Without doubt, "all sweetness and wings" is my most time-consuming and intricate quilt to date; but for many reasons it is one of my favorites. It is a pleasure to look at all the different swatches of fabric that have gone into it, and recognize them from past projects and fabric-bundles from friends. There are 10 insects on this quilt, and each one was cut from scraps and attached to the fabric using fusible webbing and machine embroidery (another apt name for this project would have been "satin stitch galore!") I was pleasingly surprised to see that each bug has a unique facial expression, which happened quite unintentionally. Yet the result is a slew of colorful, individualized bugs, ranging in emotion from startled to coy. I machine quilted the layers together echoing the right angles and straight lines of the seams, and finished it off with a chocolate brown binding.
This quilt is also special in that it will likely be my first one to sell publicly, as it will be displayed in a Midtown art show in the month of April. Oh, and so as to give credit where credit is due: the quilt's name is derived from a Mary Oliver poem called "Happiness" where she writes, "I saw her let go of the branches, I saw her lift her honeyed muzzle into the leaves, and her thick arms, as though she would fly – an enormous bee all sweetness and wings"
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