Feedback From A Reader

Someone recently commented on an essay I wrote for the Piedmont Writer's Group book: "Potpourri In Ink." He really liked "The Quilter" and I realized that I have not posted (or written) any stories lately.

The Quilter was written a couple of years ago when our local art museum displayed dozens of beautiful handmade quilts and the writers group was asked to write poems or stories to correspond with the quilts. I was given the photo of a quilt with a beach theme. It was a splash of blues and greens and it reminded me so much of the outer banks of North Carolina and the dunes of the Virginia coast.

Here is the piece I wrote for the exhibit.

The Quilter

The Quilter paints with her needle. Fabric is her canvas. By skillfully sewing piece to piece, a sky develops in shades of blue. Below, the ocean's green-blue waves crash on golden sand. The sculpted beaches are so intricately textured that we can almost see the dune.

As the seascape emerges from the quilter's textile palette, the scene comes alive. Embellishment begins. Full of playfulness, she places a starfish here and, with the use of metallic thread, a flash of sunshine there. She creates an impressionist painting with cotton, yarn and thread.

Each stitch adds depth and we are drawn into the tranquil aquatic abyss. We watch dancing white, foamy waves surge toward the sandy shore and then roll back to the deep blue, leaving tiny shells in its wake.

The quilter stitches for hours on her labor of love. Her fingers fly over water and sky. Her quest is to have us feel the billowing wind and taste the salty surge. She succeeds. The quilt-artist navigates her needle stitch after stitch and when her lengthy voyage comes to an end, a masterpiece is born.