Me and the rest of my family was with my father when he died. It wasn’t long after he stopped breathing that I felt a layer of energy taking up space on the ceiling of the hospital room. I couldn’t really see it, but I could feel it and imagine what it looked like. A swirling mass of colorless energy.
My father felt different to me after that. As if the person who was my father was gone. For those moments, he because just another person, one of the many who have lived and died.
When people or animals that I’ve known have died, they change form in my mind.
This happened when Gus died. It didn’t take long for me to no longer think of him as I knew him. At some point, he became one of the many to me. Not the puppy I knew, but a more experienced being.
I still have my memories of him, but the Gus I knew is gone, transformed into whatever comes next if anything. I don’t claim to know, but to me it feels like a return to a source. The pictures that come to my mind is of Hubble Telescope photos of the universe or William Blake’s paintings.
I think of this quilt as the second Gus Quilt.
Not the Gus I held on my lap and sang to, or went for walks in the woods with. But the energy of Gus, as Julz described it… “very fast swirling circles in many different colors”.
I was working on the two patchwork panels in this quilt just before and after Gus died. They, like the third panel, I used in my first Gus Quilt, were cathartic for me to create. Simple and meditative, I opened my box of scraps and was determined, to somehow, make them work together.
I made this quilt between burying Gus and planting pansies on his grave.
It came together quickly, as if it was just waiting for the right moment.
In the quilt are the two patchwork panels, a Vintage Hankie, and a piece of Mola fabric art. There’s a couple of patchwork squares that someone gave to me, Vintage fabric from the 1970’s, a skirt and pillowcase.
I like the way the quilt keeps my eye moving, from blues and greens to oranges and reds. The blue skirt with white embroidery is like a snow storm falling from swirling clouds. The Mola art dances back and forth, back and forth. The blue leaves on the Vintage Hankie, pull down, deeper and deeper. The colors and patterns vibrate against each other.
To me the quilt captures Gus’ swirling energy.
I’m calling the quilt Swirling Circles of Color and it is for sale. It’s 74″x 84″ and is $425 + $20 shipping.
If you’re interested in it, you can email me here at [email protected]. I take checks and PayPal.
