MY LITTLE BIRDS

I’ve been quilt journaling since 2008. My 40+ collection of 8 ½ x 11 inch tiny quilts represent my hearty participation in this wonderful group of creative quilters who have signed on to share their quilt stories with each other. Early on in this journey, we had up to 13 members in our “Cybre Fibres” group, but slowly it became clear that for some of these women, their intention was greater than their abilty to produce. This past December we all made it known to what degree we were committed, and now we are down to eight. Our initial system was set to cycle through the list of women who would present a quilt journal theme for the month, and the circle would go round and round. With each completed quilt journal, we would send them, via internet, to the collective group with the story of their construction or of their inspiration (or maybe even both!). We now have changed this to each of us coming up with a theme for the YEAR (8 themes per year), and perhaps expanding on one or two of these themes.

With our Cyber Fibre changes, we quickly came up with our individual themes which are now giving us much food for thought. Here they are for 2012: Tree of Life, Light and Shadow, Finding Perfection in Imperfection, Mapping, All That Sparkles, Black Matters, Public Art, and Whirlwinds. Isn’t this a wonderful list?!

On my recent trip to Chiapas, I became familiar with the artist, Kiki Suarez, German-born but now living in San Cristobal. I quickly connected with her work: simple, bright, colorful, lively. www.kikitheartist.com I knew I had found new inspiration for my fabric work.

Birds had been on my mind, and I loved the whimsical birds I found in Kiki’s book. I thought I’d try out a few, and consider them to be a part of “The Tree of Life”.