The evidence of Gratitude

I know it's been a while since I have posted. I have no logical reason for this except to say that I have just been trying to keep up with my life. Even though I haven't posted in a long while I just haven't stopped creating. Sometimes life just interjects so much that I needed to retract from spaces that have made me feel vulnerable in the past. I have participated in Magic Diaries last year and learned many good things about stitching and continuing.. I am sad that some have stopped following me but I understand. A while back I posted a few photos of a design I painted on fabric. It was using the discharge process. I created it for a quilt that I was planning for a friend and used it as my diaries project. This quilt is a thank you for Karen and her generosity and then as I continued it came to mean so much more. You see there was a time when I had been through painful and difficult events in my life and one person stood out in my life to show concern and give encouragement. Karen's brother is that person.  I realized near the end of this quilt that I have invested a great deal of time in each stitch. The hardest part has been continuing when it seemed that no end was in sight. Oddly enough I never met him face to face yet he taught me so many things. It seems strange to say that.  With his help I learned the very important value in loving my self in a very literal and concrete way. Every day on the tip of his tongue was this phrase, "you can not see in others what is not inside of you" or "when you love yourself you won't feel that way" and many other things. His teaching really changed my idea of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. And so even though this quilt will go to his nephew for his new great nephew. And even though this was stitched in gratitude for the gifts of Karen, this quilt is every much a testimony to the love and care and especially the time that Karens brother gave me. His name is Jim. He died several years ago ... at the time I didn't think that I would survive his loss ... but I have and his memory and the things I learned from him have great value to me and he lives in my heart always. So while it may not seem like much to those that have stitched many quilts .. this is a first of this size for me. Jim always accepted me unconditionally .. and this quilt isn't perfect .. doesn't have perfect stitches and won't have a precise and perfect binding on the edges. And that's just the way he would have liked it. So I just can't tell you what it feels like to stitch love and gratitude into this cloth .. for Karen and her new grandson and for Jim. I will always love you and be grateful for what you have given me.

 I love this quilt with all my heart .. it's infused with so much love and gratitude. My heart is swelled with so much joy. Thank you Karen for your kindness and continuing to be just like your brother by helping me, this is for you, with all my love. Oh one more thing I have added the binding since these photos were taken and as soon as the weather clears up I will take more photos and share the completely finished piece then. THanks for stopping over!!!  The botanicals are my own discharged fabrics and the inbetween animal prints are recycled garment pieces.

 Yes this was done on a fuzzy blanket. So the back stitches kind of disappear into the fuzz. It's been fun to stitch and keep myself warm this winter. I will miss this.