Search Results for: moth quilt

Neia sent me this picture of the Moth quilt on her bed.  “The colors are so vibrant and rich and the pattern is soothing and interesting. I have it on my bed and will love going to sleep and waking up to it.” she wrote.

It’s a lovely thing to hear about a piece of my art that someone has purchased.  Neia also said that she didn’t realize that the piece of moth fabric was velvety.  Sometimes the textures of the fabric I use gets lost in the photos. I don’t think about it because I’m so close to it and know what it all looks and feels like.

So maybe it’s a nice surprise when a person receives a quilt they’ve been seeing in pictures and gets to actually feel it and experience the nuances of it close up.

I was listening to the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings as I worked on my Moth quilt today. I’ll admit there is much I don’t understand, but I like being present for what I hope is her confirmation to the Supreme Court and history in the making.

I got the quilt all sewn up and started tacking it with dark green yarn.  I didn’t get far and I have Bellydancing tonight but I plan on having it done by the end of the week. My Moth quilt is sold.

I got into my studio early and got right to work on my Moth quilt.  I was scheduled to work at the Cambridge Co-op today so I wanted to get as much work in as possible before going there.

I tried out a couple of different fabrics to go between the squares I pieced together yesterday and decided on the green with the tiny leaf pattern. I liked how it picked up the other greens in the quilt and was a more subtle transition between the pieces than the browns I was also looking at.

Then I chose to repeat the blue and green organic pattern from the African fabric.

It turned out when I got to the Co-op, the weekly order that I was going to help pack out came early and was already done.  So there wasn’t any work for me to do.  I picked up some yogurt and canned tomatoes and headed home, eager to get back to work on my quilt.

I had been working on the bottom strip of pink when I left for the Co-op, so I got right back into it.

I liked the green in this piece of the old quilt top, but the white and brown stripes didn’t work.  So I cut it up and kept the green but replaced the white with the orange and blue piece of African fabric above it in the photo.

After this, the quilt was a struggle.   By 5:30 I had tried so many different fabrics on every side of the quilt to figure out what came next.  But I was having a hard time making a decision.  It took me a while to accept it, but I was creatively spent.

When I left my studio I was somewhat convinced that at this point the quilt needed a thin dark brown line around it to frame it as it was.  I have no idea if that’s the right decision or not.  But I’m not going to think about it anymore tonight.  I obviously need some space from it to be able to know what to do next.

Those three pieces under my Moth quilt have me a bit stumped.  I pieced them together, but now I’m not sure what comes between them.  If I had more time this afternoon I’m sure I’d figure it out.  But I have Bellydancing tonight.  I’m especially looking forward to class because I missed it last week because of the snow.

I know in the few minutes before I have to leave, I’ll be looking at them, trying to picture what comes next.

As I was working on the kids hankie quilt for Chris, the Mother Goose hankie kept calling to me.  

So when it came time to stitch the name of the quilt on the bottom of it, I pulled out my Goddess books and did a google search and found out why. 

Mother Goose is a descendent of the Goddess Aphrodite, who can be traced back to the Neolithic Bird Goddess. 

The early bird goddess is depicted as a woman with a bird head and sometimes bird feet.  Birds like like ducks, geese and swans who live in the water as well as on land,  often accompany the early Bird Goddess.  The chevron is one of  her symbols which is also the symbol for water, where life began. 

Like the Bird Goddess, the Greek goddess Aphrodite comes from the water.  She emerges from the “foam of the sea” fully grown.   Early on she takes the form of a swan, but later is often riding one. 

People weren’t so eager to let go of their pagan goddesses.  They often evolved morphing to fit into the norms of the societies they found themselves in. 

In her book, Lady of the Beast, The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals, Buffie Johnson writes …”A turn-of-the-century book cover betrays the origin of Mother Goose.  From the letter “M” of “Mother” in the title, hangs a pair of goose feet.  Mother Goose herself is shown riding a bird.” 

