Spirit Cloth

it is what's inside that counts

linings are so essential to a useful cloth. this small journey has been waiting for another side and i chose to make it like a homecoming. i am recycling some of the color blankets from way back when. 
and simply tying it to the front layer to keep it in place. i also added a special strip of silk that will show at the edge when it is turned back.
the inside sort of overflowed onto the right side . i hated to waste any of that red velvet section. maybe i should make it completely reversible... or maybe the inside can just be a secret. something you know is there and that is just enough. yes. what if that is just enough?

quilting a book cover

since this quilt is a story, the door has become a book cover, an exciting chance for more layers....and inside the door will contain the final chapter of this story, the dedication. like all storytellers, i have in my head how i would like it to end. but the story itself is still pulling me in.
the door knob was chosen from my grandma's button stash. because of its family history and also its crystal ball characteristics, it has past and future elements. a meeting point. i normally don't like buttons on quilts because they hurt when you roll over on them. this is a BIG button. i am using it on purpose as a reminder of something.
no button hole, just a tie made from a friendship bracelet made my one of walter's sons. another reminder. the door opens into a private room (block 48) filled with amulet type elements. only the outline has been completed in my mind. there are leftover seeds of change, a book mark (yet another reminder)  an evil eye bead picked up in turkey,  and  a linen river with thread pearls.  so far. 

ready to roll

long island railroad here we come.

packaging

the quilt is not nearly finished yet, but it is nearly together enough as a unit to be carried about . i am stitching  the tie that will hold it through the roll, carry and stitch stage. the tie that will eventually be the ribbon for a gift. i like the way fabric looks rolled up and especially decorative and patched cloths. all the bits of color and thread spiraled together and then being unfolded like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. so i roll them and tie them . and unroll them and roll them again. and tie them and give them away. these ties in themselves are becoming one of my trademarks. they are like edges without a quilt.  they evolved from leftover rag rug strips into binding for quilts and now they stand on their own, strings of special scraps, sometimes with words and stories. to tie things together in some beautiful special way.