What about those Praying Crows...

I'm working up to working on a quilt.  Designs have been rolling around in my head for months.  A few weeks ago I began touching cloth.  I know I want to use this slip which has been in my stash for years.  It was among my oldest Aunts items years after she passed and right before her daughter made the decision to "let it go".  In my eyes it was the last tie we had to rural life.  But none in our family were interested in farming or even renting the land out to other farmers.

Here is the slip with the praying crows I thought I would be using.

I ex-nayed the crows for now but am making hexies as part of the design. And drawing and some writing on the quilt will be involved.  The working title is "Something Beautiful".  It is my emotional response to so much heaviness and injustice.  It will be a take on the phrase #BlackGirlMagic.  

Above is the beginning sketch for the quilt which was preceded by writing about my vision. The writing helps me navigate the competing ideas in my head and arrive at at centered intent.  It also helps me make and understand my decisions to alter things in the process.  The only time I don't journal is when I'm doing a quilt filled with mark making and exploring colour and abstract.  Those quilts have been driven by processes of moving while handling the cloth and paints and tools for marks.  Picture.narrative quilts are driven by the finished quilt and are not my favorite quilts to get out of my head.  I was kinda hoping that this one would turn but that slip (and the crows) have been whispering at me for years.

And this is a quilt with a deadline for an exhibit...maybe I need those praying crows afterall.  Hangeth in. Peace.