It’s easy to see the evolution from the ancient Bird Goddess, to Aphrodite to Mother Goose, they have much in common.

In the book “The Language of The Goddess” by Marija Gimbutas she calls the Bird Goddess “Giver-of-all.”   She is the original mother earth, the source of life.

There are many versions of Mother Goose.  At one point  she looked more like a witch, with a long nose,  wearing a conical hat and holding a broom.  Eventually, like in the hankie in my quilt,  she became  a kindly looking grandma riding a goose.

The ancient Bird Goddess evolving (or devolving) into Mother Goose may have lost much of her power over the years.  But at least she is still around.  And she has the most important audience of all…Children.

Who know what stories she’ll be telling in the future and what impact they may have.

Chris, who I made my Mother Goose Quilt for is a pediatric nurse.  When she saw some of the kids hankies on my blog she asked me if I would make them into a quilt.  One that she wrap around herself when she is working.

I like the idea of the kids who will see my Mother Goose Quilt, looking at all the different stories the hankies tell and hopefully being comforted,  intrigued or even just distracted for a moment,  by the colors patterns and images.

Leslie’s smile alone is enough for me to want to post this picture of her with the Poppy Pillow, I made for her.

But there’s more.

Leslie’s mom made her the quilt with appliquéd flowers and leaves when Leslie was just a kid.  She kept it all these years, one of the first things at the top of her list to take, when she had to evacuate her house during the many forest fires in California.

But when it came time for her to let the quilt go, she asked if I would take it and use it to create something new.

I was relieved when she asked if I would make her a pillow using the California Poppy and oak leaf squares.  It would have been hard for me to cut it up if she didn’t.  The quilt was so beautiful and in such good condition.

(you can see a picture of the quilt Leslie’s mom made her here)

After Leslie received her pillow she sent me a letter.  There are many stories around this quilt and what it will continue to become.

But the story Leslie wrote to me goes like this….

“Once upon a time, there was a broken, bereft, angry, confused creative and remarkably brilliant woman who had a daughter, and – in the bet way she could or knew how to let her daughter know how much she loved her – she stitched for her a a safe and beautiful place, in the center of her heart and a field of wildflowers…”

I finished tacking my Moth quilt today. Tomorrow I’ll put it in the mail and it will be on its way to its new home.

Looking at the quilt now that it’s all done, I feel like breaking up the regimented squares of the old quilt gave it more of an organic feeling.  It’s one of the parts of the quilt that make me think of looking at nature under a microscope. It’s filled with layers, like those in the earth.  And also moves back and forth in scale.

I’ll remember the discovery I made using the old quilt top.

I’m thinking of choosing another old quilt top and cutting it apart in the same way. That is, cutting off the torn and stained pieces and sewing the good pieces back together.  I’m not sure what that will lead to if anything, (maybe the start of another quilt) but it seems like something I’d like to explore.

It often happens as it did with this quilt my Forest Floor quilt before it, that one creation leads to another.

I saw the quilt top in my stack of quilts from the corner of my eye.  The colors were just right and I liked the idea of adding a bit of tradition to the moths and what I had done already.

I knew I’d be using that piece of African fabric that Fran sent me, and the pinks and patchwork squares would be just right in the mix.  From a distance, the quilt looks to be in very good condition, but it’s torn in places and stained too.  That only makes working with it more interesting.  I dealt with the stains by cutting them off.

I also cut the quilt up choosing to use only the colors and patterns that worked with the “moth” feeling of the quilt.

The color is off in this photo, but I pieced together two rectangles like this.  One for either side of the quilt….

Then I added the African fabric…

I quickly knew  I needed another modified pink patchwork below it…

This is where I left it for today. But I have an idea of what I’ll be working on tomorrow.

As in the strip of pink above the moths and leaves, I’ll do the same with these scraps of fabric with the green piece of material in the picture.