I'd like to begin by thanking the over 100 women who came out to stitch not just this panel, but three more of similar size. They came once a week for 4 years between 2009 and 2013.
Please notice that most of the construction and the quilting is done by hand.
We called it the circle project, referring to the circle within a square archetype that makes up the design of all four panels. Circle project also refers to us, the circle of women who stitched together.
We who made four large meditation panels that are permanently installed in the Little Current United Church on Manitoulin Island Canada. A gift for our community.
This panel is named Mended World.
The circle area needed to be put together with a mending stitch - a back stitch - because all the little pieces would fall away from each other otherwise. That circle area, the world area, needed extra care.
It is the making of this quilt that is the back story of Mended World.
Making as healing for the women who stitched and laughed together. Making as healing for our planet.
I got an email over the wekend asking me to record an audio statement for the
International Quilt Festival special exhibition, Masterworks: Abstract &Geometric. These recordings will eventually become available through
the SAQA website.
Here's mine if you want to hear my voice. xo
The text in this post is my 90 second sound bite for Mended World. (A big Thank You to my local community for loyal support.)
13 comments:
I absolutely love this story, this quilt and the fact that it is in Houston! You are a ROCK STAR of the quilting world!
mending our beautiful broken world stitch by stich
We can only mend the bit that's broken in our Corners of the World...but what a mending yours is!
Yes, this world needs mending, badly. So many wonderful people - tragically, there are those who don't qualify by choice. Thank you for sharing this remarkable cloth - lovely and talented participants. Blessings.
incredible oneness in this group...if this doesn’t it’s part of the healing.....
beautiful so beautiful
Quite wonderful, Judy! The metaphor of this piece is stunning - small pieces, quiet beautiful colors, community, tiny stitches by many women. It is heart-opening.
I am in awe!
Love the story behind the making of this peace ... stitched over time by a circle of women. Love it!
The circle project is a highlight in my life. xo An honour.
Beautifully spoken in a voice that is so familiar to many, and now heard by the hundreds more who know and love you around the world, the work you support and share and the excellence demonstrated in all of the stunning quilts that carry your name or byline. Congrats to you, Judy, and to the circle of women who shared in this tremendously important project!
bethany
Now in Houston ... so glad this post brought me here, standing in front of Mended World.
Just saw your quilt on another blog, someone who was at the show. How stunning! Wish I could touch it, I know that's against the rules, but to just run my fingers over the stitches...
Every time I see a photo of all or part of this fantastic quilt I enlarge on my screen and just look and take in all the energy that sits with each stitch, truly reflecting the desire to heal a broken world with the historical mending stitches...thank you for sharing so much of this project on your blog.
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