Desire Quilt
A soft, tender piece packed with thought and hand stitching.
Machine pieced, embellished with hand appliqué and embroidery, and completely hand quilted.
Created with a mix of new and reclaimed fabrics, including a thrifted curtain and batik-print shirt.
Process
It started with the Pallid Sturgeon. On a South Dakota Master Naturalist field trip in 2022, I got the rundown on these fish–they don’t mate in the wild anymore, so scientists have an elaborate system for keeping the species going while they try and figure out what’s gone wrong.
I was hooked on the story and the weirdness of the fish hatchery with its big tanks of endangered, stubborn fish.
A while later, I was on a big appliqué kick, and figured a sturgeon would be cool. I sewed the big guy onto fabric scavenged from a thrifted shirt and called it a day. Cool! Fun! Unfinished, but I tried to pass it off as complete in a ‘raw edges symbolize the shifting nature of habitat’ way. I wasn’t buying it, myself. So it sat around a long while.
Finally, my fish fascination rammed up against another fave: medieval lore. I was reading about these medieval mystics, women with spiritual visions and, frankly, erotic desire for the Lord. It’s wild stuff! And the art accompanying the tales is weird and great.
So, I was thinking about these fish and their lack of desire, and these medieval women with this hunger, and combined the two. (Obvious, right??) There’s more meaning folded in there, thoughts about holding what’s in front of you and holding longing.
I sketched out word blocks, planning a wall of text with this fish crammed in. Then, sitting at my desk at work, I had my own vision: medieval-style borders! Text wrapping the image!
Words done! Borders done! These two blue patches needed something.
I’ve had a sculpture idea for a while: a woman, arms outstretched, with interchangeable figures to hold–a fish or a child.
It took some noodling to get the scale right and have the two images match each other size-and-feel-wise.
Embroidering my line drawings is really satisfying! It amps up the realness, in my mind. I love drawing, but I’m always stumped by how to connect my sketch stuff and my ‘finished’ art pieces. This embroidery feels like a natural bridge.
I spent so much time sitting here–embroidering and then hand quilting–that I rotated the couch cushions to avoid making a big ol’ divot.
My outfits kept matching the quilt. What can I say? I like what I like!
Spending so much time working with the quilt draped over me is really special, and the part I wish everyone got to do. Quilts are best when they’re up close. I dream of an art show where everyone gets to wrap the quilts around themselves. Please touch! They’re made for it!
