My latest series of mini-quilts is a love letter to the cycle the human hand has helped along for thousands of years in the practice of saving seeds for next year’s crop.
I’ve collected seeds and nuts from the native plants and trees in my yard and I’m making a quilted “seed bank.” Each miniature quilt in this series has the seeds preserved in a tulle capsule. These pieces speak to regeneration of life and how nothing in nature really ends but continues in an endless cycle.
I’ve also created a banner of small provisional pieces that will be in the yard through the winter as an open-ended gesture of hope and curiosity. I vaguely thought of these as “prayer flags” but I’m more intrigued by how transformed they will be by the sun, rain, snow, and moonlight.
Penstamen Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted, cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 5 x 5 inches
Coneflower Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 5.5 x 7 inches
Beechnut Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 5 x 5.5 inches
Acorn Seed Bank Quilt (1), 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 5 x 5 inches
Blue Lobelia Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 4.5 x 6 inches
Acorn Seed Bank Quilt (1), 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 8 x 7.5 inches
Goldenrod Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds, 6 x 6 inches
Butterfly Weed Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with seeds and pappus as batting, 6x 7.5 inches
Beech Leaf Seed Baank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton and silk patchwork with leaf, 6 x 6 inches
Persimmon Seed Bank Quilt, 2024, Hand-embroidered, hand-quilted cotton patchwork with seed, 8 x 8 inches
“Prayer Flags”