Wednesday, June 2, 2010

love is the answer


My Quilt Guild offered a challenge to any takers. A fat eighth of fabric, a poem to interpret, and list of guidelines. Seemed simple enough. The fabric had a wonderful 60's vibe and so did the poem for that matter.


It's the thread that binds
hearts to hands, souls to minds.
It's the thread that creates life from nothingness,
it gives strength and courage
it gives enlightenment and caring
The thread connects one to all,
it weaves its pattern
on all things, great and small
It's the thread that makes the quilt
that warms us on the coldest night.
The Thread © 1997 V.Crouther

I pondered the riddle of the thread and decided that love must be the answer.... or God...... or God's love.
What would be a symbol of love I wondered? Hearts were out, too 80's.
I wanted to let the fabric "speak" but it just suggested a mini dress, circa 1960.
The deadline for submission was suddenly upon me. We were instructed to carefully measure our quilt, and submit this information along with the quilt's name and the three embellishments of our choice.
Ah choice, that was the problem.
Not to be deterred by procrastination, or quilter's block, I randomly chose a size, pulled a name out of the air, filled out the form and signed my name with a flourish. I now had to produce a 13 by 18 quilt that included lace, ribbon and embroidery and represented the title, Divine Love.
Amazingly, boundaries helped. I cut the fabric into pieces following it's design. Then, I just moved them around until, magically, a picture emerged. Swirling clouds, a rocky hillside, a path...... I continued the swirl theme with Van Gogh inspired stars and blanket stitched the works. That took care of the embroidery thread. The shepherd was created using snips of color that were scattered across the table like autumn leaves. The sheep, safe on his shoulders took care of the lace requirement and ribbon was inserted into the binding and the shepherds scarf. A message also emerged; found, forgiven, loved forever. I stamped it with some enthusiasm in the center and finished it off with a swirl of hand quilting in variegated blue thread.
True to family tradition, I was stitching up to the eleventh hour but arrived at the show, clutching my quilt in a brown paper bag as instructed. How amazing to see the interpretation of others; an African village, a peacock, a hot air balloon, a mother and child. Poetry and art, so personal and so universal. I'm glad I was a "joiner." The process really was the reward, and the quilt wasn't too bad either.

1 comment:

  1. my favorite line: "Not to be deterred by procrastination, or quilter's block, I randomly chose a size, pulled a name out of the air, filled out the form and signed my name with a flourish." ...the word flourish, deliciously ends this sentence... very satisfying!

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