In Light Of

As I began working on this quilt, I had in mind Kirsty's suggestion to use "predominately gray."

I began -- as I always do -- by pulling out a stack of fabrics. I went all the way from black to white and anything in between. Ultimately I chose just six fabrics. The print on the left has a bit of blue and the print on the right has a bit of green, so I allowed myself threads and floss in those two colors.

I added the branch shape with paint and a freezer paper stencil. But I was still searching for a theme or motif that fit with the color palette. I settled upon the idea of words on a page, columns of text, or papers full of paragraphs. I decided to make tiny books as embellishments. Each tiny book is made from two rectangles stitched down the middle, essentially creating 8 pages. In my first attempt, I used fabric I had printed with text on only one side. That meant every other "page" was blank. No good. I was able to run a second piece of pre-treated fabric through my printer on both sides to create doubled sided pages.

Some of the pages are upside down suggesting that they are not meant to be read, but rather act as a symbol of study, or story or communication. I think my title suggests an open mind or a change of opinion or a bit of growth. Plus, the word "light" emphasizes the moon shape stitched at the top and the selection of light and dark fabrics. (Too contrived?)

I struggled with stitching both by hand and by machine. Everything ended up a bit indistinct because of my color choices. Maybe the branch and the books provide enough contrast. Sometimes gray gets muddy. I suppose I was right in the "gray area" between obvious and subtle.