Completed Pictures

Complete!

The quilt is done.


The pictures aren't quite ideal--I can't hang it to display it, but you can get a good look at the overall image, the border details, and the 'framing.' I really think we've been able to work the ideas for the design into a coherent whole.



Next steps include finding a way to get it to Ramallah, sending pictures to all the participants and supporters, and deciding if we can display it in Boston before sending it to the Center. But all that can wait for the moment--the quilt is complete, and I'm going to simply celebrate that fact.

Quilt Border Making, December 2

Greetings Quilters!

We'll be meeting next Sunday, December 2, from 1-5pm, to continue the quilt-making process for the Middle East Dialogue Quilt. Please join us for an afternoon of conversation and quiltwork at 1531 Cambridge Street, Cambridge.

You can learn more about the project, see the mandalas and the completed center, as well as a "sampler" for the border at http://dialoguequilt.blogspot.com .

This step will be creating this border, the "chain of quilts" reaching all around the center design, and the final step will be to quilt all the layers together and prepare it for hanging in the Friends Meeting House.

We'll also be meeting for the last time on Sunday, December 16, from 1-5pm at The Pluralism Project, 1531 Cambridge Street, Cambridge.

We would love to have your presence at any of these meetings to continue this inspiring work so that it can be completed by the end of the year and sent to Ramallah. No quilting experience is necessary--only enthusiasm and friendship!

Please RSVP if you can attend, and let us know if you will bring any guests!

Invitation to the completion!

Greetings Quilters!

Many of you worked with us in February for design and dialogue about a
Middle East Dialogue Quilt. After a long hiatus, the center portion
of the Middle East Dialogue Quilt has been completed!

The next step will be creating this border, the "chain of quilts"
reaching all around the center design, and the final step will be to
quilt all the layers together and prepare it for hanging in the
Friends Meeting House.

We'll be meeting to work on the border and completing the quilt on these days:

Sunday, November 11, from 1-5pm
Sunday, December 2, from 1-5pm
Sunday, December 16, from 1-5pm

at The Pluralism Project, 1531 Cambridge Street, Cambridge.

We would love to have your presence at any of these meetings to
continue this inspiring work so that it can be completed by the end of
the year and sent to Ramallah. No quilting experience is
necessary--only enthusiasm and friendship.

Please RSVP if you can attend, and let us know if you will bring any guests!

Progress!

We are ready for the next community step!

The center portion of the quilt top is complete. (Aside from trimming threads.) In the picture, there's some of the muslin backing visible at top and bottom, but that will eventually be covered by the border. The tree in the center is an olive tree. The fabric comes from all over--most of it was donated by kind souls working on the project, but a little of it was specially ordered (none of the shades of green I had on hand were right for the leaves) and a bit more of it comes from my own fabric stash (the pool of water has a bit of my wedding dress fabric).


This is a detail of one of the two cities in the upper corners of the archway:


and a detail of the tears/drops of water that fall from the flames.


The next step is the creation of the border! I have put together a sample for what I imagine it will look like. From panel to panel, the different silhouettes keep a path of exchange going around the quilt. As one receives, so she gives in the next panel.



My hope is that the next group we have will help create this border, putting a little of themselves into the silhouettes. Then we will have our "Chain of Quilts", our "Quilters Without Borders" that surround the message of peace and hope in the middle.

From design to reality

The quilt is heading quickly towards completion.


Right now, the sky, land, and initial greenery are stitched down, and I'll spend tomorrow adding the water and the trunk of the olive tree. Little by little, it's coming together.



I'm anxious to finish this stage and move on to the communal finishing part. The border, which features the "passing it on" motif, the leaves of the olive tree, and the actual quilting-all-the-layers will be shared between any group or individual who wants to join in.

Sketch, first draft

Progress has been very slow; Spring Break didn't provide the work time I was hoping for, and I might have to push back completion time as a result. However, I do have a coherent sketch and plan for the quilt itself. This is the general overview here.

It's as if you're seeing through an arch in a wall, or through a doorway. Up in the corners of the arches are two cities, black and red, seized with suffering and fire. From them falls tears or blood. But the tears fall into a spring that nourishes not only the green growing around it, but the olive tree in the center.



This is an idea of what I'd like the border to be, instead of the plain blocks sketched above. The figures will be more detailed and less stick-figure, I think. What I like is that the continuity of color from one 'scene' to the next makes it look like a filmstrip. Blue passes something to brown; brown passes it to pink, who passes it to purple, who passes it to green...This is the "chain" extending around the world and around the quilt.











This is another sketch of the tree. I'm going to use as many different greens as I can for the leaves and the green growing area around the spring, while keeping the water and the background as spare as possible. The things that grow from our tears are so vivid and varied.