Passages

This tiny quilt was in response to a reader's challenge in Quilting Arts magazine with the theme "Passages". The theme was posed as "It could be journey or an attained stage of life". Serendipity strikes! Both those general definitions apply to this past year in my life. 

Having quilted most of my life, I had a bit of fabric stashed away. In the process of selling our house and downsizing to a sailboat, most of that fabric was given to other homes. I carried with me a single gallon zip bag of small pieces that I thought I might use someday if the sewing bug bit me. One piece was navy with stars, one piece was some Asian waves that I used 25 years ago to appliqué Godzilla on a denim jacket for my small son. One was a pinky, purply batik. And there is always some white aboard. Just the fabrics I needed to make a "Passages" tiny quilt!

Here it is with the description I submitted.

"Dawn Watch"

2013, 10" x 10", hand appliquéd and quilted

Last year, my husband and I quit our jobs, sold everything we couldn't take with us and moved aboard our sailboat to travel full-time. The Passages theme worked two-fold for me; not only the movement from land to water, but "passages" refers to sea journeys of one or more days. This piece is my attempt at rendering the splendor of dawn after a night at sea. I always choose the dawn watch because it's so beautiful.

It didn't get selected, but it was fun entering. I look forward to seeing the chosen tiny quilts in a later issue.