Recent GREEN QUILTS News

November, 1998. By Susan Shie

The Procrastinator ©Linda Barnes 1998At right: "The Procrastinator" © 1998, Linda Ross Barnes, Aguila, AZ. 87" x 87." Donated to The Friends of the Aguila Public Library, and raffled in September, 1998, to raise funds for their branch library.

Lindy writes: This particular quilt - The Procrastinator - began its life as one of those all day technique workshops offered by a quilt shop. The workshop was a "Quilt-In-A-Day" project using rotary cutting/strip piecing methods.  The top was finished in a few days.  I had learned the technique and produced a top where every block was exactly like every other block. UGH!  Actually, now that it's finished I like looking at it but at the time I grew sick of it quickly. 

However, I decided to hand quilt the thing.  Now this quilt measures approx. 87" x 87" and being as it is all the same the hand quilting grew quite boring as well.  I acquired a big floor frame during the quilting process and the quilt went into the frame. (Well, I didn't just acquire the frame - my husband, Doug, gave it to me as a Xmas gift the first Xmas we were married.) Months passed!!  Years passed!!  The whole kit and kaboodle came to AZ with us when we moved from Colorado.  Another year passed.  What was I ever going to do about this quilt? 

I decided to go back to school and thought that I might as well pack the whole thing up and store it for the next two years until I was finished with school.  Procrastinator that I am I didn't even do that.  And then along came a Liberal Arts course (for my Bachelor's Degree at Prescott College.) for which I needed a project.  A metaphor as it were.  I wracked my brain trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to use a quilt and had designed - rough sketches- some art quilts (on paper).  Then one day The Procrastinator jumped right out of its frame (figuratively of course) and hit me over the head and said, "Please, finish me and use me for this project". Wow, what a concept!  Talk about racing for deadlines.  I got that quilt finished in the knick of time to earn an "A" for the class. 

The paper I had to write to go along with the project explained how the quilt needed a purpose and the purpose became a raffle quilt to be donated to our tiny little local (branch of the county) library.  The purpose allowed for the finishing of the quilt.     

This quilt was most definitely a healing quilt. It taught me lessons about life - about commitment - about finishing something. It taught me about sharing something that took so much out of me to finish, and yet, when I shared the quilt it gave back more than I ever imagined possible. I will never be able to think of that quilt without knowing the growth that came about because of it. It's as though that quilt lay in wait all those many years waiting for the time when it was ready - and when I was ready - for it to perform this one special job. It performed it well.

I never dreamed that this would happen. I joke about calling it The Procrastinator but the way I put things off is not funny. I have spent my life putting off my life and just getting by from day to day. Forcing myself to finish that quilt taught me that I really can commit to something and do it - finish it - see something through to the end.

Giving it away when I was finished was absolutely necessary. Had I kept that quilt the meaning would have been lost. The spell would have been broken. It (the work on the quilt) would have meant nothing. I never planned for it to turn out the way it did. I feel good about the project and I know now that I am capable of making a commitment and sticking to it. Detail of The Procrastinator ©Linda Barnes 1998

On a "down to earth" note: The library bought some books with the money raised based on environmental issues, and all of the materials used in the quilt top were recycled - all except the rust centers - I had to buy that material new. My feelings about this quilt were buried deeper than I thought and they are stronger than I thought they could be. That quilt is very much a "Green Quilt" to me because it is more of a healing quilt than I ever thought possible, Lindy

Above left: Detail of "The Procrastinator" © 1998, Linda Ross Barnes, Aguila, AZ.

 

 

CALL FOR ENTRIES: "Metamorphosis." the seventh annual juried art quilt exhibition at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, Dayton, OH.

Aullwood and The Miami Valley Art Quilt Network, organizers.

Quilts should fit into the theme of metamorphosis, change of form.

Fee: $15. for up to three entries. Max size 90". Works must be made in the last three years. 4" sleeve, ending 1" from edges of quilt. Jurying by two slides per quilt. There are awards. For rules and entry form, send LSASE to Aullwood Audubon Center, 1000 Aullwood Rd., Dayton, OH. 45414. Call 937-890-7360.

CALENDAR:

Jan 15, 99------Entry materials due, including slides

Feb 2, 99------Notification

Feb 20, 99-----Quilts due at Aullwood

March 6-April 4, 99------Exhibition

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