A holiday today and one I have off from work:  President's Day,  in celebration of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln birthdays.  I've had my head stuck in cupboards all morning, sorting through fabrics — I feel like an excavator having unearthed treasures from the past, my past.  This is a subject that could cover several articles — found objects.  One such find is a quilt I made in the late 80's and if I remember right, finished in 1990.  It is a study in contrasts, moving from dark, in the lower right, to light in the upper left.  I used 2 of my favorite patchwork blocks: shoo fly and Ohio Star, rendering both in their original design and then distorting both block designs as well. 

I wanted the piece to have an aged look and therefore tea-painted the muslin after I had hand-pieced the center block.  I am a risk-taker no doubt about that, and fearless when going for an affect that I want to achieve.  It worked - it looks aged.  I also didn't want so much blank space in the center block, so I stenciled American motifs:  farmers, horse and buggy, houses, cows, horses and tiny Ohio stars.   Beyond that and the reason I wanted to post this article today, is that the center motif has the word America and the American Flag stenciled around the red diamond.  I am probably what you could call a bleeding-heart American, in the very best sense of the phrase, and that center block is named just that.



I love to hand quilt, and I spent a number of hours doing so.  When you see the overall movement created in the entire quilt, that was part of my motive - to keep the eye moving; however there was a secondary aspect and that was to bring the viewer close-in.  A quilter can appreciate the time involved from adding hand quilted stitches.  Again, contrasts - movement from viewing at a distance, and yet a draw-the-viewer-in to view up close.


The shoo fly quilt block design is my favorite.  I used it in the upper left corner, integrating some of my favorite fabrics, as well as using the backside of other fabrics, again giving an aged, washed-out look.  The shoo fly is also in the lower right but because the fabrics I used were dark, it doesn't resolve clearly as that design.  The Ohio Star, my second favorite block, is in the upper right and lower left.  I distorted both block designs and inset those blocks between the corner blocks.  Metaphorically, in our great America, from one thing that is standard can come something else that is quite wonderful in its distortion.  I like to think of that as American Innovation.



The quilt measures about 27" square.  As in all of my quilts, the hand quilting is free-form taking into consideration movement, not necessarily the lines of the blocks themselves.  What pleases me about having unearthed this quilt on this day is that it has provided a visual way of honoring America and two of her most important heroes on President's Day: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on 15 February 2010.  God Bless America.

-Viktorya