(Fascism develops) not just through the terror of police intimidation, but by denying and distorting information, by undermining systems of justice, by paralyzing the education system, and by spreading in a myriad subtle ways nostalgia for a world where order reigned.
~Primo Levi
Quilting
The border of Shadow Stars caused me lots of trouble. My great-aunt's quilt didn't have any border but adding one would update the design. Over the years I've seen many beautiful borders. For example, this gorgeous Weeping Willow tree border from an antique quilt in the American Folk Art Museum has long been one I'd like to interpret. My skill set is not up for those but pieced Pine Trees seemed like a good idea until I realized that putting them on point left too much open space {and I couldn't figure out a way to fill it that didn't overpower the rest of the quilt.} So those blocks and the Shadow Stars rested for a while; the tree blocks are still resting.
Eventually appliqué became the solution. There's an appliqué vine on the Spiderwebs but I didn't want to repeat the sinusoidal wave of that vine. Nor did I want raw edge appliqué. The Stars called for turned edge. Linda Jenkins and Becky Goldsmith made a straight vine on one of their quilts. Love the shading of the background here. But it seemed too contemporary with my white stars.
When a family friend now in college took flower arranging for her art elective, she shared some of her work at Zoom dinners. Now I know what Hogarth curves are. Those S-shaped designs wouldn't fit in this space but they got me thinking about the many Baltimore album quilts with beautifully elaborate vases. It took many iterations to simplify one of those into this border. There wasn't room for lots of flower height above the vase and the vase itself is so basic. No reverse applique, no curlicues. OTOH, fussy cutting a large print elevates the vase.
Once the borders were attached, there was too much contrast between them and the center. Who'd have thought pale blue, green, and white could create such a stark difference. The green is stronger so adding some light blue to the center might be the answer.
 |
| Shadow Stars with small circles only |
The first circle attempts were small but slightly larger than the center post but the border delineation still seems too sharp. Adding only half circles along the border creates a bit of fuzziness but the center is stark.
 |
| Shadow Stars with border half circles only |
It's more work but the quilt needs these dots/circles/spots of color in both places - at the posts and along the border. But now the circles seem vanishingly small. Too innocuous?
 |
| Shadow Stars with small circles and border half circles |
Just to be safe, I tested larger circles at the posts. They overpower the stars.
 |
| Shadow Stars with large circles and border half circles |
I snapped a quick photo when the work was half done to double check. On the left is a complete contingent of circles while on the right the circles are only along the border. FYI, everything is hand appliquéd but the border circles are only sewn halfway. When they are all attached, I'll go back and resew the border so the other half of those circles will disappear. Simply appliquéing them all around won't work; some of the leaves are in the way.
 |
| Shadow Stars circles in progress |
This was perfect work for the evening hours. It took a few days to finish, then I rechecked all the seams looking for twisting.
 |
| Shadow Star quilt top ready to quilt |
Now it's off to my longarm quilter. I decided not quilt anything this large again. Smaller work is better for me these days. {We'll see how long that resolution lasts.} I'm looking forward to this as a summer quilt on the bed.
Reading
She defines fascism as "majority rule without any minority rights... that involves the endorsement and use of violence to achieve political goals and stay in power. It's a bully with an army."
Her solutions are to get involved locally and talk with people with whom you disagree. Good starts. We also need to ground discussions in reality rather than conspiracy.
