I Never Really Did Like That Pattern

My longtime friend Leigh Gaitskill used one of my quilts to illustrate a recent post on her blog.  Thanks, Leigh!!  Leigh is a yoga and spiritual teacher with many years of practice and healing and learning.  You can read her post, about how we may have hidden the diamond heart, our central spiritual essence, at:  http://bluegrassnotes.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/living-from-essence/

I Never Really Did Like That Pattern

Here's my artist statement about the quilt.  Yes, it certainly has many similarities to the concepts that Leigh is describing.

"This is an abstract representation of my mother's life - her fears of a swirling, confused world, and the layers within which she protected her inner, shining star. The outer layers are nearly as dark as the world she was protecting herself from. The design for this quilt came to me as a whole, about a year after she died, thinking about her as I fell asleep. It was while working on it that I realized the symbolism involved in all the pieces. The title refers to the traditional quilt block I used, and also to the story of her life."

Details:
made in 1992
size: 48" x 48"
cotton, layered organza, lamé.
machine pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. hand quilted.

The patchwork block is Snail's Trail, a block I have never found appealing (though I do love snails).  So the title of the quilt has a double meaning.  The colored fabrics in the blocks are all very, very bright, but covered with layers of black organza, again giving more meaning to the theme of the quilt.  Our world is full of joy that we often do not see.

The quilt has gone to many shows, and was published by the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine as cover art on their journal in 1997.