colored fabric was picked up in Grand Island, Nebraska several years ago.  It has sat on the shelf looking at me for several years.  I finally found a way to use it that preserved the sun dying of the leaf patterns.  The wheel fabric down the center was picked up on the say through Sedona, Arizona last year.  The center of the border was picked up on a visit to Virginia Beach, Va.  And yes, I do  support the local quilt shops also and we have some great ones here in Salt Lake City,

 

This piece was hand appliqued and hand quilted.  52″x60″.  Completed 2016

Brown and Teal

Mimbres, which means “willows” in Spanish, is the name given to a cottonwood- and willow-lined river in southwestern New Mexico. The very spectacular pottery found in and around the Mimbres Valley also came to be called Mimbres, and the name was soon applied to the people who made the pottery.  Michelle Hegmon & Margaret Nelson

 

The block pattern for this quilt is “Star of Destiny” published in 1906 in Practical Needlework for Clara Stone.  The applique in the upper left is a stylistic representation of large animals adapted from Mimbres pottery design.  The lower right design is a circ. 1920, from pottery in the middle Mimbres river area and represents whirlwinds.

The quilt is 56″by 56″.  Fabric is commercial batiks.  It is hand quilted and hand appliqued.  Finished in 2016

The Children of Lir

Many years ago in ancient Ireland lived a King and ruler of sea called Lir. He had a beautiful wife, called Eva, who gave him four children – eldest son Aodh, a daughter called Fionnula and twin boys, Fiachra and Conn. When children were young, their mother Eva died. Lir and children were very sad, and King wanted a new mother for his young sons and daughter, so he married Eva’s sister Aoife who, it was said, possessed magical powers.

Aoife loved children and Lir at first, but soon she became very jealous of time that King spent with Aodh, Fionnula, Fiachra and Conn. She wanted to have all of his attention for herself. One day, she took children to swim in a lake while sun was hot in sky. When they got there and children took to water, Aoife used her powers to cast a spell over children, which would turn them all into beautiful swans.  http://irelandofthewelcomes.com/the-children-of-lir/

This quilt represent the story of the “Children of Lir”.  The fabric in the center of the quilt is hand dyed.  The orange and yellow fabric in the border represents the burning jealousy of the step mother.

The knotwork represent the children that were turned into swans.

The illusion of the step mother is painted on the fabric with Paint Stik.

The quilt is machine and hand quilted and is approximately 56in x56 in.