Crossing Good Hope

Look, it's my neighborhood!

I struggled so much with this quilt. I thought I wanted to do something entirely different and I tried. But I just couldn't make it work. I have been feeling like I'd like to make art that is a bit more spare. Quieter. More zen. Clearer. Less frippery.

But, as the deadline approached, eventually I had to give in to the comfort of lots of fabrics, layers, paint, stitching and various symbols. I'm glad I did. I enjoyed making it and I am pleased with the result.

To get out of my funk, I also had to resort to a very familiar design... my own neighborhood and the path that Benjamin and I walk to and from his school several times a week. I placed the blue squares representing houses along our route to school. I could have placed them along all the streets and cul-de-sacs. But once I painted in the streets using a freezer paper stencil, I wanted to focus more on the design and balance of the additional elements -- and I didn't want a bunch of tiny blue squares to overwhelm the piece.

Our house is the yellow square toward the bottom.  Here is Benjamin's school.

One of the streets we cross is called "Good Hope," thus the title of the piece, Crossing Good Hope. This is also a bit symbolic of some of the complicated and frustrating discussions we have about school as we walk. I keep hoping that we'll find ways to help Benjamin reach his potential within the school system, but sometimes I feel like options keep getting crossed off.

Every day isn't frustrating. Sometimes we tell funny stories and discuss other surprising and interesting subjects. I printed blocks of text on organza, cut them into strips and stitched them down in ripples and turns to represent these conversations.

As I designed the piece, I kept adding elements that pulled the color scheme together, added contrast and texture and sparked my interest. I even tried a new hand embroidery stitch with those wheely circles loosely representing trees.