I See You

I finished this little quilt a few days ago.  It is now en route to the Sacred Threads exhibit, to be held in Herndon, VA, July 11-28, 2019.  From the website:

"Sacred Threads is an exhibition of quilts exploring themes of joy, inspiration, spirituality, healing, grief and peace/brotherhood. This biennial exhibition was established to provide a safe venue for quilters who see their work as a connection to the sacred and/or as an expression of their spiritual journey."

This year in addition to the main exhibit, there is a special project called Eye Contact: Creating a Connection. 

"There is a famous quote by Cicero (106-43 B.C.). 'Ut imago est animi voltus sic indices oculi' (The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter). 'The eyes are the window of the soul' is a variant form of the proverb..."

I find the whole idea so intriguing.  That, coupled with the small size - 23" wide x 5" high - made the decision to make an entry so easy!  The only direction is that the quilt show "two human eyes looking at the viewer".

The project also seems to have a secondary name (it's in the link to the Eye Contact page) of "I See You".  I've been studiously avoiding political comments on my posts, but in this case, I touch in with politics just a bit, as this is a big part of what drew me to participate.  The desire (necessity) to be truly seen seems to me to be so crucial to the divisions and angst that currently plague our political/social discourse.  Everyone on both sides of the aisle seems to be clamoring to be seen, heard, honored, represented.  "I see you" may be the most powerful tool we have to mend our interrelationships.

I had so much fun creating this little quilt!  It was one of those wonderful flow experiences where the right fabrics were at hand, they interacted just like I wanted, and little flashes of extra inspiration kept appearing.  I even made up a way to indicate my curly grey hair with thread!  I used white, metallic silver, and iridescent threads.

I worked from a selfie, isolated the eyes, overlaid a grid to enlarge to the required size, cut and stitched appliqués, embroidered facial lines and eyelashes, quilted around the appliqués and to attach the curly thread/hairs.

 I See You!