Phoenix Rising

So often when I make a quilt it seems, without knowing it, I made it just for the person who buys it.

That happened with my Phoenix Rising quilt.  This is what Cindy, who is buying the quilt,  wrote me even before it was completely done:

 A phoenix is like an eagle for me. A strong bird who can rise above any situation. With God’s strength and that being represented by the strong bird flying upward and away….is what has helped me rise above so many occurrences in life that could crush one’s spirit.  And the promise that no matter how frantic a time is or…how slowly one must wait and be patient for a healing or a change for the better….I can depend on God’s faithfulness to bring me through.  That’s what I connect with when I see your quilt.

The moment I pulled the dress out of the box of fabric that Joyce sent me I knew I was going to use the Phoenix in my next quilt.  It spoke to me that loudly.

In the story of Phoenix rising, the bird builds it’s own funeral pyre as it was dying and lays down on it, only to be reborn from the ashes.

The story resonated with me personally at this point in my life as I start therapy once again.  I know there are parts of me that will die in the process.  And as difficult as it may be to let go of them, little by little I am lighting the funeral pyre for those parts of me.   And what comes next is the freedom to choose how to live without them.

For Kim, who also wrote to me about the quilt, it spoke of the Corona Virus:

“A good reminder that the way something starts out is not an indication of how it ends. Kinda is making me reflect on all the lessons I have been walking through with COVID-19, it is messy, uncomfortable, scary but as I am more & more settling into a new normal, I am just beginning to see all the blessings & growth – to see how personally & nationally we are rising like a Phoenix.”

Phoenix Rising is on its way to Cindy as I write this.  And I know it’s going to be right where it belongs.

The back of Phoenix Rising
When I finish each quilt, I stitch the title, my initials, and the date on it.

2 thoughts on “Phoenix Rising

  1. So beautiful – it is going to a soul sister! My dad speaks to me in eagles to the extent one literally came to my doorstep in semi-rural suburbia. And the phoenix came to me a lot when I was going through the death of the last of my middle age and big, tumultuous changes.

    It is losing a part of one’s life – necessary, painful, freeing for all at the end.

    The quilt I got from you at that time helped me through the process, so I’ll be holding the light for you doing the work.

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