Small Work 2006 Contributed by Pat Spiller

A Personal Topography
Cotton, Silk Mawata, Fibers,
Free Motion Machine Work ,
Metallic Hand Stitching, Beads
5x8"

Over the years, I made bed-sized quilts as gifts for family and for our household because I believed that a quilt, in the tried and true vernacular is a utilitarian object ~~ a thing for beds. And because I like giving gifts of myself.

Bed quilts are beautiful. Original. Graphic. And artful. But big! For beds and not for walls. Unless they are antiques in museums.

I amassed a huge stash of fabric, books, patterns and technique references and fully believing in the axiom that "whoever dies with the most fabric wins"!

I haven't completed a large bed quilt in years. (Note: the verb "completed" which correctly implies the obvious: "begun with enthusiasm" but "unfinished". A UFO. An UnFinishedObject.

More recently, I became attracted to smaller quilted objects. Little art quilts. But oddly, I couldn't "think" small after all those queen-sized beauties. This summer discovered the edgy, envelope-pushing, slash and burn techniques with non-woven fibers and industrial fabric that is coming from England. (WOW, two English Invasions in one lifetime.) And, this summer, I am drawn to making little beauties that are more personal statements. That satisfy ~~ something different ~~ and important. That speak to some inner ~~ longing ~~for expression.
And, of course, now I need a whole new array of toys and techniques!
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Summer came late here on the New Hampshire coast. But today is the kind of day we in the northeast wait for all winter long. The kind of day the tourists spend big dollars hoping to enjoy:

High blue sky.

Temps in the 80's.

Small gentle breezes that lightly stir the curtains.

And a green fresh world all around from all the spring and early summer rains.

This is a day to savor. . . . .

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My darling girl, Victoria, is here for a summer visit. Tall and beautiful. Strong, active and full-of-fun, Victoria is a joy of a woman-child. At 13, she discovered the "theater" this year with a part in the high school production of "Little Shop of Horrors" (the only middle schooler with such a privilege, I might add) and then a part in a New England-wide dramatic competition with a one-act play. She also plays soccer and softball and basketball.

During last summer's visit, she created a medieval gown of velvet to wear to the autumn King Richard Fair in southeastern Massachusetts that her family attends.

I'm not telling what this summer's project is: but I promise photos. For sure!
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"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with Spring." George Santayana (1863-1952)

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(Editor's Note: This is Pat Spiller's first post as a contributor to Deepwater Journal. Like Robin Janning and Martha Marshall, Pat will share her voice and work with us occaisionally.)