Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada
The 2010 Story Save Quilt

Serena H - Edmonton, AB
Light and Shadows

I'm not a quilter and I've never quilted in my life, so, I signed up to do a quilt block for this year's StorySave quilt! I received the blank block and imagined working with deep, dark greens and browns and golds; something about the multi-colours and textures that make up the stories we all love. However, the theme of Light and Shadows swept me up and I began...

I began where I would no matter the theme: Reusing and Reclaiming. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shiny new things, but I'm a huge proponent of reusing what I can and reclaiming items for other uses. Luckily, for me, I live in a city with a Reuse Centre and that is where I found most of the fabric for this block (the rest was from old clothes). Oh, and yes, all material was pre-washed!
Shadows and light are common themes found in stories and in life; the melding of light and dark to create the subtler and confusing shades of grey provide the backdrop to our interpretations. Whether it's the story's characters or ourselves, we journey through times of shadows and times of light, often simultaneously. In fact, this pretty much sums up my journey through this frustrating process of creating the quilt block; I'm not entirely sure I've learned from the many mistakes I've made, except to say that I really could use a good teacher or book to learn from!

There is no specific design or pattern to this quilt block. I purposefully had no plan, no intent other than the underlying theme, and proceeded to cut and sew at random, allowing the theme to speak for itself. Any pattern perceived is the organic development that arises when light and shadow mingle and dance and leave its textured story to be interpreted at will, at random.