I’ve been working on “The Flood” quilt for about a month now. Nearly complete, I need to do a bit more hand-embroidery before I bind the edges. This is the largest quilt I’ve made to date and I like to think that my hours of sewing and ripping out stitches has earned me some quilting “chops.” It is basically a whole cloth quilt, with some patchwork at the bottom. I hand embroidered the house with Pearle embroidery thread and machine quilted the rain. I hand appliqued the clouds and the teal window panes (twice!), all of which still need hand-embroidering. I really struggled with the quilting and think I would have done much better if I had done it by hand–but, I only have a week to finish, so machine stitching is what it will be.
The imagery comes from my early postpartum days, with postpartum depression threatening to drown me while also isolating me from everyone and everything. My emotions poured out of me and I felt so trapped at home. Our home didn’t even feel safe, as the house next to us was literally threatening to fall on us during the rainiest period of the year. I think about sitting upstairs in our bedroom rocking Mogs day and night–like I was locked in a tower. Seriously dark times, folks. Working on this quilt has brought those visceral memories close. It has been hard to finish and is why I am craving bright colors. I’ll share an image of the final piece in the next week. I hope that it will convey what I intended it to. Since our area experienced a major flood in December, I imagine that the viewer might be reminded of those images, as well as Hurricane Katrina. I suppose the feelings conjured by that imagery isn’t so far removed from my own.
Some of Mogs’ recent work is shown, too.
Speaking of Mogs—Age two is so great. She is in such a nice space right now. I love talking with her and teaching her things. We have a good time and laugh a whole lot. I asked her to make the funniest face she could think of:
I think she is turning out to be a pretty happy kid.
It’s really quite stunning. I love how you did every part of it… The blue in the windows and the gutter, the bits rising from below and the machine-quilted rain. I have a real gut reaction to it and really look forward to seeing it in person. I can understand how it would be difficult to work on… Maybe a bit of a release too?
Wow. Can I share this on Postpartum Progress? SO COOL!!!!
[...] The Flood is 40″ X 40″. I did most of the applique and all the embroidery by hand. The top is linen, with recycled fabrics (cotton, wool and linen). I wrote about the thoughts behind this piece here. [...]
[...] and running stitch for the embroidery. Read more about the story behind the quilt on Carrie’s Whole Cloth Designs blog, find detail images here and visit Carrie’s Etsy shop [...]
What a wonderful to document, yes, and stitch your way though and beyond that difficult time in your life. It is an important piece.
that is a fantastic piece of honest art. I love it.