Mended World is in Houston

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.)

Mended World on the dining room table

I brought Mended World home from the church so that I could package it up for exhibition at the International Quilt Festival in November.

Having it on the dining table rather over whelmed me.
There is so much touch in this piece.
So much time.
So much attention and intention.
It's 94 inches square.  Full image here.

In 1977, Adrienne Rich wrote about women's tasks.  She included world protection, world preservation and world repair in her list.

This quilt is made from donated or thrift shop table linens.  Over 100 people worked on it.

Mended World is the second panel (of four) in the Manitoulin Circle Project.  It was installed in the sanctuary of Little Current United Church in 2012.       

In 1971, Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro initiated Woman House, "a repository of the daydreams women have as they wash, bake, cook, sew, clean and iron their lives away"

Repairing the world while sewing our lives away.

My densely stitched quilts are so sensuous
they yearn to be touched

How many of them will it take to mend the world?

How many of them can I day dream my life away in?