The Beginning

Cruciform Series: Red

Fused Cottons and silks ~59"x59"

I feel as though I have come back to myself, feeling a tiny bit like the old quilting rebel I was back in 1990. I am so satisfied with the results, the process, the size and the style.

My husband, who was made to look at this while I was making it and at every new section as it went up, asked me why I think this is so good.

Here's why:

It is a clear design, readable and not tentative in any way. The lines of the shapes follow throughout the whole piece, even tho there was not a planned pattern. The continuity was accomplished improvisationally. The process, which to me is so very important, was simply a pleasure. Not a speck of the time was spent in frustration, and the excitement of the creation kept me working early and late, which hasn't happened in YEARS.

Working with color in this new way is so exciting and I wonder what took me so long to discover it? I dyed 22 yards of strange, new nuetrals and will be bringing those into the work as I have done here, to compliment the rich jewel tones that I still love. I feel that the new work will have specific color schemes which definitely will be different than most of my previous quilts.

Recognising that this design is not a picture of a thing, even though you might say it is a red cross, which of course it is, however it is more than that. In a way it is an ecological division of space in that it contains elements that are related to and dependent upon each other and have lines that extends past the edges of the piece. It refers to the figure, to architecture, to axis in mathmatics, to topography, not to mention religion, altho I am not particularly promoting any of those themes. It is more universal than a single subject and I really like that.

The viewer can decide what they see in it and can interpret it for themselves.

I have about seven sketches for other ideas in this series and that makes me so happy too. I have been so relieved to have figured out what 'series work' means to me, and having finally found it, I am determined to continue experimenting with these ideas for the near future.

I don't think they will be as popular as my flowers, cats, guitars, leaves etc. but I can't worry about that .

For this piece, it's all done but the quilting. I will have to wait on that until Tuesday. Tomorrow is a get together that I have been looking forward to for a month. Laura, Frieda, Tommy, Judy Coates Perez, and I are meeting downtown at the One of a Kind Show and then we are going back to Laura's condo for tamales, wine and a giggle fest! Then we are having a pj party and Christmas Carol singalong, which will surely entertain the neighbors. On Monday we plan on shopping and lunching and wearing ourselves out in the freezin' cold city. Pictures will follow, since my new camera is so small and handy. O what fun it is to sing a sleighing song tonight!