AQATW - I Believe

I know it has been a LONG time since I've blogged anything, but I finally got around to completing another challenge quilt for the group Art Quilts Around the World. This time the challenge was to represent "I Believe".

This came at an interesting time because I've been doing a lot of contemplating on what I do believe lately. I recently saw an interview with Oprah Winfrey and Rainn Wilson where he stated that 'creativity is a form of prayer' and that really hit home with me because this is something that I do. Whenever I'm working on something (a scarf, a quilt, whatever), I have a tendency to think about the person that I am making things for and try and embed good thoughts into whatever I'm doing. If I'm making something for a specific person (like a baby quilt) I try to envision this child and parents happy and healthy and laughing and loving one another. If I'm working on something with no specific person in mind, I try really hard to not let my mind go down into a negative space, even if I just have to say "light and love" over and over again while I'm working because I don't want negativity to become attached to the work....and yeah, I know it sounds hokey and new age-y but I don't care.

The quilt that I made for this challenge is actually called "HOPE" because I want to believe that there is hope even in these dark times (and yeah, I'm talking politically here)...that the light and colors will continue to shine through the darkness:

To make this, I used the remains from the following quilt:

I then attached it all to fusible web:

 Then free drew the design onto another fusible web that was attached to solid black fabric that was then affixed to the colored fabric that I made.

This was a great opportunity to get back in the creative swing for me.