As I thought about what quilt pattern to use, I got stumped. You see Michael and Sam aren't traditional people, so a 9-patch or log cabin or flying geese just wouldn't work for them. I wanted to make something that would be uniquely meaningful for them. Then, since I wasn't making progress on that front, I started thinking about colors. Now if you know Michael you know that he doesn't really do colors. Michael dresses in shades of black: black, dark grey, light grey and white. And when he's feeling really wacky and crazy he might throw in some navy blue. So I wasn't going to get my color inspiration from him!
So with no pattern and no color-scheme, I set off for my favorite quilt shop. I found fabric that I loved and thought they would love. And I decided that I'd make them a crazy quilt. So this is what I came up with.
You see, I think the tan of our lives is the everyday, go to work, take out the trash, pay the bills stuff that we have to do. Those are the requirements. But I think real life, exciting life, fulfilling life is inside those squares of little, individual pieces of various sizes and shapes and colors. And while sometimes we get to set them just the way we like them, other times we have to deal with the way they get put together. And that, I believe, is the very nature of a relationship. I hoped that this was the way that Sam and Michael's life together would be...Sam would offer a bit of her, and Michael would offer a bit of him, and they would work those pieces together into a square that became a beauty of their creation. That they could spend most of their time in the squares and as little time as possible in the tan. And this became my prayer for them - that they could work their individuals lives into a creative, non-traditional, unexpected and joyful life together.
Michael and Sam saw the top of the quilt (above) at their rehearsal dinner in October 2007. but I didn't actually get it finished until Christmas that year. A few months later when I went to visit them in their new DC home, Michael admitted that there there times when he actually liked the back better than the front. I loved that!
As I said at their rehearsal dinner: I'm so thankful to Michael for giving me a sister and I'm so thankful to Sam for loving my brother!
written by Rebecca
The first quilt Rebecca made for me, displayed on her webpage, looks somewhat conventional in form and structure but the materials deserve a deeper look and demonstrate a modernist touch. The blue squares of the quilt involve asymmetric patterns that look like dominos. This reminds me of our family history and its love of games, especially those involving gambling.
As I look across the webpage I see an evolution in the form of the quilts that shows an increasing turn towards abstraction. The wedding quilt she gave me and Sam may be the most abstract piece on the page, but is it also possibly the most interesting, thoughtful, and beautiful. First, on the micro level, the quilt is assembled using stitches that look like pieces of a puzzle—kind of a cool metaphor for a marriage. As she describes, the tan parts of the quilt emphasize the routine parts of life while the focal points involve life’s joys. These focal points involve mostly fabrics with organic patterns—flowers and leaves—that symbolize the truly important parts of our lives. The fact that she included Gerber daisies also brings us great joy because there is nothing Sam likes better than Gerber daisies. (If she had included new shoes and massages it would have even further represented Sam’s great loves.). I also love the asymmetry and abstraction of the quilt, which is evidenced on both the front and the back.
Rebecca is correct that I sometimes enjoy the back of the quilt more than the front. While I appreciate the front on a micro level, I enjoy the back on a macro level. To me, it looks like a flag. The quilt is about symbolism, beauty, and process—satisfying on a visceral and intellectual level. Seeing this webpage helps me understand the artistic qualities of textile art, and the most impressive thing is that Rebecca does this out of love and gives everything away.
written by Michael Hix
No comments:
Post a Comment