Seeing Is Believing

Today I thought that I would show you two quilts. For those of you who are not up on quilting terminology, a quilt is something the consists of a top, a wadding and a backing, and uses some technique (sewing, knotting) to attach the quilt top, wadding and backing together. By this token, it is possible to create pieces that are termed quilts, but would not be used on a bed - they may be 'just' for show.

At around the same time as I was getting on with the Catch 22 quilt, another challenge appeared in the Quilting Arts magazine. The idea was to take a quotation, a phrase, a saying, and create a quilt 'based' on it. The magazine article took us through the process of developing the ideas - writing down the thoughts that occur, the textures, the colours, the quilting patterns, the words we associate with the phrase. There was a choice of 4 phrases, and I chose 'Seeing Is Believing'. I had a lot of different thoughts about this - all of which I have noted in my quilting journal (the type with a magnetic flap and a pocket at the back). My thoughts included the following: optical illusions, religion, senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, smell. I then thought about the images - love, ear, music, radiation, biological threats - religion came in many different ways.

I pieced two backgrounds - trying to create a 'half dropped blocks' design, like the optical illusion. As I had pieced two backgrounds, I could then create 2 quilts. The first quilt I'm going to show you, is the 'senses' quilt - the one to dispute seeing is believing. My whole basis for the quilts has been - Seeing Is Believing - Really?? Can that really be said? Is it really true?

The first symbol (top left) is the radiation symbol - can you see radiation? Do you need to see it to believe it exists? You can certainly see the effects of it, but partly, the fact that you can't see it makes it menacing. The heart - a sign of love - can you see love? It can be seen in the things we do for others, but not the concept itself. The tongue - modelled on the classic Rolling Stones symbol - you can't see taste - you may be able to imagine what it will taste like, but sight can be deceptive. Smell - the sight of something can conjure up the taste, and the taste of items can be extremely powerful memories - but the sight of an item does not guarantee the taste. The two eyes are shown for the sight - one shows an eye clouded over - perhaps with cataracts or glaucoma. Does a blind person believe nothing, simply because they cannot see? The hand symbolises both touch, and can also be seen to show religion and friendship. The ear is fashioned from musical fabric - we can hear things and believe them. The bars at the bottom are to show a graphic equaliser - the thing that goes up and down to show the intensity of music. The last symbol shows bio-hazards - you can't see them (easily). The quilting is sine / cosine waves - how light and sound can be shown.

The second quilt was actually the first one finished! The quilt is the religious side of 'Seeing Is Believing'. Religion is all about believing, without having to see. There are / were some doubters, and they have been shown here - in some form. I did a little bit of research on the internet, for the symbols of different religions. I printed a number of symbols, and used them to create the symbols - using a lightbox to help. I used raw edge applique and bondaweb to attach most of the symbols. Some of the bigger symbols, I used satin stitch. The hand shows stigmata - the idea of Seeing Is Believing and Doubting Thomas. The quilting uses embroidery threads, and I used the names that different religions use for God. I suppose that this quilt could prompt some controversy; that was never my intention. I respect the rights of everyone to believe in what they will - this quilt is a way of celebrating those different beliefs; I certainly don't mean to offend anyone by including the names that God is known by - again - it is a celebration of difference and belief. For all religions - Believing is not Seeing - we don't have to see things to believe them. I was quite happy with how the two quilts turned out, and these were the first 'series' quilts I have done - and they certainly will not be the last!