Bang You're Dead.

Many of you have been wondering what I've been working on. Well, I've spent this fall fussing over the idea for this quilt, whether to make this quilt, making the quilt, and finally whether or not to share this quilt.  This quilt was not inspired by the tragedies that our nation has suffered this year, though it may be more timely because of them.  The quilt is called, "Bang You're Dead."  It's not meant to be humorous, it's meant to be final.

This quilt is deeply personal and is inspired by my husband's work.  I don't want to share the exact circumstances, but suffice it to say, my husband is acutely aware of children who are hurt and killed every day, many in gun violence.  What he knows creates a sense of urgency for him as well as stress that shows on his face that never goes away.

Though the subject of the quilt appears to be about guns, it is really about the children who have been the targets and victims of violence, whose lives are damaged or lost before they have had the chance to live, to make a difference, to change, to make up for mistakes, to find themselves.  The gun on this quilt is one symbol of violence.  There are many I could have chosen.  The quilt wouldn't be complete without the blood dripping and forming a pool below.  It is a reminder that when the gun is gone, destruction remains.

Violence is pervasive in society.  I've talked on this blog about the written violence that many of us experience on the internet.  It's a drop in a very large bucket.  I understand the scope of the problem is broad and there are many causes: mental illness, poverty, gangs, culture, values to name a few.  I am also not naive enough to say that eliminating or controlling guns will solve the problem.  What I do know is that the solutions are many and we are in the position to contribute to the solution whether it be in our personal lives or in the jobs we do each day.

The process for this quilt is a little different than I usually work.  I thought I'd share how it came about.

I started with a sketch and idea after a conversation I had with my husband stuck with me and I couldn't get the words or the look on his face out of my head.

I moved to Illustrator and did a drawing to flush out the idea a bit.  I don't know much about the shape of guns, but i drew from what I saw in my head when I thought gun.  The blood was in my initial idea.

I was going to call the quilt, "The List", but I moved on from that idea.

After playing on Illustrator a bit I made the gun bolder, giving it a more intimidating presence on the quilt.  I also toyed with the idea of adding elements from the Chicago flag to tie the quilt to my city, but in the end only the light blue binding is a nod to Chicago.  I settled on this design and moved forward with construction.

I measured pieces, cut and placed them on the design wall.  That only lasted for a couple of days and then I started improvising.

As the quilt started coming together I had to cover it up while I worked on other projects.  A five foot gun staring at you from the design wall can be pretty disturbing.

I played for a long time with how to drip the blood from the gun barrel and pool it at the bottom.

I ripped those parts multiple times to achieve the look I wanted.

This is how the top turned out.  I think it's amazing and terrible all at the same time, but I'm glad I made it.  It's quilted with many straight lines.

The finished quilt will be shown in the QuiltCon show.