Quilting the background to backing

It has become apparent that before I can settle a spiral into place on the background of deep waterways, it could be best to attach it to a backing with the wadding in order to stabilize it, then work with what is needed to cover the hole in the middle – ultimately with the spiral. It will be sort of like working from the bottom up, starting with the backing itself, then going to the centre of the spiral, the ‘deepest’ part, but it will form the foundation for the spiral as it rises to the surface. I’m thinking of the small central circle in the depths as the cauldron, mysterious and powerful, holding, stirring and melding the Universal Wisdom. I’m not altogether abandoning the original plan to have a waning moon sitting in the spiral, but have come across another lovely, simple spiral by way of a drawing that I could print onto this point of the abyss of great gnowings. It comes from pottery found in the prehistoric art of Old Europe as recorded by Judy Foster.[1]

Having come to some realization about the steps I need to go through to get to where I want to go, I start to get a sense of urgency: let’s get moving! So I disregard a fanciful idea to attach small patches to the hand-dyed backing fabric with hand written attributes of the croning process, to form a gird structure as a foundational matrix.[2] They can be attached by hand later if I still want to go down that path, and I still have my gum leaves to use somewhere. And I push aside my anxiety about having the quilting ridges that will possibly be formed when the spiral is attached…and start with the red-stitch quilting into the ‘grid formed by the branches.

These ‘branches’ become more redolent with symbolisms as I quilt, blossoming into other fields of significance. The branches stretching out from the centre were first conceived as branches of a tree overhead, when looking up towards the sky. They could also be seen as the overhead branches being reflected on the surface of the water. I can see them as veins and arteries, making connections with the whole body of humans, stretching back in time and across the planet. More about the spiral in next post.

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[1] Judy Foster with Marlene Derlet, 2013, Invisible women of prehistory: three million years of peace, six thousand years of war, Spinifex Press: Victoria

[2] This idea of the grid sprang to life in my reading of Kim Mahood’s book Position doubtful (2016, Scribe Publications: Victoria), in which she describes the action of an elder in the area of the Tanami Desert drawing a grid of lines in the sand, cut through by a jagged curve as he describes the route taken by the Canning Stock Route across aboriginal lands.

Thoughts on design elements

First thoughts that have been brewing are of the single spiral representing the return to self, and one’s inner life. Jan has told me that she had an image of a ‘downward spiral with a sense of treasure, which is hidden in the underground, deep wisdom and knowing…part of the work of the crone to bring into consciousness.’ The single spiral could be formed by cut-out gum leaves, using those lovely subtle colours of bush leaf litter found on the ground, and sit on a background that develops the concept of underground waters, which may be represented through a free-cutting technique as though looking into the depths.

Previously I had opened at a page in one of my visual diaries that has a small image in the centre of the page of a very sturdy upright tree trunk, where the viewer is looking upwards towards the spreading branches. I had extended the branches by sketching their lines out onto the page, and am thinking that the forking branches, extending as fractals outwards could also resemble the flow and partings of waterways – the underground waters of a Universal consciousness Jan has referred to. This could become the background fabric created on which to place the downward spiral…with the result that the gaze can be directed both down and upwards.

Though I don’t remember (and haven’t recorded) where the tree image came from. It is definitely connected to an indigenous way of being in the world, as expressed by Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, and the statement beneath it is worth noting. It has the title: Original Sovereigns philosophy.

We belong to the land, the land does not belong to us.

The philosophy is derived from traditional culture and lore.

Traditional culture and lore is still present in Australia.

It has existed since the dawn of time.

It is interesting that for this round of creating a personal story quilt, the background is pushing forward as the starting point. Although the symbols are less figurative, more metaphorical: the underground waters of universal consciousness; transformation through fire; the hidden treasure of deep wisdom gained through life’s experiences. I have noticed how different my process is this time round, but one thing is consistent: there is going to be a large hole in the centre of the quilt that will need to be filled! Again, the central space is empty, as it was in the quilt made recently for friend, Robyn, where the space was being asked to hold Robyn’s life spirit, and challenged me to find the relationship between her symbols in that space. The space at the centre of Jan’s quilt is somehow different. It is smaller, coming about as a result of working with an aerial viewpoint. Here it holds the expectation of revealing the metaphor of a crone’s wisdom, the inward - and outward - looking spiral.

