Interwoven (October 2007)
This month marked an abrupt and unexpected end to our younger son’s graduate program. There was enormous stress and confusion and distress ~ hence, the unevenly interwoven strands of fuzzy, variegated yarn with raw selvedge edges trimmed from the back of a quilt-in-progress... it was NOT an easy month for any of us.
The handwritten quote on the back reads as follows:
“I believe art---even at its most beautiful---is at the core, motivated by pain. That is because art is made by human beings and as human beings, pain is what motivated everything we do. We are either causing it or running from it or facing it, but pain is always there, bracketing what we do. To get more mystical, we are born of pain, we live in pain, and we die in pain. There is, in my opinion, no way to make authentic art... without feeling and showing pain---sometimes ours and sometimes that of our subjects.” [Earlene Fowler, Broken Dishes (Photographer Isaac’s words)]
Frayed Edges (November 2007)
November was another very challenging month as we continued to work our way through the process of change and allowed the attorneys to begin their work.
The colorful pieces attached to this quilt are some of my “leaders” and “enders” -- frayed and randomly stitched.
The Albert Einstein quotation written on the back reads this way:
“Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others... for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
Turn, Turn, Turn (December 2007)
“...to every thing, there is a season...” This month, the healing process began to take root. It was a slow process, one that continues even today. As Helen Keller put it, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
The brown insertion trim came from the stash in my mother’s sewing chest. The appliquéd tree was my own design. I was going to add a quotation on the back, but I liked the stark outlines so much, that I used the alphabet beads on the front instead.
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Making these journal quilts over the course of 2007 was alternately a joy and a source of stress, which I guess pretty much sums up the way life is.
This month marked an abrupt and unexpected end to our younger son’s graduate program. There was enormous stress and confusion and distress ~ hence, the unevenly interwoven strands of fuzzy, variegated yarn with raw selvedge edges trimmed from the back of a quilt-in-progress... it was NOT an easy month for any of us.
The handwritten quote on the back reads as follows:
“I believe art---even at its most beautiful---is at the core, motivated by pain. That is because art is made by human beings and as human beings, pain is what motivated everything we do. We are either causing it or running from it or facing it, but pain is always there, bracketing what we do. To get more mystical, we are born of pain, we live in pain, and we die in pain. There is, in my opinion, no way to make authentic art... without feeling and showing pain---sometimes ours and sometimes that of our subjects.” [Earlene Fowler, Broken Dishes (Photographer Isaac’s words)]
Frayed Edges (November 2007)
November was another very challenging month as we continued to work our way through the process of change and allowed the attorneys to begin their work.
The colorful pieces attached to this quilt are some of my “leaders” and “enders” -- frayed and randomly stitched.
The Albert Einstein quotation written on the back reads this way:
“Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others... for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
Turn, Turn, Turn (December 2007)
“...to every thing, there is a season...” This month, the healing process began to take root. It was a slow process, one that continues even today. As Helen Keller put it, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
The brown insertion trim came from the stash in my mother’s sewing chest. The appliquéd tree was my own design. I was going to add a quotation on the back, but I liked the stark outlines so much, that I used the alphabet beads on the front instead.
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Making these journal quilts over the course of 2007 was alternately a joy and a source of stress, which I guess pretty much sums up the way life is.
In closing, I’ll share this quote by ecologist and writer Rachel Carson: "If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."
2 comments:
I'm fascinated to see how different each month is one from another... Each has its own beauty.
Deep and true. Lovely and meaning filled post in all ways. Pain has such a way of ripping us open and in that opening, gifts us with new opportunities for regeneration. Each of us experiences in our own ways and each of us grows and learns. Each time you post, you give us the gift of yourself and all that you have experienced and share with others. Thank you, Julie.
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