My Marathon of Quilt Journalling

It was ten  and a half years ago I had a brain storm.  It promised to be a good year, so as I was thinking about new year's resolutions I decided to do something differnt:  not a written diary as I'd been keeping since I was 12, but a visual diary of the year.  One little postcard sized mini quilt per day, each representing something about that day, realistically or, more often, abstactly.  Thus, I now have nearly 360 of these little quilts (I didn't quite manage EVERY day).  I collected cardboard mats to frame them -- obviously mats in many colors.

Saturday I had my first opportunity to talk about this project. I talked about "visual journaling" since this could be applied to collage or other visual art formats. I showed several of these little ideas to a group of 12 or 15 women gathered at the Dennis, Ma. Chat House.

Here's what these pictures represent (I wrote brief statements on the back of each).  Left to right, top to bottom:  Fireworks, obviously at 4th of July (embroidery on a black batik), a bison which represents my discovery of bison burgers because I was doing the Atkins diet and really don't like beef very much.  The little bird and many others were at a feeder in the backyard of the house in the Catskills I visited many weekends that year; the big red sun in a golden sky was a burst of joy at seeing sun against after a week of gloomy gray days.

 The swallows on a pretty print represented a feeling of joyousness at midsummer; the big peony-like flower radiating bugle beads was also a happy one (it was a very happy summer!), just saying "life is beautiful". The cloudy mauve-ish one with embroidered raindrops (lazy daisy stitches) was a rainy day, but a not a gloomy one. (I have 6 or 8 rain mini-quilts each different); The two gulls flying amid clouds were a couple of gulls I actually saw walking down 7th Avenue on my way to work that morning.

The one in the coral frame was depicting a sunset that was various shades of pink and coral across a blue sky; beside that is a whirligig quilt square that is atilt on the block with a note on it saying "all the pieces are in place but something's not quite right."  (I guess it was one of "those" days).  The one with blue sky, and darkness and a pewter button sun was more abstract about a day that was changeable. And the one with the rabbit and spring greenery, was about spring, a time of new growth and promise.

This was the first time I've shown these  pieces.  Maybe I'll fine another venue later this year,  If color weren't very expensive I'd consider self-publishing the whole series.