I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular.
~Mary Oliver
Quilting
There were so many leftover pieces from Jane Sassaman's workshop that I simply had to make a second top. This time I decided to sketch an idea that wouldn't be symmetrical. There was only one prepared fat quarter uncut so that was my background by default. The colors are off in the photos but it's peach.
I pulled all my leftovers out and looked them over. There weren't many mirror-images left but there were some large blobs. I decided to create a bouquet a coneflowers. Since there wasn't enough to make cutting mistakes, I first drew the main pieces on construction paper, cut them out, and played. Once they fit the space, it was time to cut from fabric. About half the paper has been replaced in the photo below.
One mirror image was cut in two, thinking it would make stem and leaf combination. The "leaves" just got in the way. Adding them separately worked better.
There still seem to be just as much fabric leftover but no more background fabrics. Perhaps I'll make a third top some time.
Reading
Emma Southon focuses on 21 "women of the Roman empire" and revises history by focusing on ordinary lives of people mostly considered unimportant by their society. She begins in 750 BCE with Tarpeia, who convinced her Sabine relatives not to slaughter the kidnapping Romans. Because, you know, blood is thicker than water and they were now all relatives through the newest offspring.
Her stories continue through Galla Placidia in 414 CE, the daughter, wife {twice}, and mother of Roman emperors as well as the wife of Ataulf of the Visigoths and eventually a co-Augustus.
My favorite may have been Julia Felix, a successful businesswoman who left written records on the walls of Pompeii.
The British title is The History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women.