Carving Mother Nature

Carving Mother Nature

There is a definite hierarchy of fabric in my stash. Most favored are the Shibori and Hand-Dyed. Commercial fabrics aren’t even a close second. At the bottom of the heap are Fat Quarters. I sometimes wonder why I ever bought them.

But I must’ve had a reason, right? I must’ve seen something I liked or wanted. Some potential. And so began my initial idea for Betty’s Tet challenge: unleash the hidden potential in my least favored fabrics. 

I figured the only way to have a successful quilt with undesirable fabrics would be to choose a desirable topic. I’ve always wanted to do a canyon quilt and I love all things water-related; it seemed logical to combine the two. Which, interestingly, represents another nuance of hidden potential.

Think of a water drop: clear, small, amorphous. No one’s afraid of a drop of water. And yet, it is the source of life. 50% to 75% of the human body is comprised of water. 3-4 days without water and a person would perish.

If asked which were stronger, water or rock, I imagine most would say rock. But drops of water can create rivers and currents and waves strong enough to carve rocks. In its seemingly innocuous, liquid clarity, a drop of water holds limitless power.

 I used the hidden potential of both water and fabric to create “Carving Mother Nature” 18” W x 27” H. Made exclusively of commercial cotton fabrics from my stash of strips, scraps and lowly fat quarters. The words water source of life are quilted into the foreground.

Water Source of Life