This is a quilt that was inspired by the workshop that I did with Rachael Daisy and the experience that I wrote about in the blog post called ‘Soulful Sanity’.
This quilt was also inspired by the Australian 2020 Bushfires.
The town of Cooma had already experienced a strange New Year’s day and night.
Upon awaking, the air was a sepia yellow colour.
It was an especially eerie day.
It was a day that was preparing all of us for the Saturday that was like nothing anyone had every experienced.
Sepia Yellow,
Orange,
Red,
Pitch black, like a moonless night,
But it was in the middle of the afternoon.
The birds stopped chirping.
They were all gone.
To stand on the porch, looking down upon Cooma, in silence.
Where had the birds gone?
For another day or two, there was no sound.
No birds.
No wind.
Nothing.
Silence.
Hear - nothing.
See - soot falling from the sky like dark rain.
Touch - dark burnt leaves falling from the sky onto my shoulders then touching the grass in the front of our home.
Feel - eerie, sad, devastation, fear.
Where had all the birds gone?
As I wake up one morning, that felt like forever,
I am awakened by the sounds of birds.
Music to my ears, literally and metaphorically.
There was no need to play music or watch TV,
All I wanted to do was to listen to the sound of the birds.
Such a beautiful sound.
Such beautiful creatures.
Such beautiful friends.
As the soot covered the town, as if we lived in a coal mining area,
and the air was hard to breathe,
I bunkered down in the safety and solitude of my house,
Where there were no radios or news people blaming and deflecting.
Where only creativity and new beginnings began.
The quilt ‘Spread Your Wings and Fly’, was born.
With it came the vulnerability of my own life’s journey.
With it came the eerie, sad, devastation, fearful feelings.
With it came the joy of creating and feeling safe in the solitude of the quilting room.
With it came the remembrance of how this day would create positive change on a global scale.
With it came the gratitude for the Australian sunshine, the birds, the animals and all of Mother Nature. Gratitude for those who passed away so that change would happen. For how could it not for it all makes sense now. What to do. How to act. What to say. Through the eyes of love. Gratitude for those who are living. Gratitude for the birds who fly again, who have a song to sing. One of the day that the world changed forever.
Changed forever for the good.
Spread your wings and fly.
Be all that you were meant to be.
Make positive change through the act of love.
Forgive and don’t forget.