This quilt was constructed earlier this year — in February — mulling over what creates a distinctive impress in a life. My mother, for instance, loved Paris. She only traveled there a few times, but it was a place she felt at home and alive. With a tin ear for language, it wasn’t that. It was the fashion, the lively street markets, the delicious food.

This is one of my Remix Quilts — the central section being from a quilt that was cut up and then built around. So, as is typical with these kinds of pieces, some areas have up to 7 layers, others only three.

Last note — the word “Paris”, visible in this close up (you can see the entire quilt in flickr, on the sidebar), was part of a printed shirt.  As usual, the prints I ‘happed upon” while composing dictated the direction of assembly and my thoughts.

It was February, around the anniversary of my mother’s death as well as near my birthday (fortunately not the same day). These are two times that I think about her more than usual —

(do other mothers find that once you’ve given birth, your OWN birthday becomes a celebration of one’s mother in a way it had not been before? I have found so) —

so when I found the word ‘Paris’, suddenly this little house became a meditation on my mother.  I heard the phrase, “Where is she now?” as I stitched.