The fabrics:

 After taking down my various boxes labeled satins, silks, home-dyed cottons, the dominant colours that catch my attention are the hand-dyed blue greens. I have also thought to include purples, and also looked at the stash of panne velvets. They might provide another soft, warm texture. The small pieces of star-studded blues are there from the last quilt and may be suitable to make small patches to create a ‘flow’ in the watery background. I have also pulled out a hand-dyed red to weave through the current, and enable the piecing of the ‘branches’ or ‘flow’, with the other fabrics interspersed. I remember reading that the branches of trees form fractals as they branch out. Red is the colour of the Mother, and represents the bloodlines of women that have kept families and tribes together over the millennia and aeons.

It means working in panels using the free-cutting technique, which I have marked out on my ‘template’, six in all, which enables the choice of fabrics as I go, starting with the darker hues at the top, although if I want to it can be inverted and the top become the bottom – maybe, depending on how the spiral fits in. Feeling quite nervous about how to start cutting into the lovely piece of hand dyed cotton. After taking the plunge with one of the shapes from the template, it starts to flow! I think it is the freedom of the cutting curves that gives me courage to continue. This is sort of weird, because you might think it more ‘freeing’ to have everything measured to join seamlessly, being enabled to join the pieces quickly and precisely as on an assembly line. No fun in that! Here is the first 'draft', with a few changes to come no doubt.

Thoughts on croning quilt for Jan

Jan has invited me to make a small quilt to celebrate her moving into the crone years of her already very full life – and her inner croning work of radical self-acceptance and living in the now. This is what she has mentioned in our brief conversations/emails about inclusions for the quilt. Motifs that have arisen for Jan are:

·      Transformation by fire (cauldron)

·      Underground river of Universal Consciousness

·      Deep love and wisdom of crones, so often seen as destruction/ugliness

·      Images of crones of past, as negative deities (hags)

·      Animal-headed goddesses

·      The raven

·      Breaking down for re-creation to occur

All Crone stages represent a death of some kind, and in our physical Crone time there are endings, closures and dissolutions, which we seek to see as positive, beginning to recognize the creative transformation of our energies into other forms. As Crones we also stay in touch with our inner child by exploring openly emerging consciousness of the young. Likewise, it is important that younger women validate and revere the Crone’s experience, wisdom and power.

The Wise One, or Cailleach to the Celts, was she who knows the secrets of the Universe. As the shape-shifting Hag she symbolises that part of ourselves that possesses deep knowledge, understanding and seasoning, helping us towards our inner light. She is a spiritual teacher and guide who has learned the value of being in creative solitude with self. She appears as the dark moon and lives in the unconscious where dreams begin.

In a short visit from Jan, we briefly looked at the Crones in the Daughters of the Moon Tarot cards. They are:

·      Ixchel – Eaglewoman, Mayan Goddess of the Moon, with eagles as its messengers. She cuts away stifling thought patterns and has the wisdom to do it with care and love learned from past struggles. This way she brings things to their natural closure.

·      Hecate – of the underworld, keeper of the sacred well fed by underground rivers and waterfalls; she is the oldest of the old, a midwife between death and rebirth, offering security in emotional knowledge gained through deep emotion and passion. She is a reflective spirit, and offers peace and tranquility by her waters for confronting and choosing alternatives to outworn ways of being in the world. She is also Goddess of the ‘trevia’ (see Shinoda Bolen).

·      Cerridwen – keeper of the cauldron containing the sea of souls; knowing all for who they really are, she is honest, trustworthy, and is a capable shape shifter (into many animals). She knows the secrets of fire, or energy in all its forms to promote change and growth with safety.

·      Passowee – Buffalowoman is a wise and practical planner, a herbal healer, who knows the ways of earth and growing plants, and of protecting young life while it grows.

Another lovely goddess image is Spiderwoman, the life weaver, who continually spins the substance and weaves the manifestation of the world a we know it, and as the Crone she cuts the thread of time. She resonates with the wheel of the year, the wheel of fortune and karma, coming to develop skills and a wisdom through which we develop a positive trust of life’s processes and celebrate the major landmarks in sacred ritual and creativity.

[1] Ffiona Morgan,1991, Daughters of the moon tarot. Daughters of the Moon: Forrestville, Ca