Metamorphosis

You've may have heard of Twelve by Twelve, the art quilt group who started working together several years ago, each member separately making art quilts with a common theme, then having a reveal at a specified date. Their work is fascinating, and they've published a book and keep a blog. They will have an exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati this spring and that's the exhibit I'm looking forward to the most.

I've joined a small online group designed to play along this year and am considering the first theme, metamorphosis. I'm a little intimidated by the process and simultaneously having trouble picturing how this should look for me. With the deadline coming up in February, I've decided to just start and see where I end up.

There are the usual suspects in nature relating to this theme, but I'm starting with the metamorphosis of the fabric and thinking about the life changes that can happen with women. Toward that end, my first step, started last night, was shibori dyeing a plain piece of muslin, sewing in a series of pleats and not submerging the entire fabric for some varigation. My dried piece looks just like I wanted it to. First deep breath.

For phase two, this afternoon, I'll be sewing in more pleats, this time curving upward on the fabric instead of horizontally. When I dye, I'll want enough tint, maybe in light purple, yes, certainly in purple, to cover almost all of the white and deepen the red just a little. More varigation. And then, we'll see.

In between picking out stitches that held down the pleats, I'm making a casserole with mashed potatoes and kale. I don't know why getting a bag of kale seemed like a good idea, when I couldn't find the recipe that called for it, but it did. The substitute recipe, with the mashed potatoes, reminds me of a similar one in More With Less, a Mennonite cookbook, that uses spinach. I really like that one, so I'm hopeful that I'll like this too.