Aftermath

Last week was difficult in many ways for the cause of anti-violence in this country. With the failure in the Senate and bombing at the Boston Marathon, I was pretty down. In fact, on Monday after happening onto the television coverage of the bombing, I left the house with Bruno and went for a long walk in the rain. The last image I saw on television was the sidewalk with only trash and blood stains. As we walked the puddles in the street appeared as pools of blood. I couldn't get the image out of my head and so Monday night I started this quilt. I finished it Friday morning.

It's difficult to explain how I was feeling, but for me, putting my emotions into a quilt is better than masking them with anti-anxiety meds. At first I wanted to ignore the coverage, and forget about the legislative disappointment, but that's not going to help me or anyone else. It has to be a call to action, to do more. I made calls, I wrote letters and I started looking again for organizations in my new neighborhood that might be a fit for me to make a small difference.

I know the quilt is harsh and sad and difficult to look at.  But I need reminders...I need to remember that there is work to be done.  It's easy to fall into a routine and work and play and live blissfully and put the problems I want to see solved on the back burner, or worse, in a place where I ignore them.

This quilt, "Aftermath" shoves the reality in my face and for me is motivational.  I have work to do.

To respond to the "quilty" questions about this quilt...
The quilt is approximately 40" x 60"
The red is fused and then the raw edges were zigzagged with red thread.
The quilting is straight lines done 1/4" apart over the entire quilt.
The quilting runs at an angle with the direction of the splatter.
The back is a 15" strip of an Alexander Henry skull print in black and white placed at a slight angle across the back with black solid above and below.
The quilting thread is Aurifil 50 wt in cream.
The red is Kona cotton color rich red.